Barton County democrat. [volume], January 29, 1915, Image 3

About Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
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MORE LEGISLATURE
" DOPE FROM FEDER.
: i (Too late for last week.)
Topeka, Kan., Jan. 20, 1915.
'Dear John:
The second week of the 1915
o ' session of the Legislature is now
on and it may be properly stated
.' that the session is in full swing.
The House, as usual, was much
o slower in getting started than the
Senate, but with that practically
all of the committee appointments
have been made. Committees of
both houses are hard at work and
the Senate has already spent the
greater part of two days in Com
mittee of the Whole. A large
iramber of bills have been intro
duced, among them some that
have been before former sessions
of the Legislature. Among the
important measures introduced
up to Saturday night were the
following:
Initiative and referendum.
Creation efficiency and econo
my commission.
Short ballot act.
Three-fourths jury verdict.
Amendments "blue-sky" law.
Semi-monthly pay day.
Four-year term for state offi
cers. Mother's pension bill.
Municipal farm home bill.
Abolishment barber board.
c Eight hour labor bill for wo
men. Repeal ten per cent garnishment
act.
Anti-tipping bill.
State insurance.
. Amendments utilities act.
Anti-"snilch" lawyer bill.
Jocelya bill limiting campaign
expenses.
Widow's exemption.
Ore ho Ise legislature.
The full crew bill.
. Of these the semi-monthly pay
day, the full crew bill, the initia-
tive and referendum and the eight
c , hour labor bill for women are re
cognized as old friends by habi
tues of the Legislature.
A provision is pending before
.the Senate to amend the consti
tution providing for a four year
term of office. Probably the most
radical amendment to the consti
6 tution that has been proposed is
the one house plan, which has
been advocated by Governor
1 Hodges and which has been intro
. duced in the Senate by Senator
cHowe. The important points of
. the provision are:
The legislative power to be
vested in a legislative assembly.
Membership to consist of two
0 representatives from each con-
o gressional district and two addi
,o tional members for each con
gressman at large.
Assemblvmen to receive MMi
a a year and traveling expenses
when visiting state institutions
Members must be residents of
and voters in districts from which
elected.
o ooc Election to congress or appoint
o anient, to federal office automati-
,, rally to vacate holder's seat in
assembly.
. No person convicted of embez
" 5 ziement or misuse of public funds
to be allowed to have a seat in
o the assembly.
Members must take oath to sup
P port constitutions of federal and
o state governments.
o A majority of the assembly to
constitute a quorum and qualifi
,, cations of its own members.
All vacancies for unexpired
L
t "Perona Haa Done Wonders For Me.
I Was So Weak."
were swollen so I could scarcely drag
uround.
"I took Peruna and It has done
wonders for me. My cure was a sur
prise to my friends for they never ex
pected, to see me' well again. I Just
took two bottles of Peruna after floc
torlng for five months and growing
worse all the time."
Continuous Headache!
Mrs. Esther M. Mllner, Box 191,
Be Graff, Ohio, writes: "I was a ter
rible sufferer from Internal catarrh,
and had the headache continuously.
I was not able to do my housework
for myself and husband. Tou recom
mended Peruna, I took four bottles
end was completely cured. I think
pruna a wonderful medicine and
have recommended It to ay friends."
Curry. P. O.
Box, 6 15,
vW j Petersburg,
4 "I have been
" , , . I troubled with
y Internal ' ca-
v atarrh since
f my girlhood,
and was sick
j In bed three
3V VSPM months.
fc J v abl to gat up
f V 7 and thin I
v a .fo, j I ate dlsa-
s gred with
C me. I had
y' stomach and
- liver trouble,
and my feet
- and limbs
terms to be filled by election, pro
vided, should a majority of the
members resign or be disquali
fied, the governor shall fill such
vacancies until a special election
can be called unless such vacan
cies occur within sixty days of a
general election.
Voting to be by yeas and nays,
which must be entered immediate
ly upon the journal of the assem
bly, which latter must be pub
lished. Every member to have right of
protest which must be entered im
mediately upon the journal.
