Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1917-02-24
PIERRE LAWMAKERS
Brief Resume of Doings of the Legislature
Written for the Chronicle by It's
Pierre Correspondent

! irrigation code is out on the house cal
endar for this week, and there will be
no difficulty in passing it if the members
from the western part of the state can
agree among themselves as to what it
shall contain The members from the
eastern part of the state say they are
willing TO help push across anything
which the members from the west want
along that line, and the new code is
likely to be adopted as drawn and
shaped by the committee without any
great objection. As this code does not
attempt to place any minimum limit up.
on the size of the irrigation districts
| which can be formed it will no doubt be
extensively used by owners of small
watersheds who can utilize that method
of control of the flood waters and retain
them for beneficial use instead of allow
ing them to flow away and be wasted.
Beside this the larger projects which re-
quire heavy capitalization will be able
to get advantage Of its benefits.
The senate finally decided that they
did not want to increase the amount OF
tax levy which towns can use for adver-
tising purposes from one mill to two
mills. This bill was boosted by Bucholz
in the house and Evans in the senate,
and while the house finally accepted
this provision, the senate would have
none of it.
The house has passed the senate wolf
bounty law, which allows the counties
to pay county bounty of five dollars on
each coyote, and seven and half on
gray wolves, which with the state boun.
ty ought to stimulate the destruction Of
wolves on the range. While this would
naturally be supposed to be bill for
the western part of the state, it was in
troduced and pushed by stephens, of
BonHomme county.
The county bounty proposition has
also been carried to the gopher pest, in
which a county bounty of ten cents
each is provided for these little animals.
The question of admission of women
to the State Soldiers Home was out
again the past week and finally passed
with just enough votes to get it across.
1t was backed by Guilioyle, of Fall
River, and while it gives women equal
rights with men at the institution up to
the capacity of the home, it gives the
veteran the preference right over any
women resident of the home at any time
he wants to come in.
Neyin, of Custer, head Of the house
game committee was busy the past week
with the different bills which had been
introduced by his committee. Clark, of
Lawrence, made a fight over the open
ing of the trout fishing date, wanting it
set as late as the first of May, instead of
the first OF April, as provided in the bill.
Nevin said they had investigated as far
as possible and found that while the
Laurence county people wanted the
later date, most Of the people of the
Hills wanted the season to open on the
first of April, and Hamm and Holmes,
of Pennington, backed him up in this,
and the bill went through with the sea
sen from April FIRST to October first.
The senate has passed the Hall bill,
which provides for the establishment of
county dipping tanks on petition of
resident cattle owners, and for an in
spector of the same to be paid by the
fees for such work. This started in Ly-
man county where there are few herds
infected with scabies, but applies to
every county which desires to take ad-
vantage of its provisions.
One of the bills in the house which
started about as much commotion as any
of the little bills yet sprung was one by
Martin, OF Meade, allowing higher grades
than the eighth to be taught in the
country schools of the state. He said
his part of the state wanted such privi-
lege, and in this he was backed decided
ly by Hamm, of Pennington, who said
they tried that plan in their home dis
trict, and the county superintendent or
dered the teacher to stop, on pain of
cancellation of her certificate. Ruden,
school man, opposed it on the ground
that it would not be practical for any
teacher to take up all the grades, but the
farmers of the house got back of it, and
went through with a swing.
Among the appropriation bills passed
by the house the past week was one to
appropriate $1,000 to purchase addition
al land at the Spearfish Normal school,
and another to appropriate 81, 500 to
repair the heating plant at that institu-
ton.
Both houses are shaping up for the
final rush, and while the house has
long calendar ahead of it, most of the
bills introduced in that body are out of
committee, and from this time on it will
20 down. They will have a lot of sen
ate bills to look after, but they are try
ing to get their own bills well out of the
way by the end of the present week.
One the big fights Of the week was
that for the county uniformity of text
books, which passed the senate after
Dowdel had vainly tried to get state
uniformity grated into it. But when il
gets to the house, Bucholz, of Butte, and
Benson, of Moody, have statewide uni
formity bill which they will urge as