Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1911-03-24
The bill requires physicians to re-

soning or compressed air illness.
The object of the bill is to make it
possible to compile statistics on the
extent of these industrial diseases.
The assembly committee on taxa
ton held postponed hearing on the
bill to permit the city Of Superior to
tax railroad terminals, which occupy
one-third of the acreage of that city.
The terminals are now taxed by the
state as a part of the various railroads
entering Superior, under the ad va
loren laws. Senator Linley declared
that with tax rate nearly three times
as high as other cities in the state,
Superior is having a hard fight to keep
its population.
Senator Linley created a stir by his
observation that it seemed queer"
that the tax commission should stand
by the railroads. This drew a rebuke
from Tax Commissioner George Cur
It's, .Jr, who declared that this was the
first time the motives of the tax com
mission had been impugned
The commission is seeking to serve
| tAG pCOpIC Vi tuc SldtC DSol IL may ,
and not any class or special interest"
said Mr. Curtis. The cruX Of this
matter lies in the proposition Of
whether railway property in Wiscon-
sin shall continue to be deemed to
! have a general status, and not be sub
! iect for local taxation. The legisla-
| tive policy Of the state for years has
/ been against local taxation of rail
roads.
! Arguments for the passage of the
bill aprropriating 100000 as re-
yolving fund for the working of the
/ binder twiLe plant at the Waupun
state prison were heard before the as
sembly committee on charitable and
! penal institutions. For over an hour
! Henry Towne, warden of the prison,
answered innumerable questions put
10 him by members and others on
| both sides Of the proposition Mr..
Towne made it clear that he was per-
| sonally taking no stand in the mat
| ter. and was prepared merely to give
| figures and facts asked for in rela-
! ton to the prison and its activities.
He said that the net per capita cost
of maintaining prisoners at the insti-
tuition, after deducting the amount re-
ceived from the contractors who use
prison labor in the manufacture Of
| hosiery, is $44 a year and the gross
per capita cost is $1SG year.
Mr.. Towne did not assume to
know whether it would be possible for
the prison plant to manufacture and
sell Irvine at lower price than the
regular manufacturers, but assuming
that this would possible with cheaper
! labor, etc, he said that if the tWine
manufactured could be sold at profit
of one cent per pound the prison would
! be self-Sustaining.
EX-Judge ID. O. Mahoney, represent
| ing the American Society of Equity,
appeared for the bill, which he said
was desired by the farmers of the
state and would relieve them from
the heavy burden Of trust-manufac-
| tured binder Irvine. A d. Conover,
! former president Of the board of con-
| troll, and w: H. Graebner were at the
meeting to speak for the bill, espe-
cially on the necessity Of equipping the
Waupun plant. They did not, however,
speak until afternoon In opposition
to the bill there were delegations here
from the Merchants and Manufacture
ers' association and the Wisconsin
Manufa cturers' association; Arthur B.
Strong, secretary of the Lindsay Bros.
company of Milwaukee,
label Hits Jail and Urges Paroles.
That county jails in Wisconsin are
anterooms of hell and seminaries of
crime, that society lost by putting
men in prison instead of paroling
them, and that school teachers were
more needed in reformatries than po-
licemen, were the declarations by Dis
trict Attorney label before the Elev-
enth Ward Neighborhood club in
Eleventh district school.
Society puts the criminals in pris-
on" said Mr. label, where it must
support them, and where, under pres
ent conditions, they become more ia
miliar with vice, and it must at the
same time support their families.
Men are sentenced to long terms
often unjust in proportion to the crime
and they must stay in confinement
until their sentence is served out, al
though they may have been cured of
their criminal instincts long before. In
furnishing a man so severely, society
destroys a life, and spends large
sum to do it, while by paroling him or
sending him to hospital, perhaps, he
might be cured and become of value
to the community.
This county jails are clearing
houses for criminal knowledge. Young
men and women, often innocent, are
put into them to await trial and when
they come out are finished criminals.
Commission Has Hearing.
The state railway commission held
hearing on the petition of the Man
itowoc Northern Traction company
for authority to increase it's fare be-
tween Manitowoc and Two Rivers