Bills shall originate in the as
sembly and may be amended or
rejected by a majority vote.
A majority of the members
elected to the assembly voting in
the affirmative shall be nec
essary to pass any bill or reso
lution. Bills may be passed over the
veto of the governor by a two
thirds vote. They shall become
effective even though not approv
ed by the governor if not return
ed by him within three days. The
governor shall have right of par
tial veto in appropriation bills.
Every bill must be read on three
sepcrale days, except in emergen
cies. No member of the assembly
may be arrested, save for a felony,
while going to, coming from or
engaging in a session nor shall
he be served with any civil pro
cess during session or for fifteen
days before.
All terms shall begin the sec
ond Tuesday in January.
How far this will get is a hard
question to answer, that the ten
dency of the times are along that
direction goes without saying, but
it is doubtful if anything will
come of the move at this session.
Like all other changes in our form
of government it will be a ques
tion of education.
In the appointment of commit
tees Mr. Stone backed up on his
ultimatum issued last week and
granted to the minority members
of the House the representation
on committees and committee
chairmanships which was the rule
two years ago. Senator Sutton
of our district fared very well in
the matter of committee appoint
ments. He was a member of the
foirowing committees:
Rules.
Employees.
Insurance.
Judicial appointments.
Public utilities.
Railroads.
Ways and means.
Committee on committees.
Chairman of the Agricultural
committee.
This gives him membership on
practically all committees of im
portance except the judiciary com
mittee. Representative Zutavern was
also fortunate in getting good
committee appointments and is
serving on the following:
Committee of the second class.
Militia.
Public utilities.
Penal institutions.
Public buildings and grounds.
Barton county is represented on
the Senate pay roll by Louis Hans,
Sargeant at Arms of the Senate,
who, notwithstanding a little jib
or two from the Topeka Capital,
is getting around good. I. W. Ycn
scr is on the pay roll as an assis
tant journal clerk and Miss Alice
Brady, although now residing in
Topeka, is stenographer to Sena
tor Paulen.
We hear a great deal now about
an efficiency commission. I
imagine I hear some reader sav
that we have too many commis
sions now, which may be true.
but an efficiency commission, if
composed of the proper persons,
and giving the right kind of ser
vice, w ill be of considerable ben
efit to the tax payers of the stale.
It is absolutely out of the ques
tion for Governor Capper or any
one else, by himself managing one
department already, to give their
time and attention towards see
ing whether or not every other
department is properly managed
and following the lead of Illinois
and some of the other states. I
believe that it would be a good
thing for this state to have a per
manent efficiency and Civil Ser
vice Commission. Two resolu
tions are now in the Legislature
and we may expect some sort of
legislation on this proposition.
The threatened anti-pass legis
lation has appeared and I sincere
ly trust that it will become a law.
There is no reason why, since the
Public Utilities department now
has charge of utilities other than
railroads, that this department
should be given free transporta
tion over the railroad lines. It
should not be expected that the
railroad companies should bear
a part of the expenses of the tele
phone hearings, and that is just
exactly what the present pass law
does. ' .-
A bill has been introduced
abolishing the barber board and
we expect to see considerable cap
ital made out of the abolishing of
this board by the Republicans in
the next campaign, as having ef
fected the saving and the running
of the state. The facts are, how
ever, that the expense of keeping
up the barber board was not paid
by the tax payers of the state, but
by the barbers. A bill has also
been introduced to abolish the
hotel inspector, another proposi
tion over which much ado will
be made. The facts are that in the
recommendations to the 1913 Leg
islature by the health department,
which, up to that time, had been
doing the hotel inspection work,
this department was created and
it, like the barber board and other
departments, was not sustained by
the tax payers of the state, but by
the hotels of the state and the in
tention of the bill introduced is
not to eliminate the inspectors,
but to eliminate the department
and place is back on the Board of
Health, simply changing the name
an authority of the department,
but not lessening the expense to
either the state or the hotel peo
ple. The law was originally passed
as above slated in accordance
with the recommendations of Dr.
