The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-05-03

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may be made will obyiate this difficulty
1t might be well also TO provide that presi
Dental electors should Ne nominated here
after by the members of the PLATFORM con
vention of each party instead of Inv tba
delegates to the national conventions
The foregoing suggestions cover all that
was intended to be included in this snecifi
cation of the call al the time it was issued
But during the past few days a persistent
and general demand has been made for the
enactment of non partisan election bills for
the city and county of Milwaukee, and tba
subject has aroused so much public Interest
that L feel l should not pass it by unno-
ticed.
In recent years there has been steady
growth of sentiment here and elsewhere in
favor of non partisan city elections This
development is based fundamentally on the
ministration have TO do with neighborhood
affairs and the business interests of in
dividual communities as diStin guiShed from
governmental policies or the exercise of
delegated state authority. Hence il is
claimed that the issues that divide political
parties in the state and nation have at best
only remote relation to the problems of To-
cal government. The experiment moreover
has been tried and seems to work we'll
Prompted BIZ these views and encour-
aged by this experience the people of Mil
Waukee have repeatedly tried to secure the
nactment of law that will permit non
partisan city elections; Such bill was
1911 and was strongly supported. 1t failed
OF enactment at both sessions. But public
sentiment in Milwaukee during the recent
municipal campaign nevertheless persuaded
the two principal political parties of the
state to foregO making nominations and
10 unite by means of lmprOvised eXpedients
IN support of non partisan city ticket.
Ihese eXpedientS were extra legal, crude
and unsatisfactory, and subjected the city
TO all the dangers of selfish manipulation
and ring rule. But the sentiment in favor
of non partisan elections was strong
enough to induce the people to overlook
these drawbacks and even to approve the
| CTh n ThN.l fl,.4
plOyed.
The people of Milwaukee now ask that
they be relieved of the necessity of again
reSorting to such devices and they will
enactment of a non partisan city election
bill. Those of you who entertain doubt as
TO the wisdom of the principle of non
partisanship in city elections should con-
slider that the question is no longer wheth-
er or not Milwaukee should have non parti
san elections. 1t is rather whether such
elections and the making of nominations
leading up to them shall hereafter be con-
Quoted openly or clandestinely; by the
many or by the few; pursuant to lawful
authority exercised in an orderly way so
every one may have an equal voice or by
manipulation in the interests of those who
hay have an axe to grind Milwaukee has her
1t is true that strictly speaking this is
not an emergency measure. Before another
municipal election Will be held in Milwau
kee there viii be a regular session of the
legislature at which this bill might be con-
sidered 1t is true also that this subject
was not thought Of when the call for this
special session was made. Bur some of the
language of the call appears nevertheless
to be broad enough to include it, SO the
problem is here. Believing as | do in non
partisan city elections | recommend the
enactment of this legislation at the present
time.
Springing from the same source as lie
city bill, and backed in part by the same
sentiment, but not supported as it seems
to me by the same logic, is de-
mand also for the enactment of non
partisan election bill for the county of
Milwaukee This proposal L cannot en-
dorse. Unlike a city, a county is es-
! sentially an administrative subdivision
of the state. It's officers as a rule exercise
state functions only. A comparison of the
duties of the district attorney Of the county
and the attorney general of the state, of the
clerk of the circuit court and the clerk of
the supreme court of the county clerk and
the secretary of state of the county treas
urer and the state treasurer will satisfy
any one that county government is only
SUBDIVISION OF state government established
| for convenience in administration. The Sher-
| if and coroner are indeed the principal
executive officers of the state as well as of
the county. This being true non partisan
| ship in county elections cannot be advo-
| Gated logically or consistently without de-
| clar1ng also for non partisan elections in
| the state. No one seriously proposes the
| latter.
| Another insuperable obstacle in the way
OF non partisan county elections arises
are elected in the fall on general election
| day. Then not only county officers, but
members of the legislature. state officers
| members of congress and the president and
vice president of the United States are
| chosen. 1t is the one day in all the year
that is openly and frankly partisan, for
| the government of this country is a gov
eminent by parties How at such an cleo
| tion it is expected that non partisanship in
| respect to county offices can be perma-
nently maintained is not explained For
| | think nOSSjh1p
niZing this incOngruity. it be proposed to
| change the time of county elections to the
spring so as to permit county officers to be
| chosen at the same time city. school and
! judicial officers are elected the obvious an
| Swer is that this cannot be done by pass
! ing a statute and so to amend the cOnSti-
! tuition will not alter the nature of the func-
| lions county officials perform nor the char
| acter of the county itself as an administra-
| tive subdivision of the state SO long as
| state elections are partisan, county cleo
| tons will be so also.
AMENDMENT OF FISH AND GAME
| LAWS.
Some CT the laws for the protection of
fish and game should be amended. In
| practice a few of these laws have been
found to be inconsistent while others are
ambiguous. Especially should the author
! ity of the Game Warden to take rough or
! destructive fish from the waters of the
! state be made clear and explicit There is
determined opposition in some quarters TO
continuing the plan of licensing fishermen
/
| In many instances where this method has
| been employed in the past game fish have
| been destroyed, duck shooting has hpen
! impaired and the vegetation in the he'd q
| of shallow lakes has been ruined Too
| often commercial gain has been the one
dominant motive; and as might be ex-
| pected there has been little regard maid
| to other considerations.
| After careful investigation and a nubIic
| hearing upon this subject at which all in
! tereSted persons had an opportunity to be
| present and fully heard, the State Game
| Warden decided to discontinue the plan
| of issuing these special permits or licenses
| was need Of removing rough fish from the
| waters of the state the work should be
| done under his supervision and an interest
! in the profits derived from the venture
| should be reserved TO the state. Before
| putting this plan into general operation he
| tried it tentatively in two places. The ex-
| perlments were made during some of the
| coolest weather of the past winter and
| under many disadvantages imposed by the
| necessity of fishing dnder the ice Never
| theess about a months trial of this plan
| in two fishing streams resulted in a larger
net income to the state than the aggregate
of all the proceeds of licenses issued dur
| ing the preceding year. These results in
| the judgment of the head of this depart
ment Justify an extension of the plan.
| Some question has been raised however as
to the legal authority of the Game Warden
to take rough fish in this way. In order
| that this doubt may be removed | recon-
| mend the enactment of legislation that will
| unquestionably give effect to section 4560f-
| 10 which plainly intends that he should
have this power.
| The inconsistencies in sections 456Oa- SO
| and 4560d should also be removed They
are the result of inadYertence in amending
-iStir -rD+IT 60 oil -E,