The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-02-10

measures are in on the capitol exten
sion act. One would repeal it in it,
entirety and put all the ground pur
chased back on the market. The othe,
would reduce the extension territor!
to about one-half provided for by tn,
act, and would sell the balance. l
can be safely said that none OF thes,
laws will be repealed, and outside o
few possible amendments to thu
highway commission law it is prob
able all will remain as they wer,
passed two years ago.
New Compensation Law.
Senator Clarkson, OF Abba, thu
father Of the workmen's compensation
act, adopted two years ago, and wllicl
has been in force in its entirety onl,
few months. has a bill to repeal par
of the present law, and create state
fund for workmen's insurance. The
bill calls for the appointment Of {
commission Of three members, one t.
receive $4,000 year and the other.
$500 each, with secretary at sal
ary of not more than $2,5OO a year, t.
have charge Of the operation Of the
plan proposed. 1t virtually creates 8
state monopoly Of workmen's compep
,sation insurance, and calls for an an
,nual appropriation of $125,O0O. Under
the bill the present offices of Indus.
trial commissioner, having charge Of
the compensation law. and the labor
commissioner, would be discontinued
,s5, New Laws for Publishers.
Il There seems to be better opp0r.
tunity for the amendment OF the Iowa
newspaper libel law at tile present
session of the legislature than has
been the case in many years. In the
first place there are several publish
ers and printers in the membership OF
the assembly, who are all deeply in
terested in the bill proposed by Sen
atOr Caswell, Of Denison, himself a
publisher. and who are making their
interest felt with the balance of the
membership. The Iowa libel law has
long been felt to be unfair to the gen
eral newspaper publisher, as it pre-
sumes malice in the publication Of a
libelous statement, and is such that
even the use, by mischance, Of the
wrong initials of person referred to
in an article, and even though the
mistaken editor offers to retract and
correct the error. there can be no
escape from the liability. The Cas-
we'll bill is fair to both sides of the
controversy. 1t does not leave loop
hole through which the malicious edi-
tor may escape, but it does prepare a
way to abs0lye from injurious prose-
cution the editor innocently led into
making erroneous statements. ...,, :.
Fight the Railroad Bill.
A determined effort will be made BY
the railroads to prevent the passage
of the Rogers bill which would compel
all roads to construct either overhead
or underground crossings wherever
an intersection is made with public
highway, outside of the towns and
cities of the state. The bill provides
that the work shall be done by Janu-
ary 1, 1917, and provides for fine of
$50 a day for each day Of neglect to
comply with its provisions after that
time. The railroad representatives
declare it will cost more than $780,
100000 to follow out the provisions Of
the bill in this state.
New City Primary Bill.
Representative HOrchems has bill
providing for non-partisan nomina-
tion Of candidates for city offices in
all first-class cities. 1t would print
the names on one ballot of all candi-
dates who file proper petitions previ-
GUS to the primary, and selecting those
who received the highest number Of
votes, would print on the official bal
lot twice the number of names for
each office as there are places to I'LL.
In case Of a candidate at the primary
receiving a majority of all the votes
cast for the office for which he is an
aspirant, his name would be the only
one for that office to, be printed on
the ballot for the regular election.
-,ta $75,OOV for Panama.laciAc.
The bill for an Iowa exhibit at tho
Panama-Pacific exposition at San
has passed the senate, AMI
will no doubt pass the house before
the close of this week. 1t carries an
Of $4,000, the legis-
lators refusing to allow an extra $32,-
900 to pay for the Iowa building al
ready erected from subscriptions to
that amount made by private citizens.
Leading business men from Cedar
Davenport, Waterloo and
other cities asked that the appropria-
lion total s125,OOO. but they were
turned down. s
4 Few Bills Are Passed.
While each house has passed a mum.
Der of bills Of minor importance, but
very few measures have so far been
enacted into law.
The first bill, outside of the regular
measure making an appropriation to
pay the expenses of the inauguration
of the governor, to get through both
houses. was a measure by Represen
.atiye Kimberly, OF Davenport, amend
ing the law, so that vacancy in a
city council may be filled at special
election. Senator Henigbaum had the
same bill in committee in the senate,
but the quick work of the house
caused him to sidetrack his own
measure and support the Kimberley
)ill.
Senator Gillette's bill legalizing cer-