Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-03-18

Legislature Appropriates $751;
600 for Slain Cattle.
NOW GOES TO THE GOVERNOR
Approximate Loss Was $4,000 But
the Government VIII Pay $4,000
+-AssembIy Kills the Bud
long Measure.

tShS "iS6SAiSs
Madison.-A final chapter in the re-
cent outbreak Of the foot-and-mouth
disease was written by the legislature
when it passed the bill appropriating
$4,000 to compensate farmers whose
| cattle were destroyed. The approx
mate loss was s150,000, but one-half
| of this amount is paid by the federal
| government. The bill will be placed
before the governor for approval
soon. In the senate the measure
passed without vote in opposition,
but in the house there were several
scattering votes by members who COM
planned that they had not had an OPP
portunity to consider the measure.
Of the states where the outbreak oc-
CURED the smallest losses were in Wis
consin and the heaviest in Illinois
The assembly killed the Budlong
bill to permit the payment of saloon
licenses on the installment plan AS
semblyman Carl Hansen speaking for
the bill said such measure would be
more just to the saloonkeeper and
would insure better regulation, in that
saloon could be discontinued at any
time. Assemblyman Mtnkley opposed
it, saying that where man had from
$500 to $500 invested in a liquor IL
cense he would see to it that his place
was properly conducted. Without
word of debate the assembly refused
to reconsider the vote by which the
Stempler bill to legalize saloons in the
state was engrossed.
There was no opposition to the Carl
Hansen resolution for a legislative
investigation of the land purchases at
the University of Wisconsin The as
sembly engrossed the Hoffman bill re-
Quiring retailers of dynamite to store
the explosive in a safe place. The
Kleinsteiber hunting bill to prohibit
the killing of doe was argued for an
hour in the house, but was finally
sent back to committee for correction
of slight errors. The Ofstie bill to
require all saloons in the state to close
at midnight was defeated by a vote of
62 to 26
Assemblyman julius Hanson's bill
to have 20 per cent of the income
tax go to the state, instead of 10 per
cent, was indefinitely postponed.
The opponents of boxing made a
sorry showing before the legislative
committee called to hear arguments
on the Hansen bill, which makes at
tendance at a boxing bout a felony,
as well as providing prison sentences
for participants. All the speakers for
the bill were Madison clergymen and
religious workers, and when one de-
clared boxing was as brutal as bull
fight, he admitted upon questions by
committee that he had never seen any
contest. All those appearing for the
bill admitted they had never seen
boxing bout and a big delegation of
Milwaukee business men appeared in
favor of the boxing game, declaring
it was not brutal, and was being con-
Quoted on high plane.
A strong appeal was made to the
committee on labor of the assembly
to pass the Gruenewald bill prohibit
ing night work by women after eight
o'clock in the evening and before six
o'clock the following morning. Like
wise there was strong opposition to
the measure. At the request of the
committee, Charles II. Crownhart,
chairman of the industrial commits
sion, submitted a statement showing
that the states of Connecticut, Indiana,
Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska,
New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan
and South Carolina have stringent
laws on this subject, many of which
are more exacting than the provisions
of the Gruenewald bill. He also
showed that fourteen foreign coun-
tries have similar laws.
The university authorities objected
to the Cretney bill to prohibit the in
spection of schools by the university.
By Senator Bennett and DR.. H. NJ.
Brown, Milwaukee, the ''eugenics"
law was described as SILLY and abb
surd,' in appearing for the Bennett
bill to repeal the law before the COM
mittee on education and public vel
fare. Doctor Brown declared it made
liars and perjurers out of doctors who
make the health tests for marriage
applicants. Mrs. G. A. Hipke, presi-
dent. of the Milwaukee Maternity hos
pital, said the law had accomplished
wonders, both in preventing marriage
of the unfit and in educating the pub
lie on the destructiveness of venereal
diseases. The proposal to require both
parties to a marriage contract to sign
an affirmation of freedom from such
disease she said amounts to nothing.