Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-05-07

j
after by the members OF the PLATFORM con
venfion of each party instead or Dy the
delegates to the national conventions.
4 he foregoing suggestions cover al that
| was intended to be included in this specin-
cation of the call at the time it was issued.
But during the past few days persistent
and general demand has been made for the
enactment of non partisan election bus Tor
the city and county of Milwaukee; and the
subject has aroused SO much public interest
that / feel l should not pass it by unno-
tieed.
| In recent years there has been steady
growth of sentiment here and elsewhere IN
! favor of non partisan city elections. Ihis
development is based fundamentally on this
| fact that many Of the functions OF city ad-
J miniStration have to do with neighborhood
affairs and the business interests OF IN
| dividual communities as distinguished from
| governmental policies or the exercise of
delegated state authority. Hence e Is
/ parties in the state and nation have at best
only remote relation to the problems or To-
cal government. The experiment moreover
! has been tried and seems to work well.
| Prompted by these views and encour-
aged by this experience the people of NIL
waukee have repeatedly tried to secure the
nactment of a law that will permit non
partisan city elections. Such a bill was
| introduced in the legislatures OF lyUs anu
| 1911 and was strongly supported. II iaiieu
OF enactment at both sessions. But puone
sentiment in Milwaukee during the recent
4 municipal campaign nevertheless perspauea
the tive principal political parties p the
state to 1orego making nominations anu
| to unite by means of improvised expet rents
in support of non partisan city tleKet
1 These expedients were extra legal truue
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 strong
enough to induce the people TO overlook
/ these drawbacks and even TO approve the
rough and ready methods that were EN-
| ployed.
The people of Milwaukee now ask that
! they be relieved of the necessity OF again
resorting to such devices; and they VIII
present at this session a request for she
| enactment of a non partisan city electloh
| 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 whetn-
er or not Milwaukee should have non partl-
san elections. 1t is rather whether such
| elections and the making of nominations
/ leading up to them shall hereafter be con
! Quoted openly or ciandestinely by Ihe
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 VINO
have an axe to grind. Milwaukee has her
| self already decided the other question:.
1t is true that strictly speaking this Is
| not an emergency measure. Before anotner
kee there viii be 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
4
| language of the call appears nevertheless
| to be broad enough to include 1t. So the
problem is here Believing as l do in non
partisan city elections / recommend the
enactment of this legislation at the present
| time.
Springing from the same source as the
| 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
/ I
| dorse. Unlike city, a county is es-
sentially an administrative subdivision
of the state. Its 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 well as of
| the county. This being true non partisan
| ship in county elections cannot be advo-
| Gated logically or consistently without de-
| claring 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
] from the circumstance that county officers
| 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 q gov
eminent by parties. How at such an cleo
! ton it Is expected that non craftsmanship in
respect to county offices can be perma-
nently maintained is not explained. For
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 statute and so to amend the consti
| tuition will not alter the nature of the func-
| tons 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 of he laws for the protection OF
| fish aud glme should be amended In
| practice a few of these laws have been
/ found to he 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
| to remove these fish by means of seines
In many instances where this method has
been destroyed, duck shooting has been
| impaired and the vegetation in the beds
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 nuhlic
| hearing upon this subject at which iii in
| terested persons had an opportunity to be
| present and fully heard, the State Game
| Warden decided to discontinue the plan
oil AA,
and proposed instead that wherever there
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 IL tentatively in two places The ex-
| perlments We're made during some of the
coolest weather of the past winter and
under many disadvantages imposed by the
| necessity of fishing under the ice Never
| theless 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 TIE 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 l recon
mend the enactment of legislation that win
unquestioDably give effect to section 4560f-
10 which. plainly intends that he should
| have this power.
The Inconsistencies in sections 4RSOa-3S
and 4560d should also be removed They
are the result of inadvertenee in amending
re-existing statutes. So also should sec
ton 4565c-5 be amended so as to mar
monize with other provisions of law upon
the same subject.
| Further recommendations are for an
amendment to the fire insurance law
to make more definite conditions under
which foreign companies may tran
saet business in Wisconsin, and larger
appropriation for maintenance Of the
legislative reference library.
The governor concludes his message
with an appeal for brief session.
When a girl tells a man how her
mother tells her she used to act