Ihe State 



JOHN 1HLDER, Editor 



Published Every Month by The State Review Publishing Company. 



Official Organ of Che Michigan Forestry Association 



and 

 The Michigan Good Roads Association 



THORNTON P. CRAFT, Adv. Manager 



Vol. 3. No. 3. 



GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, AUGUST, 19O6. 



Price 10 Cents 



The Month In Michigan 



The Socialists held their state convention in Grand Rapids on 

 July 5 and nominated a full ticket. Thirty-one delegates were pres- 

 ent. James E. Walker of Muskegon was nominated for governor, 

 and Phillip Ingall of Detroit for lieutenant-governor. Four persons 

 were killed and five others badly burned by the explosion of a gaso- 

 line tank at the Cosendai Dye Works in Saginaw on July 6. Gov- 

 ernor Warner, on July 6, appointed as Michigan delegates to the 

 Iowa conference on a proposed amendment to the Federal consti- 

 tution providing for the direct election of United States Senators, 

 Arthur Hill of Saginaw, Thomas E. Barkworth of Jackson, Henry 

 C. Smith of Adrian, William Alden Smith of Grand Rapids, William 

 C. McMillan of Detroit, Charles H. Smith of Calumet, aud Charles 

 E. Townsend of Jackson. The conference is to be held ait Des Moinss 

 on September 5. An aftermath of these appointments was a dis- 

 pute between the Detroit Journal, which quoted Mr. McMillan as 

 inquiring, "Why should I go out to that hot hole? I want to be at 

 Manchester about that time. Anyway there is a good deal of fake 

 talk about the direct nomination business." Mr. McMillan denied 

 having uttered these words, but the Journal reaffirmed the accu- 

 racy of the interview and published a two-column editorial giving 

 all the circumstances. William A. Greeson, formerly dean of Lewis 

 Institute, Chicago, has accepted the position of superintendent of 

 schools in Grand Rapids. The July furniture season in Grand 

 Rapids was unusually successful this year. A petition by some of 

 the out of town exhibitors to have the season open a little later 

 was refused. The Marquette land office report shows that the 

 Federal government still owns 306,155 acres of land in Michigan, 

 almost equally divided between the two peninsulas. About 20,000 

 acres a year has been taken up by private individuals during the 

 past five years, nearly all of it for grazing purposes. Jackson has 

 abandoned its project of cleaning and straightening Grand river as 

 a Circuit Court jury has decided that this is not a necessary public 

 improvement. A Circuit Court jury five years from now would 

 probably come to a different conclusion. Kent county has secured 

 a hospital in which to shelter temporarily persons believed to be 

 insane. Heretofore Kent, like nearly all other Michigan counties, 

 has lodged these unfortunates in the jail. Col. M. B. Adams, United 

 States engineer officer, who has charge of the river and harbor 

 work along the western shore of the Lower Peninsula, recommends 

 the expenditure of more than a million dollars during the coming 

 education board's political methods. One charge is made by Inspec- 

 tor Miehm that Inspector Lee offered $500 for a vote for the presi- 



dency. Prosecutor Hunt is also investigating an alleged combine 

 among the Detroit ice dealers. Cedar Springs, on July 26, unveiled 

 * monument to the soldiers of the Civil War. The State Supreme 

 Court, on July 24, declared unconstitutional the present senatorial 

 apportionment act and directed the secretary of state to call the 

 coming senatorial election under the laws of 1895. The reason given 

 for the finding is that the new law divided the districts without 

 regard for population. The State Supreme Court, on July 24, upheld 

 Judge Wiest of the Ingham county court in his decision that tha 

 state is not barred by the statute of limitations from collecting 

 14,000,000 in back taxes due from the Michigan Central railroa-1 

 between 1856 and 1893. The state alleges that the railroad escaped 

 paying these taxes by making fraudulent reports of the value of 

 property it had subject to taxation. The vacancy in the Federal 

 Circuit bench caused by Judge Wanty's death must be filled soon. 

 Among the prominent candidates are Mr. Arthur Denison of Grand 

 Rapids, who has been endorsed by the local Bar Association, and 

 la recommended by Senator Tal't and other men of national repu- 

 tation, and Judge Clement Smith of Charlotte, who has been 

 endorsed by the Eaton County Bar association. The Committee of 

 Heventy-four has presented Secretary Butterfield of the State 

 Fair Society protests bearing the signatures of 16,500 persons 

 against the opening of the State Fair on Sunday and against the 

 sale of liquor on the grounds. Most of these protests are from 

 churches and religious bodies, but many are from Farmers' clubs 

 and granges. The Michigan troops started on August 4 for the 

 summer encampment at Indianapolis. The State Supreme Court 

 has decided that the constitution prohibits the manufacture of any 

 commodities in state prisons unless the principal supply of such 

 commodities for home consumption is imported. This is a boost 

 for Highway Commissioner Earle, who proposes to employ these 

 prisoners at road making. The Prohibition party in state conven- 

 tion at Detroit, on July 3, nominated a full ticket headed by R. 

 Charles Reed of Livingston county as candidate for governor. The 

 State Bar association has formally declared itself in favor of a 

 non-partisan constitutional convention. The Michigan United Rail- 

 ways has deeded in trust to the Knickerbocker Trust company of 

 New York all its property, franchises and assets. The object of 

 this deed is said to be to cover an issue of first mortgage gold bonds 

 for $7,500,000. The deed covers the Lansing, Battle Creek and 

 Kalamazoo city lines and several interurban lines. 



Judge Wanty's Death 



On July 10 word reached Michigan that 

 Judge George P. Wanty of the United States 

 District Court had died in London, England, 

 shortly after undergoing a surgical opera- 

 tion. Though Judge Wanty had been in ill- 

 health for several years the news came to 

 his friends with all the shock of surprise, for 

 when he had started for Europe a month 

 before he had seemed on the way to recov- 

 ery from his recent severe sickness. 



The summarized record of Judge Wanty's 

 career is not a long one. He was born in 

 Ann Arbor on March 12, 1856. After earning 



his living for some time he entered the law 

 department of the University of Michigan, 

 where he graduated in 1878. That same year 

 he began to practice law in Grand Rapids, 

 where he continued to make his home until 

 the time of his death. He was elected presi- 

 dent of the Michigan State Bar Association 

 in 1895 and chairman of the general com- 

 mittee of the American Bar Association in 

 1896. In 1900 he was appointed judge of the 

 United States District Court. 



But this brief summary gives no idea of 

 what his life was or what it meant to those 

 with whom he came in contact. Perhaps his 

 official position would in any case have been 



sufficient to draw together the other men in 

 official positions who gathered in the Federal 

 Court room in Grand Rapids on the day of 

 his funeral; but that alone could never have 

 inspired the words with which they paid 

 tribute to one who had been friend as well 

 as associate, nor could it have drawn to that 

 room the many who had no conventional rea- 

 son for attending. It was the loss of George 

 Wanty that these men mourned, not that of 

 an upright and able judge, for during the 

 twenty-eight years of his life in Grand Rap- 

 ids he had become one of the best-beloved 

 men in the city. Strong, able, honorable, 

 his sweetness and geniality added affection 

 to the admiration in which he was held. 