Crumbine, Secretary of the Hoard
of Health, and at the urgent soli
citation of the traveling men.
Right here I want to say that there
are a large number of hotels in
Kansas which need some one to
get after them with a red hot
poker frequently.
By reading some of the publica
tions in circulation in Kansas,
one would think that the Demo
cratic Senate was spending con
siderable money because it voted
an appropriation for postage
stamps, as well as for telephone
and telegraph service. It might
be well to call the attention of our
brethren to the fact that a num
ber of years previous to the 1913
Legislature, which was done in
both branches, a postage stamp
appropriation as well as free tele
phone and telegraph service had
been provided by the members
for themselves. When this ques
tion came up in the 1913 Demo
cratic session although the Sen
ate voted for this kind of a propo
sition, the House stopped it and
no free telephone or telegraph
service was extended to the mem
bers. Not so with the Republican
House of 1915, who have voted
themselves this service. These
are things that we might bear in
mind in the next campaign.
Numerous measures have been
introduced for the purpose of get
ting mortgages on the tax roll,
one of the most drastic along that
line being that of Senator Wag
ner which provides that any
mortgage which has not been list
ed for taxation shall constitute
a valid defense to the foreclosure
of it. About a dozen forms of
Mothers' Pension bills have ap
pcared and no doubt there will
be some legislation on this point
Another old friend of former ses
sions to appear is on providing
i for a uniform svslem of blanks.
As the law now is, every company
can purchase ils blanks from
whomever and wherever it pleas
es, but if this old friends should
become a law, it will practically
but out of business that class of
commercial printing and will
place the printing of the class of
work with the state printer. Thi
is a matter that has been up a
number of times and every time
was defeated.
The inheritance tax law has al
so bobbed up again but in a much
different form from the previous
law. The rates fixed in the bill
now pending, which was intro
duced by Senator Troutman,
range from one-half per cent for
the first twenty-five thousand up
to the exemption of ten thousand
in case of bequests to widows, to
a rale of fifteen per cent upon ev
erything above five hundred thou
sand left to persons not related
by blood or marriage to the de
ceased. The law provides an ex
emption of ten thousand in the
case of widows, and five thous
and each for husbands, sons,
daughters and adopted children;
widows or widowers of sons,
daughters and adopted children
and for grand children. These
are placed in Class A. The sec
ond. Class B, includes brothers,
sisters, parents, nephews and
nieces and for this the exemption
is a thousand dollars each. Class
C includes strangers to the line
of blood and the exemption is on
ly two hundred. The rates for
Class A are one per cent for the
first twenty-five thousand after
exempting ten thousand for wi
dows and all others in this class,
while the rate upon legacy wid
ows is about one-half per cent for
the first twenty-five thousand dol
lars above the exemption. The
rates graduate from there on up.
No doubt a hard fight will be made
for the passage of this bill.
Stock shippers of Kansas will
be interested in the passage of a
bill which Senator I. M. Mahan
of Smith county introduced. The
bill is aimed at the cupidity of
the Kansas City stockyards com
pany, but incidentally will curb
the avarice of all stockyards in
the state of Kansas.
Senator Mahin stated that the
Kansas City stockyards usually
charge about 400 per cent above
wholesale prices for feed which
it sells to shippers, or which is
fed to cattle and hogs in the yards.
The Mahin bill prohibits any
stockyards company from charg
ing in excess of 50 per cent abote
the prevailing wholesale price of
feed.
If adopted, the Mahin bill will
save thousands of dollars to the
live stock interests of Kansas. A
similar bill is now before the Mis
souri Legislature. The Mahin bill
is aimed to supplement the Mis
souri bill, as the Kansas City
slock yards are situated partly in
both states.
We have with us, as usual,
many women lobbyists and among
them, of course, a good represen
tilion of the Good Government
Club of Topeka, headed by Lila
Day Monroe.
