The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1915-07-23


Madison, Wis, (SpeciaD With
large part of Governor E. L. Philips
legislative program slated for defeat,
legislative observers are specializing
on the political significance of the sue
cess that has marked the efforts of
the opposition to the governor in the
legislature.
Men who oppose Mr.. Philip and
have brought about the defeat of sew
eral of the important bills advocated
by the chief executive, believe that
the failure of the governor to carry
through his legislative program will
discredit the chief executive. People
will gain the impression, they say,
that the governor lacked the executive
ability to bring about the passage Of
his bills, therefore his supporters in
the last election may lose confidence
in him and question his ability to car
ry out any matters of legislation
which he may advocate in another
political campaign.
Friends Believe Governor Stronger.
The governor friends take a very
different view of the situation. They
believe that the defeat of measures
which he advocated and for which the
people elected him to carry out be-
cause they believed in his program
makes the governor a bigger man
than had his entire legislative program
met with success. They say the gov
ernOr's bills were not defeated be-
cause they lacked merit, but for the
reason that the opposition played
politics, and engineered legislative
procedure so that the will of the peO-
pie, as expressed in the election of
the present governor, was defeated.
Both sides seem to be gambling
politically.
Governor Philip was elected on an
economy and retrenchment program.
The people voted for him because he
promised to reduce taxes. The gov
ernOr, say his friends, made good by
recommending program which would
have applied better business methods
to the administration of governmental
affairs, and would have resulted in
very substantial saving to the people.
The opposition to the governors bills,
they say, will be held responsible, not
the governor. They feel certain that
public sentiment on the question of
lower taxes has not changed, and that
the people stick to Mr.. Philip on that
proposition.
Administration Will Reduce Taxes.
Despite the defeat of some of the
big consolidation measures advocated
by the administration, it seems GER
tain that the Philip administration
Will reduce taxes. 1t is estimated that
the amount of money annually appro-
priated to run the state government
will show a reduction of not less than
$5,000,O00 over two years ago. The
session is nearly over. However, many
big appropriation measures are yet
to be acted upon, and in these mat
tiers the governor holds the whip
hand. He was unable to have the
final word in bring about victory for
the consolidation bills, but no appro-
priations will become effective unless
approved of by the chief executive. It
is known the governor will keep the
legislature here for an indC"nite peri
od, if necessary, in order to bring
about substantial reductions in appro-
priations
County Education Board Hit.
The senate, with only Senator Will
liam Bray dissenting engrossed a bill
which in name abolishes county
boards of education, but retains the
principle of the county board of edu-
cation.
The measure is a compromise
which is satisfactory to the educators
of Wisconsin and to the state admin
istration
AS a substitute for the old boards.
the bill passed in the senate provides
for board of three members to be
appointed by the county boards CT
supervisors, the new body to be
schools. Some of the powers of lesser
Importance which were vested in the
former boards have been done away
with, while in many respects the pow
ers given to the committee on common
schools are much broader than those
under which the former bodies op-
Grated.
1t is provided that every county is
to have an assistant superintendent
who is to be called a supervising
teacher. Counties having more than
125 teachers are to have two such
assistants. County superintendent
and their assistants are to make re-
ports to the committee on common
schools on such subjects as the COM
mittee may deem to deal with in the
Improvement of general conditions.