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RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED.

Jt. Res. No. 2, S.,

Resolved by the senate, the assembly concurring, That the superintendent of public property be and he is hereby directed to furnish forthwith to the legislature the legislative directories, the legislative manuals and blue book of 1911, the Wisconsin session laws of 1911, the Wisconsin statutes, and the Wisconsin annotations, as provided by section 20.84 of the statutes, this resolution being an application under subsections 6 and 8 of said section 20.84, and in addition one copy each of the statutes and annotations to each member of the Judiciary committee of each house, and one of each of the above to every other standing committee of the legislature.

That the state librarian be and he is hereby directed to supply the Judiciary committee of each house with a set of the Wisconsin supreme court reports and digests thereof, to be returned to the proper custodian at the close of the session.

By Senator Browne.

Adopted.

Upon motion of Senator Martin,

The senate repaired to the assembly chamber to receive the biennial message of the governor.

GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and Assembly:

A salient feature of government in America is the separation of its departments into executive, legislative and judicial. This partition of power, together with the complicated system of constitutional checks and balances that goes with it, has its merits and its defects. Undoubtedly it promotes independence and responsibility in official action within each department; but it also tends toward enfeeblement of public authority as a whole. Fortunately as to the executive and legislative branches. of government in this state the separation is not complete. The governor possesses the veto power. He is also required by the Constitution to "communicate to the legislature at each session the condition of the state and recommend such matters to them for their consideration as he may deem expedient." This power to initiate legislation and to defeat it in effect makes the governor a part of the legislature. In view of this similarity in our respective functions and heartily welcoming as I do the tendency manifest in recent years to closer coöperation between these two great departments of government, I approach the performance of my first duty with the utmost deference to the superior judgment of the many who constitute this honorable. body and with the sincere hope that the most perfect harmony may always characterize our relations toward each other.

But before passing on to a consideration of the purely public matters that I am about to present to you, permit me to greet you warmly and in the name of all our people to welcome you to the capitol. Affiliated as you are with various political parties, differences of opinion concerning public matters will naturally arise and antagonism of purpose will sometimes appear. But let us never forget that while some may err, all wish to do well and leave honorable records here. Golden oppor

tunities to do so are now spread out before you; and undoubtedly before this session has closed there are many among you who will have rendered high and lasting service to the people of Wisconsin. May your residence here be pleasant. May your official labors be fruitful. May the work of this session be profitable to the state. Assuring you in all sincerity that I am as deeply interested in the success of what you are about to undertake as any one of you I invite your confidence and coöperation to the end that as a result of our joint efforts this great state may continue to grow in wealth, in wisdom and in happiness.

The Legislature of 1911.

I have frequently commended the work of the last legislature and congratulated the people of Wisconsin upon the amount, high quality and enduring character of the legislation then enacted. I have felt and still feel that too much cannot be said in its praise. Broad, comprehensive policies were then adopted that have for their object the partial solution at least of problems as old as the human race and as insistent as the requirement of daily bread: the problems of how to secure a closer approximation to fundamental democracy in our civil institutions and to social justice in industrial affairs.

is political and the other economic; one contemplates changes in government, the other improvement in living conditions. Both are equally related to everything that touches the liberty of the citizen.

For the advancement of the first, laws and resolutions were passed concerning corrupt practices in elections, second-choice voting at primaries, the initiative, referendum and recall, local self-government and the expression of the popular preference for president. These enactments, especially the first two, have already been splendidly justified by experience. In the interest of economic justice broad and far-reaching policies were inaugurated relative to labor, taxation, public highways, the conservation of our natural resources, life insurance, industrial education and agricultural coöperation. Looked at in retrospective it appears more like the work of a decade than of a single session. Best of all, it is work so well done that none of it will have to be done over again; for we find now that it is

all as successful in practice as at the time of enactment it appeared sound in principle. It has already greatly benefited our people. It has unquestionably placed our state foremost among the commonwealths of America in enlightened, progressive legislation. It has therefore immeasurably lightened your labors. Nor does it derogate in the least from the dignity of what you may do, to say that one of your principal duties will be to strengthen and perfect by amendment the principal measures enacted two years ago wherever experience may have shown that improvement is possible. Travelers say that in China it is the practice to construct splendid buildings and never repair them; but when they have tumbled down to build. splendidly again. Let us not imitate this Oriental custom in dealing with the laws and constitution of our state.

Labor Legislation.

No topic occupied more of the time and thought of the last legislature than the rights of labor. On this subject it took advanced ground. It generously fulfilled the platform pledge that in all matters affecting workers Wisconsin should be placed in the lead. It enacted the first valid workmen's compensation law ever put into effect in America. It regulated the hours of employment of women. It amended and improved the statutes relative to child labor and street trades. Most important of all, it lifted the whole subject of the relation of employer and employee to a new and higher plane by establishing the Industrial Commission modeled after the Wisconsin Railroad Commission that has deservedly won such widespread commendation. Through this new commission as through its prototype the public interests are now adequately protected and the poor are enabled to get justice without having practically to buy it in court in an unequal struggle with wealthy and powerful adversaries.

Experience has already justified the creation of this new board on grounds of economy and efficiency. By consolidating the Bureau of Labor, Industrial Accident Board, the Board of Arbitration, the Factory Inspection and Free Employment Bureaus under one head it has effected a substantial saving by permitting the force of employees to be used where they are

most needed at the time and to be shifted from one department to another as the requirements of the work may demand. It now has eleven departments: the administration of the compensation law, the supervision of women's hours of labor, child labor, truancy, street trades, free employment bureaus, factory safety and sanitation, bakery and confectionery inspection, arbitration, statistical investigations and the compilation of the Blue Book.

By means of this coördination of functions and concentration of authority the administration of the compensation law has cost the state less than $5,000 the first year, exclusive of the salaries of the commissioners and their printing expenses. Heretofore the free employment offices have been conducted without marked success; now they are fairly comparable to those of Germany where it has always been considered model. bureaus of this sort were maintained. This success has been made possible partly because of the centralization of management just mentioned and partly as a result of the financial coöperation of the cities where these offices are located. The safety and sanitation work has been so efficient as to attract the attention of experts throughout the entire country.

In place of the haphazard and piecemeal legislation of former years, the passage of this act imposed on employers in every line of industry the comprehensive duty of protecting the life, health and safety of all employees and left to the Commission the duty of ascertaining what are the dangers from which workmen need protection and how they should be protected. In carrying out this policy the Commission has wherever possible wisely enlisted the coöperation of every interest affected, not only in drafting its orders but in enforcing them. On the various committees that assisted in formulating its rules on safety and sanitation, for instance, were the representatives of the Wisconsin Manufacturers' Association, the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association of Milwaukee, the State Federation of Labor, the State Consumers' League, the inspectors of the various liability insurance companies, the inspectors of the cities of Milwaukee and Chicago, the safety experts of employers in Wisconsin, as well as the deputies of the Commission. These committees devoted a large amount of time to this work without any expense whatever to the state. Public authority was kept close to the people. As a result

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