MICHIGAN 



3788 



MICHIGAN 



Saint Paul; the Minneapolis, Saint Paul & 

 Sault Sainte Marie; the Duluth, South Shore 

 & Atlantic; the Detroit & Mackinac; the Ann 

 Arbor, and the Grand Rapids & Indiana. 

 There is also a well-developed and extensive 

 network of interurban electric lines. During 

 recent years the state has started to improve its 

 highways. 



Michigan possesses a railroad commission, ap- 

 pointed by the governor, which has extensive 

 powers. Since 1915 the express companies and 

 the telephone lines have been classed as com- 

 mon carriers and have been put under its con- 

 trol. 



Government. Michigan is governed under a 

 new constitution adopted in 1908. This is the 

 third the state has had since its admission to 

 the Union in 1837. Amendments may be pro- 

 posed in either branch of the legislature, and 

 are adopted if they -receive two- thirds of the 

 vote in each house and are afterwards approved 

 by a majority vote of the people. Since 1913 

 amendments may also be proposed by petition 

 of not less than ten per cent of the qualified 

 electors, filed with the secretary of state at least 

 four months before election. 



The executive officers, the governor, lieuten- 

 ant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer, au- 

 ditor-general, attorney-general and superintend- 

 ent of public instruction, are each elected for 

 two years. Among the offices created recently 

 is that of state fire marshal, who receives his 

 appointment from the governor. 



The legislative power is vested in a senate, 

 consisting of thirty-two members, and a house 

 of representatives, consisting of not fewer than 

 sixty-four and not more than 100 members. The 

 members of both houses of the legislature are 

 elected for two years and by single districts. 

 Sessions are helcl every second year, beginning 

 on the first Wednesday in January of odd- 

 numbered years, and are not limited as to 

 length. Michigan sends thirteen members to 

 the United States house of representatives. 



At the head of the judicial department is 

 the supreme court, consisting of eight judges, 

 elected for eight years. The members of the 

 court are required to reside at the state capital, 

 and the justice whose term expires first is chief 

 justice during his last year of service. The 

 state is divided into judicial districts and each 

 has a circuit court, presided over by a judge 

 elected for six years. Each county has a pro- 

 bate court, whose judge is elected for four years. 



Towns and cities may adopt the commission 

 form of government. The electors of cities 



and villages have power to make or amend 

 their charters. Cities and villages may acquire, 

 own and operate their public utilities. 



Other Constitutional Provisions. Michigan 

 has adopted a county local option law for deal- 

 ing with the liquor traffic, and over one-fourth 

 of the state is prohibition territory. Drinking 

 of alcoholic liquors in trains, except in dining 

 cars, is prohibited. Breweries may not own sa- 

 loons, directly or indirectly. An employers' 

 liability law, which does not apply to farm la- 

 borers and domestic servants, was adopted in 

 1912. Married women have a right to their 

 personal earnings. Girls under eighteen are not 

 allowed to work in a factory; children under 

 sixteen are not allowed to work in a factory, 

 workshop, mine or in messenger service be- 

 tween the hours of 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. The 

 working hours of children under eighteen are 

 limited to ten a day and fifty-four a week. An 

 amendment to the constitution, adopted in 1913, 

 provides that staUite laws may be enacted by 

 the initiative and referendum (which see). There 

 is a primary election law for direct nomina- 

 tion of all elective state, county and munici- 

 pal officers. In 1913 the state adopted the re- 

 call (which see) of all elective public officers 

 except judges of the courts. In 1920 women in 

 Michigan will for the first time cast their votes 

 for electors of the President of the United 

 States. 



Charitable and Penal Institutions. The state 

 maintains a school for the blind at Lansing; 

 an employment institution for the blind at Sagi- 

 naw; a school for the deaf at Flint; a school 

 for feeble-minded and defective children at 

 Lapeer, and a school for poor and dependent 

 children at Coldwater, which was the first in- 

 stitution of its kind in the United States. The 

 state prisons are at Jackson and Marquette; 

 there is a house of correction at Detroit. The 

 state reformatory for young men offenders is at 

 Ionia; an industrial school for boys (reforma- 

 tory) is at Lansing, and one for girls is at 

 Adrian. The state maintains at Howell a sana- 

 torium and farm colony for the care and treat- 

 ment of epileptics. Hospitals for the insane 

 are at Pontiac, Kalamazoo, Traverse City, New- 

 berry and Ionia. As regards its penal legisla- 

 tion Michigan has adopted a probation law as 

 well as a parole law and the indeterminate sen- 

 tence. 



History. The Earliest Settlements. French 

 Jesuit missionaries and traders had visited 

 Michigan as early as 1610, but the first perma- 

 nent settlement was founded at Sault Sainte 



