The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 19, 1919, Page 8

- Wisconsin Lawmakers Favor Interests Unorganized Farmers Powerless to Check Legislation for Special Privilege— Labor Threatend by Hostile Measures—Assembly Reactionary By Special Correspondent ISCONSIN is experiencing an- other reactionary legislature, the worst in the history of re- cent years, where corporation- controlled lawmakers are mak- | to smother the people’s demands //4/% for reform. Not only have these legislators wet-blanketed nearly every attempt to pass progressive legislation, but they are also attempting to repeal what few peo- ple’s laws remain on the statutes of the state. Instead of quieting the public unrest by enact- ment of measures to correct the industrial evils of Wisconsin, this session is tantalizing the people by further depredations in favor of the moneyed interests. While farmer members, lacking I : CH ANGING THE SCENERY thorough organization, and labor rep- resentatives squabble among them- selves over petty differences, the cor- poration crowd and the bankers’ lob- by grin up their sleeves and advance their pet legislation. This session will not end before the latter part of June or in July and be- fore it is through the 1919 legislature will have killed virtually all of the people’s bills and passed many of the money-nursed measures. Out of a score or more of progres- sive bills, only two today appear to stand any chance whatever of final passage. These-are the initiative and referendum measure and the anti-in- junction bill. The reactionaries are trying to re- peal the state insurance fund for the benefit of the private companies who dislike to compete with the state’s at- cost policy system. They are putting through an alleged red flag bill which in reality is a camouflaged measure to prevent labor from agitating for gov- ernmental reform. The bill prohibits “criticism of the government.” Labor has bit- terly fought this bill, but as the progressive element lacks organi- zation the measure is meeting with success. Labor members con- tend that the term “criticism of the government” is aimed to sup- press labor. i EMPLOYERS FAVOR BILL FOR STATE CONSTABULARY The employers’ lobby is backing a measure pending which would allow importation of noncitizens as police officers in labor troubles. Another measure has been prepared for intro- duction at an early date to provide a state con- stabulary to suppress strikes and public meetings not approved by the corporation interests. One of the biggest fights of the session thus far has centered around a joint resolution to re- veal profiteer figures. The resolution passed the senate after a bitter contest, but was halted in the assembly. Wisconsin has an income tax system and the purpose of the resolution was to compel the state tax collector to produce the returns of all corporations whose incomes exceeded $100,000 a year each during the war period. . The corporation solons feared the object of the resolution was to expose the profiteers and make it possible for the progressives to introduce legislation to cut down the profits and impose additional taxes against these “war baby” corporations. This fear would account for the de- termined fight the reaction- aries put up against the meas- ure. The legislative situation in | Wisconsin is a peculiar one. i The senate is more progressive i than in any previous session, i which accounts probably for i the introduction of nearly all of the labor bills in that branch ing every conceivable attempt , see whe’s behind it all anyway. Republican. progressive legislation. of the legislature. The assembly, which corresponds to the house of representatives in other states, is the most reactionary that ever was seated in the history of the state. Thus, while progressive bills are passed in the senate, they are invariably buried in the assembly. The State Federation of Labor drew up 93 bills early in the session and after three months only one of them of any importance passed the assembly. Throngs of union men gathered in the lobby and frightened the weaker of the corporation assembly- men into voting for the anti-injunction bill. This is a measure to prevent biased judges from enjoin- ing strikers from picketing. The initiative and referendum measure appeared to have a chance of passage. This bill failed of flwnlllllllll\\§ : 4 movm —Drawn expressly for the Leader by Congressman John M. Baer It doesn’t make any difference what sort of camouflage he uses, it’s easy to At the next session of congress, Privilege will lay aside the Democratic mask and appear disguised as a But he will go about getting the same old special privilege legislation, in the same old way. passage two years ago, but at that time it carried a recall provision. This year-the progressives elim- inated the opposition influence of the grafters in public office by eliminating the recall proviso. Virtually nothing at all was done in the interest of the farmer. Although Wisconsin’s main indus- try is farming and dairying, its protection and ad- vancement was given little if any consideration in the legislature. Only two bills of any importance were introduced designed to affect the farmer. One of these is termed the marketing bill. and presented in the senate, it called for state mar- keting of farm and dairy productsein such a way This is the fourth in a series of articles dealing with the acts of legislatures in states where the League is organized. - As in other states where the League still is in the minority, the special interests dance while the people pay the piper. The record of the Wisconsin lawmakers is worth compar- ing with that of the North Dakota legislators. opened at about the same time as the North Dakota session. The North Dakota legislature adjourned many weeks ago, with a wonderful record of The Wisconsin legislators are still meeting and probably will not end their session for a month or more. of the few laws passed have failed to benefit the people and threaten what rights they now enjoy. PAGE EIGHT As originally drawn - The Wisconsin session that the farmer would get more for his products and the consumer would be able to buy it for less. This would be accomplished by eliminating the un- necessary middlemen. When the bill got into the assembly after passage in the senate, the reactionaries tacked amendments on it so that the bill might, if the graft was eliminated, reduce the cost of agri- cultural products to the consumer, but nothing more would be paid to the farmers. In other words, they eliminated consideration of the farmers’ welfare entirely. The amendments disgusted the authors so much that they with- drew the bill and thus another session probably will be ended without any fair and adequate marketing law being enacted. A bid for the support of the farmer members was made just before im- portant corporation bills were to be up for a vote, by the introduction of the so-called dynamite bill. This measure was so camouflaged as to lead the farmers to believe it was de- signed solely for their benefit. DYNAMITE BILL TO AID PROFITEERS OFFERED The measure provided that home- steaders could get dynamite from the state on credit so as to aid land clear- ing. Northern Wisconsin is sparsely settled. This is because the timber barons have seen fit to profiteer in lands. Thousands of acres of cut- over lands are for sale. Forty-acre tracts which can be cleared fairly easy are for sale at at- tractive prices. But the farmer must buy additional 80 acres of stony, sandy and almost untillable land in order to buy the 40-acre tract. That is part of the agreement under which sales are made. The homesteader buys. He can not clear the 40 acres and make profit enough to pay taxes on that tract and the other 80 acres, besides pay his in- stallments and interest on the pur- chase price. Thus the land usually reverts to the land barons on foreclos- ure process. The timber barons are anxious to have the farmer, during his tentative and brief period of owner- ship, clear off as much of the land as possible, so that it will be easier to resell again at a higher price. That is the real object of the dyna- mite bill. It would enable the home- steader to clear off these cutover lands faster, so that when he goes bankrupt or defunct and the farm goes back to the original owners, the land will be more valuable. The only other measure which was introduced in the interest of the farmer was smoth- ered and given ether in a committee. It was termed the McClone resolution and called for an investi- gation of the farm machinery industry. y The preamble of the resolution recited that prices of farm machinery had increased at least 100 per cent in the last two years. The bill called for the appointment of two senators and two assemblymen to a committee with power to examine witnesses. The farm machinery trust lobby was actively op- posing for two reasons: One was the trust didn’t care to have its profits exposed to public examina- tion. The other was that it feared the real object was to enable the state to take steps preparatory to manufacture at-cost machinery in the state penal institutions. Another attack on the profi- teers was launched in the sen- ate, embodied in the Bennett- Lerche resolutions. The Ben- nett measure called for a leg- islative investigation into the packing industry. The Lerche resolution memorialized con- gress for government owner- ship of packing houses. They recited that the Big Five con- trolled meat production in the United . States for illegitimate profits. Both resolutions failed. ] Most