Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1913-03-13
Many Moral Laws
Passed this Session
Legislators Devoted Much of Their
Time to Regulating Morals
of South Dakota.

commission is expected to take the
ecessarg steps toward securing a
more equitable basis of assessment
and equalization in this state, under
the laws which exist, They will be
more or less hampered in the consti-
tutional restrictions which hedge them
about, but that does not prevent their
working out many plans by which
even the present system can be re-
yised and made more effective. But
to ecu complete tax reform in the
state will require constitutional
changes, which may be secured in
CASE the people adopt the proposed
convention which will be put up to
them by this session.
The session has heen marked by its
enactment of moral laws, which have
at times reached toward puritanism
in their scope. They have enacted a
law which prohibits exhibition by NOV
ing pictures, or in any other manner
any scenes which depict family in
felicity, illicit love, or resisting an Of
ficer, and make such scenes in picture
demeanor. They have passed an act
making marriage or Capitalization of
Caucasians with Africans or Asiatics
a penal offense, and made it a misde-
meanor for any clerk of courts to
issue a license for such marriage, or
for any minister or official to perform
any such ceremony; to prohibit "griz-
ely bear" or any suggestive dances;
to regulate public dance halls; and
several acts restricting prostitution
and lewdness, the strongest being SEN
ate bill POI, which places a penalty
upon the owners or agents of build.
ings who let them for such purposes,
with a closure of one year on the
property when the charge Is proven,
with a special tax of $500 against the
property, which must be paid before
any remission of a closure order is
allowable.
Temperance Laws
The temperance people have secur.
! ed the enactment of laws which will
reduce the number of saloons in the
state by fixing a population basis for
granting licenses, and increasing the
license fee, and prohibiting the licens.
ing Of a township saloon within five
miles Of a no license town.
The enactment of a negotiable in.
strument act, and regulating the
disposal Of stocks of goods in bulk
which have been points at issue in
practically every session of the legis
lature since statehood, were placed
upon the statutes, and will no longer
fret the members unless in the way
Of amendments or repeats.
While there has been a long list o
railway measures introduced, rangins
all the way from harmless, +" in the
railway point of view, up to positive
ly vicious" there have been few o
them enacted into law.
The Corrupt practices act" Of the
senate, which passed the house, limits
a candidate to $500 for expenditures
of a campaign, and prevents the use
of carriages, or treating, and limits
what a candidate may do toward Sc.
curing a nomination or election. The
original bill prevented the use of CT
gars a. well as liquor, but the cigar
clause was cut out by the house.
Printers GuiItless.
The Investigating of the charges
against the public printers found no.
thing more than that the state print
ing commission under the old law was
careless, their work resulting in a
new printing law.
The game laws enacted provide for
a state game preserve in the Black
Hills state forests; for dropping coun-
ty game wardens and cerating a state
game commission with state wardens,
and prohibiting the killing of quail at
any time
A proposition for a convention for
a general revision of the constitution
has been put up to the people, and
among other constitutional amend
nients to be submitted equal suffrage
has a place.
The matter of bank guaranty was
turned down by the senate after it
had passed the house.
The administration" measures es-
pecially recommended by Governor
Byrne at the opening of the session
were bank guaranty and tax commits
sion. the former recommendation be-
ing further urged by a special message
but it failed to get through, though
the tax commission has become a re
atty.
Basford Loses Out