Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1921-03-18


conduct Of the boys industrial school
of the state pardon board and Of tha
building of the new state once build
ing all are going forward right nov
and legislators declare that too much
state business 10 allowed to 60 OF
without real supervision by those who
are supposed to supervise.
The senate has passed a bill to have
the governor name q commission Of
seven persons to cooperate with fed.
eral authorities In furthering the
cause Of Lake-to-the-Atlantic deep
waterway. The senate also has passed
bill to have the state pay half the
cost of killing or grasshoppers In
places where they become a pest.
The governor has signed the acts
raising the city school district tax 10
nine mills for school maintenance and
six mills for new schools; and to pro-
vide for annual June meetings Of the
state board Of equalization.
May Adjourn April ~
resolution has been introduced In
the house by Rep. Frick, of Detroit,
to set April IA as the date of business
adjournment Of this session, with final
adjournment May 8. General opinion
is that unless many matters now In
committee are dropped entirely the
latter date will be about the earliest
on which business adjournment can
be taken.
Leading all topics of conversation
in the legislative halls since the open
Ing Of the session of 1921 has been the
proposal Of Rep. Hart, of Detroit, to
establish the death penalty for MUIR
der. For few days it was thought
that adverse sentiment expressed at
public hearings had effectually stop
ped the measure for the season, but
then along came the house committee
that had the bill in charge and decid-
ed to report 1t out to the floor Of the
house
The measure came out of commit
tee without recommendation, but II
was out. "The house will kin It In Q
hurry. Why should we hold It back?"
was the gist Of statements by commit
tee members. But their report started
all over again the whole argument as
TO life imprisonment or the death PEN
atty for the crime OF murder. The re-
suit still is to be recorded.
Manufacturers Oppose Tax.
Next in point of discussion comes
the income tax proposals, the idea Of
Senator Penney of asking the federal
government to whack up with the
states on what it gets on its income
tax returns meeting with the objec-
tion in many quarters that there Is
small chance of the federal govern
ment agreeing to do so. Farmers are
demanding that some way be found to
relieve the tax burden on land, and
manufacturers are complaining that
they are overburdened with taxes
now and that state income tax will
merely be an extra levy on them.
Thus far the argument seems to be
between the farmer and the manu-.
facturer, with the salaried man still
to be heard from. Statistics are biting
produced in the capitol regarding
state income taxes in other common
wealths. They exist now in ten
states, Connecticut. Delaware, New
York, Massachusetts,, Minnesota, Ok
lahoma, Texas, Virginia, West vir-
ginia and Wisconsin and range all
the way from a direct tax Of one half
of one percent on all incomes, to tax
es with exemptions similar to those Of
the federal government and to taxes
on corporation profits alone. Definite
action Of some sort by the senate and
house committees Is expected 70 sok
low public hearings at which all CON-
ers will be heard on the whole sub
ject.
Women Active at Capital.
Influence of women's organizations
is being felt more In the present ses-
sion than ever before. This IL nat
ural, Of course, now that women have
the vote, but 1t Is interesting to OBJ
serve that matters with which women
petitioners concern themselves now
are principally those which women
failed previously to get enacted. But
no one 10 uiSpo5oo W lBuOr6 LuoI0
now. The bills on which petitions Of
women voters largely are based to
date, include the bill to raise the age
of consent to eighteen years; the bin
to enlarge the benefits under the
mothers pension act; the censorship
Of moving pictures; and tho so-calied
"eugenics bill" There is the usual
battle on every one Of these meas-
ures, all of which have been up IN
previous legislatures, but the chances
of all are enhanced appreciably BY the
force of the women behind them now.
Whether by accident or by design
the present body Of lawmakers has oct
a record for coming legislatures 70
shoot at Fewer bills have been IN
troduced up to the crucial time Of mid.
March than ever before. From this
time on it is not to be expected that
any bill, except it Is OF great public
moment, will be showed ahead oe
those already In committee, and thus
will have small chance OF getting on
the floor OF either house in time fo1