Representative Mahurin of Cof
fey county, has introduced in the
House a bill providing for state
life insurance. The bill would put
insurance companies doing busi
ness in the state entirelv out of
business if the dreams and hopes
of the Coffey county member are
realized. Me asks lor an appro
priation of 10,000 to pul in op
eration the provisions of the act.
Two years ago Mahurin came
to Topeka with a bill in many
ways similar to the one just in
troduced. He lias made some
material changes in the measure,
however, and believes that his bill
has been material lv strengthened.
The operation of the new law-
would be placed in the hands of
the stale executive council.
The Coffey counlv man claims
for his bill a saving to Kansas life
insurance policy holders of from
six to eight million dollars per
year. The bill provides that the
stale shall establish a mortuary
basis on which rales shall be es
tablished and thai policies shall
be written for actual cost, based
on probable annual losses. The
money collected in premiums
would be available for loans on
Kansas real estate, such loans to
be approved by the executive
council.
To get at the 500 millions of
dollars of Kansas properly which
is not listed for taxation purposes.
according to claims made by the
slate tax commission, Senator Jo
seph has presented to the legisla
lure a bill fixing almost confisca
tory forfeiture provisions and
penalties for the failure either of
.properly owners or assessors to
properly list taxable lands or
goods. His bill also provides that
the stale lax commission shall
send experts to assist in the work
of assessment of property where
the local deputy assessor is un
able to intelligently arrive at val
ues to be put on llie lax rolls.
This bill is supplementary to
another by the same author in re
ference lo mortgages. Where the
first mentioned bill provides the
forfeiture of one-third of any pro
perly that shall be improperly
omitted from the lax rolls, the
second bill provides for the grad
ual w ithdrawal of mortgages from
taxation. It is expected that as
the state's income from taxes on
mortgages decreases, the income
from the workings of the other
bill will vastly over balance the
loss. Under the mortgage exemp
tion bill it is provided lhat reg
istry fees shall be assessed, in
lieu of other taxes on mortgages,
and that this registrv fee shall
diminish in amount for the next
five years after which time it shall
automatically be abolished.
"Mortgage taxation is poor pub
lic policy and should be abandon
ed," declared Senator Joseph.
"But 08 millions of mortgages are
listed in Kansas, when as a mat
ter of fact approximately 700,000
are outstanding. But if we could
draw out the concealed property
and tax it we could well afford
to give over any attempt to col
lect a tax on mortgages which
must, in the nature of things, be
eventually paid by the borrower
of the money."
Proposed laws for which the
Good Government club of Topeka
will lobby in the 1915 legislature:
Reformatory for girls.
Humane education in the public
schools.
Minimum wage for women.
Temperance day in the public
schools.
Child Hygiene Bureau, under
the stale board of health.
Mothers' compensation.
Tax exemption for all house
holders. Establishment of municipal and
county farms.
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FacSto3c Signature of
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NEW YORK.
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Exact Copy of Wrapper.
Kqual proorly rights for men
and women.
Proposed law the women lobby
ists will fight:
Inheritance lax for direct heirs.
A change has been made in the
rules of the House which is go
ing to make it pretty hard for a
member to escape responsibility
for his vote, practically all legis
lation that is killed is killed either
in Committees or in the Commit
tee of the Whole; in that commit
tee the rule has been so lhat it
was hard lo gel a roll call upon
any pending Questions, however,
the House rules have been so
changed that twenty-five members
can demand a roll call and it is
going lo be pretty hard for a mem
ber to evade responsibility with
out his constituents finding it out.
zutavern, of Barton county,
scored this week when he called
the attention of the House to the
fact that the members were vio
lating some of llie rules and regu
lations of the state as laid out by
our various departments and that
was when he offered a resolution
providing for individual drinkine
cups for members of the House.
II is needless to say lhat Mr. Z
lavern's resolution went through
as the members of Ihe House
would rather be law abiding and
law makers instead of law break
ers.
Municipal ice is the dream of
fcciiator II. I-. Sutlon of St. John.
