Charlevoix county herald., 1921-03-25
Change Means
Forward Step
Dept of Agriculture Constructive
Bill Enacted.
(From star Correspondent

CFrom Staff Correspondent
Lansing.-One OF the greatest con.
structive steps of the present legis
lature was made when the senate
adopted without amendment the bill
already passed by the house to create
state department of agriculture, and
sent 1t to the governor for his sigma.
ture. This is one Of the series Of So
called administration bills designed to
systematic the handling Of the work
OF the state. In the new department
will be drawn all present bureaus and
boards which deal with agricultural,
livestock, breeding, apiary, horticul.
tural, state fair and kindred matters.
The department of agriculture will
be under a single commissioner. Aid.
ing him there will be a board of TWEEN.
ty men, designed mainly to take care
Of that many divisions of affairs in
the state fair. These men will be
named from all parts of the state and
will have no salaries, but be allowed
ten dollars a day for time actually
given to state service. Their main
service. according to the legislators,
will pertain to the actual conduct of
the state fair while it Is open for its
annual show.
Labor Department Next.
Coincident with the passage of this
bill, the next one of the series, that
to create state department of labor
and industry, was reported out OF
committee in the house, pushed on to
consideration in committee of the
whole and quickly advanced to third
reading, where it passed and went to
the senate. In this department are
to be included the present state labor
department, the state accident board,
state oil inspection and numerous new
duties pertaining to the advancement
of Michigan in the industrial world.
AT the same time comes the an.
nouncement that still another bill of
the administration series Is being
drawn up in the attorney generals Of.
fees. 1t contemplates consolidating
the work of the present numerous
boards OF control of state institutions
into four institutional boards, one for
state prisons, one for insane asylums,
one for corrective and industrial
schools and one for charitable institu.
tions. Gov. Groesbeck has announced
even further plans in connection with
prison control. These aim to suppress
the wave of banditry in Michigan
cities by having all telephone and tele-
graph services cooperate with police
and sheriffs by instant and widespread
alarms of all crimes so that even
criminals attempting to escape in
no matter how many miles start they
may get before their crime is dis
covered.
State Building "Cheese Box"
Gov. Groesbeck is dissatisfied with
the new state Office building in Lans
ing, declaring it to be cheese box"
which will cost the people of the state
three million dollars or more. He
believes that state architect could
save the state many thousands on pub
lie work Of that character.
Along with the new constructive
measures are others which enjoy more
attention from the galleries and bask
in the limelight while they are UP for
consideration. Probably the greatest
of these was the Hart bill to restore
capital punishment in Michigan for
first degree murder, it attracting the
most interest of any measure before
the present body of lawmakers. The
day 1t came up in committee of the
whole the house galleries and side
lines were so jammed with spectators
that the door sergeants finally had to
refuse entrance to any more.
The bill got by committee Of the
whole without amendment and came
up the following day on third read
ing for final vote. Again the house
was jammed. Orations were made by
the score. Not only were the merits
of the death penalty as compared with
life Imprisonment in the matter Of de
terring crime gone into by the speak
ers, but statistics of all sorts were
produced, authorities from Theodore
Roosevelt to prison wardens quoted
and many old tragedies retold in all
their gruesome details.
Long Debate On Measure.
For an entire afternoon the house
debated the bill and the clock was
close to the hour of six when roll call
was begun in the midst of the most
tense silence had on any house vote
for many sessions 1t showed 49 rep
resentatives In favor of the death
penalty and 46 opposed, five members
being absent. The bill thus failed OF
passage, lacking two votes of the nee
essary 81. Effort to reconsider the
vote in order to table the bill failed
when Reps. Moore and Haan. who hat