Off On A Jaunt

Lansim,. February 9, 1887. The time the leglxlature was actually in a for the week endingon the 5tb inst. was lo-s than :2o hours tor both houses. The session 011 Thursday before the adionrnmenl was oconpied almost entirely by Introdnction of notices and bilis aiul reports of eommittres. in order tlmt as many bilis as possjble might be printed by the time the recess is ended. Nono of them si tobeofany special note, tnough it is hard to teil what a bill contains by simcly reading its titlo. More bilU to repeal have been introducid than is usual. These are, of conrse. e-pociallv conimendable, 110 matter what they are aimed at. Thus f ir u than 400 billa havo been introduoed - about 275 ia tbe house and about 120 in the senate. Of these li.0 have been ordered printed, either torongh having been rocommeDded by the varióos committees to which thoy were referred, br by the house or senate l'or tho benelit of the committees interested. No pnblic act has yet been signed by the governor, althougli several have been passid. He has, however,signedfour joint resolutlons and O priVáte acts. The sen ate has i'u-Míil Bozne 20 lills and the housd about ■).". A few have been killed by strikII all after theenaoting clause, but as only "ight days wiU remnin after the recess iu which to introduce bilis, it is probable that the motion of the legislature, both as res ects passing and l.illing, wiU be fasiter. N'ow mucb time is spent In eommittee of the whole over private acts. Wben mattere of great iinportance begin to press.these will be acted on by an explanaiioii f rom the introducer of tho bill and a yea and uay vote, withunt debate. The churla may grumble and find fault because the legislators are enjoying themselves ut the state expense, but it's really money in the treasury in tbe long run, inasniuch as this vacation is taken insidu the 50 days allowed by the constitution for the introductioo o ƒ 1 lilis, as the number to be ncted pon will eertalnly be rduoed. and therefore mor time be given for their considoration. It is not probable that this will matenaljy affect the length of the session, but thi-ie is something wonderfully j leasing in the thought that oí considerable Iniportauee will not be rushed through wilh a rush nud a bang. The houe committee on milit: ry affalrs has in ide a favorable ri'port o;on a measure which, should it become alaw, will bo the largest uxpcndiMiro the state hns ever uudertaken. This is the little matter of paying bounty to the nmount of almost tl5,0W,0CO. Under the present iaw no soldier enlisting prior to Slarch t, lN:i, is entitled to bounty. After that dato the allowances are as follows: Miirih C to Nov. 10, '(!:! $ 50 Nov. 11, '13. to Feb. i, '04 50 Feb. 4to JUay 14, 'fti 100 Feb. 4 to April 14. '65 160 This omits poldiers enlistinf; in '61, '(ü, part of '68 and '64, and after April 14, 'l. The new mensure takes in all thee and tho bounty goes to the widow or orphatw in cae of the soldier's de:ith. The st ite will be required to pay IU,81fi,800 acoording to figures conipiled by the quartermastergeneral. These show that the state furnished '.;0,ÜOO men through the war. Under the old bounty Inw, only lü,5ïO men have reoeivea bouuty. leaving 71,-lüO who will be afteeted by the new Iaw. Allowing the nece8sary reductiona lor bounty previously received tho total sum required under the new Iaw reactie nearly $15.00 No such stupendous expe'nditure has ever bef re been attenipted by tho state. Tax levy is usually about S1.5C0 (K)() per annum. o." 50 cents per capita. The passage of tho bounty iaw would jump the levy to about $15.000,000 and run the per capita tax up to $G, or 12 times what it has ever been before. The bill providing for the establishment of a home for feebleminded chiklren was introduced by Mr. Crocker the other day. The ob eet of the home is set forth in the bill as follows: ■The object of the institution hall be to proyide by all proper and feasiblo menns the intellectual moral and pli3Tsieal culture of that unfortunate portion of the community who have been born or by disease may become itnbecile or feeble mindeil, an(l by a judicious and well adopted course of instruction and train':ig, to ameliorate their conrlition. and to develop as niuch as possible their intellectu.il faculties, to reclaim them from their unhappy position and fit them as far as possitila, for future usefulness in society." Tho bilí calis for an nppropriation of $10,0U0 thia year and of $15,000 in 1888. Trustees are to provide a temporary home and select a permanent site, to be reported to the next legislature. It should receive the hearty support of every member. The house has passed the bill to abolish the superior court of Detroit, and an effort was made to have the bill considered in the upper house tefore the recoss, but the attonipt was a failuro. W. A. Baker of Berrien county is credited with doing some verv skilliul engineering. He introducod in the house a joint resolution requesting congies to remove the arrears of pensions limit, and pension soldiers and gallon over 62 years of age, eto. at bout II o'clock in tbe forenoou. Before 7 o'clock in the afternoon the resolution had been passed by both ! houses, engrossed and enrolled, and signed by tho governor. Thirteen otficia) copies of the re-olution were at once sent to Washington. Representativo Ashton introduced a bili the other day asking tor an appropriation. for building four colony homes for chronio ins me and a contiguous cottage for a rosident physician at the Michigan asylum for the inane. The total cost of thus introduciog the "cottage system" inconnection with the institution naraed is estimated to besomewhatless thnn $30. (XX), and it appears to lie the most económica! plun yet suggested for the matter of carïng for tho overllow of patients at the institution. The measuro also provides for the erection of a chapel with seating ! pacity for 450 per-ons, containing in j tion to the usual cliapel equipments a separate stage for concerts and dr.imalic entertainment, the who!e to cost about $15 0K). and i storehouse to be built ata cost of something less than $7,000. The bill providing that the primary money shall bo forfeited in school districts where the study of the cli'ects of alcohol I on the human system is not tuught, was defeated in the house. In referonco to the bill propoing to eqnalize soldiers' bounties tho quurterni'ster general's office furnishes the j lowing figures: From the records in the olliie it is aseertained that up to October, 1868, a total of 8,111 men h 'd boen paid a state bouuty of $50 each. the agsiegute iftnount lieing (405.850. Up to Octoher, 1864. there were 5,s-Jl men paid a bounty of $100 each, aggie,'nting (5S2,400. From thatdatenpto October, 1865, whi-n bounlies ceased, 4,645 men wero paid $15!) each, aggre'ating f606,780. The state paid these men in bounties a total of $1,684,700. It is now urged that thoso who received no state bounty should be placed on the same footing as those who enlisted later and diil not serve so long. Michigan furnished 00.000 men. and aecording to the above figures 71.420 of thein rereived no state bounty. To give each oneof these $150, the liipcho't state bounty received by any one, would require 810,715.000. To furtber equalize it, the 8,111 men who were paid ?50 bounty should have an additional $100, and this awarded would take $811,103, To give the 5.824 who received $100 an additional Í5() refjuires $'?Jl,-00, making a total of $11,815,300. To equalize the bounties at $100 oaeh ■ would require the following sums: 71,420 men at $100, and 8,111 at $50 each, makiug ■ a total of 17,647,660.