The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1909-01-22

Handed Them by Governor Davidson
in His Biennial Messaae-Proposi-
ton to Enlarge the Powers Of the
Rate commission Election of Ban
croft as Speaker Has Left Mo
RankIings-keen Forcefui Man.
Madison, Wis, Jan. 19.-That de-
termined effort will be made to short
en- the session of the legislature this
year was made apparent last week in
the appointment of joint committee
of the two houses to consider the
proposition and report the results OF
it's deliberations In order that the
committee might have time to go well
over the ground and that the mem
bers might have opportunity to pre-
pare the various bills that are of par
ticular interest to them, both houses
adjourned last Thursday until today.
While the general sentiment APP
pears to be that there should be no
need of prolonging the session into
the summer as has been done in re-
cent years, it has been pointed out by
thoughtful legislators, among them
Senator Sanborn,, that several meas
ures of vital Importance will come up,
the consideration of which must of
necessity consume a great deal OF
time!
Hard Nuts to Crack.
Governor Davidson put some OF
these hard nuts before the members in
his annual message and they are be-
ing given much thought. The prin-
cipal things urged are some form of
industrial insurance, graduated in
come tax, wise highway legislation in
accordance with the proposed amend
ment for state aid, larger powers for
the rate commission, Lincoln state
holiday and amendments to the prf-
mary election law providing for rota-
tion of names on the Ballot; for the
limiting of expenses and for the re-
striction of voters to their own par
ties. Perhaps highway legislation
will be the most difficult of these prop
ositions to deal with since some law
will have to be devised which will
not permit of extravagant waste Of
the states money and yet accomplish
the desired end the betterment of the
country roads.
To get these matters under way
early joint committee was appointed
last week to consider and report as
soon as possible on these subjects:
The limiting of time for the introduce
ton of bills; fixing the limit of the
session. the appointment Of commit
tees to consider good roads legisla-
ton; industrial insurance and in
come tax, and frame bills to be re-
ported at either an adjourned session
or a social session. On the part Of the
senate this committee consists OF Sem
ators Sanborn, Marsh, Burke, Ran
dolph and Gaylord, and on the part
of the assembly of Messrs. ,Cleary, Ku-
basta, Coolidge, Culbertson, Whittet
and Ledvina.
important Matters to Come Up.
But the particular propositions on
which this committee will act are not
the only ones of large Importance that
X
following are among others of general
interest that in all probability will
come up in some form or other be-
fore the lawmakers: An employers Ii
ability law that will take away the de-
Tense of contributory negligence as a
complete bar to recovery in other lines
of employment besides the railroads;
a tenement house law to take the
place OF the one declared invalid by
the supreme court; county and local
option bills; districting Of the state
for fight against tuberculosis; one
tenth state mill tax for forest re-
serves, to add another million acres to
such reserve; change in inheritance
tax law so as to give counties so per
cent of receipts instead of five as at
present; constitutional amendment to
allow town assessors to be chosen by
the state tax commission instead of by
town boards or councils or by popular
vote; changes in civil service law to
Include oil inspectors and other en-
ployes now exempt; appropriation for
another state insane asylum; the in.
itiative and referendum
Interchange of Phone Service
In line with the proposition to en-
. large the powers of the rate commits
sion a bill is already being drafted
by one of the senators by which in
terchange of telephone service will be
compulsory and the enforcement of it
will be placed under the jurisdiction
of the railroad rate commissions The
reason for placing the commission in
a position of a supervising power is to
compel the various companies to fur
nish to each other adequate service
When bill of this character was first
introduced in Wisconsin, objection
was made that while the law might
compel the companies to connect there
would be no means to enforce one
company to give to the other good
service. This has been remedied since
then by the passage of the public util-
tiles law. This requires the individ-