His dream has been crvstalizcd
into the form of a bill in the state
senate and it has a fair prospect of
finally being congealed into a
stale law which will bring relief
lo the parched municinalilies of
Kansas where the price of ice still
soars. If il passes the Sutton bill
will enable the smaller towns of
Kansas to make their own ice
where the smallness of the fiel.l
has failed to attract capital for
the operation of a commercial ice
factory. In the larger places it
w ill serve as a club over the heads
of practical ice makers and per
suade them to keep their figures
down lo reasonable level.
"I live in one of the progres
sive towns of the state where our
commercial club has arranged for
an ice factory which will give us
fair prices," said Sutton, "but I
have learned by observation of
our own past experience that such
a law is worth while. I propose
merely to extend the power which
Kansas cities already have to vote
bonds for such utilities as water
and lighting plants. Where a
town already owns its water and
lighting systems it has nearly
everything but a little machinery
necessary for the manufacture of
ice. Ice is now a necessity. But
in the smaller towns its price
ranges high because of the limit
ed market. In such places a mu
nicipal plant would serve a cry
ing need.
"And of course the power vest
ed in a city to make its own ice
would always serve as a relief
from the occasional annoyance
due to high prices or insufficien
cies of supplies.".
Senator James A. Troutman of
Shawnee today introduced four
bills relating to election matters,
the first of what will probably be
a series of efforts to amend the
i
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For Infants and Children. , . !
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Bears the
Signature
of
In
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For Over
Thirty Years
TMI CtdTAUa oaMNT, NCW Vl OITt.
existing state laws on primary
and general elections. The general
purpose of the Troutman bills h
to simplify election business and1''
they call for some radical altera '
lions in the laws as they were left,
by the last legislature. . .
Briefly, the provide: ' '.
First, the abolition of the nomi-
nating petition and the substitu
lion therefore of the privilege of
a candidate to file his name as a
candidate, together with a fee
amounting to 2 per cent of the,
salary for one year in the office,
lo which he aspires. m v
Second, For' the abandonment
of the party council and the sub
stitution therefor of an earlv bar.
ty convention to be held before
the primary election and'in. time 1
for Ihe various candidates to sub
scribe to the platform which it
may adopt. "
Third, For a non-partisan coa
vention for the nomination of can
didates for the state supreme cour.
llns bill directs the chairman
and secretaries of all county com
mittees of all pantes to ioin in .
rann
M
Vli UK? u
uuuu u
the issuing of a call for an election
of delegates to this convention 0
with Ihe object of makiog it as s
representative of all nartics a c.
possible. This convention would 1
pick the names to go on the non-3 .
partisan ballot. " . "
Four, To change the office nf
superintendent of election from
an elective to an appointive office.
This would, believes Troutman, h
enable the governor to select a
man for the position for his spe-'
cial qualifications and remove
him from the hazards of political
race.
The legislation wheek , will
grind pretty fast from now on and '
wit is going to be pretty bard for
one who is anxious to keen nn
with what the solans are going to
out ai mat I suppose there are a
large number of people who will H
be mighty glad when the legisla- ' a
lure adjourns and will heave a 1
sigh of relief. L ij
Yours truly, e V
W.P. FEDER. i V
Fred Steuri was in Wichita Ihe il
first of the week on a buslncs, !''
trip and visit. , (
KANSAS SPENT 31 MILLION.-'
Yearly Increase in State, County
ana uty Expenditures Is
Vz Million
Topeka, Jan. 23. The cavern-
mental expenses of Kansas, statej
county, city, and townships, s al
most 61 million dollars a year and
has been crowing at-the rate' of
one and one-half, million dollars
a year. H. T. Howe, chairman qf
the state tax commission, has just
received from the county clerks
me amount of taxes raised m the
various counties for all purposes
in 1914. The total was ?30,938,
122. In 1913 the total taxes were
$29,483,883 and in 1912 the figures
were .$27,806,606.
The expenses of the slate and
local governments have been grow,
ing at the rate of 1 'and one-third",
to one and one-half million dol
lars each year for the past ten
years. The state taxes make op
only one-tenth of the total. They
have not increased quite as fast
as the local taxes.
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