The Grange advance., 1874-01-14
.EDIT0RIAk CoRREsPONDENCE..

The Legislature convened yesterday at
twelve O'Clock, promptly, the Senate being
called to order By Lieut.. Gov. Yale, and
the House of Representatives BY the Hon.
s. 2. Jennison, Secretary Of State. The
all absorbing question was that OF the or
ganizing Of the House. The officers Of the
] Senate had been determined by the repub-
+ lican caucus tlle proceeding evening, nom
ination by that caucus being equivalent to
! an election. But not so Of the House, for
notwithstanding the Press claimed repub-
iican majority of about fifteen, and the Dis
patch asserted that the opposition had a
majority Of five at least, every reasonable,
impartial observer, saw plainly that the
contes, would be very close, with the
chances in favor Of the republicans. What
object is expected to be gained by these
wlllful perversions and Misrepresentation
of facts do not know, unless it be to suck
in a few Of the weak -kneed, half-cooked.
miserable. brainless gulls who always go
with the winning side if they only know
which that is.
After the members had been sworn in, the
Chair announced that the next thing would
be the election Of speaker. Mr.. David Tay
lor, Of Houston Co., nominated on the part of
the anti-nonopolists, the Hon. John \. Da-
wilson. Mr.. Childs, OF Waseca Co., On the
part of the republicans, nominated the Hon
a. R, Hall, Of Henuepin Co. AS the roll
was being called, the most intense interest
was manifested The voice of the clerk as
members, - Hail." or Davidson,' were
the only sounds in the chamber. great
many attempted to keep tally some of
whom grew so excited as the vote proceeded
that they were soon left in hopeless con-
fusion. and theh betook themselves to
/ watching others who had been more sue
cessful in keeping track Of the vote. Mem
bers frequently responded the name OF the
man they didn't want to vote for, and then
conscious of the mistake instantly stam-
meret out the correct name. For long
|
Davidson shot ahead some eight or ten
votes, and us the clerk was now down in
the Rs it seemed as iffh he was going to W in
the day, but Hall steadily gained on him on
the home stretch, and when the clerks
voice had ceased every one who had kept
correct count. saw that Hall had So to
Davilsons ) so. Mr.. Lord then stated that
he had responded twice having mistaken
the name Of a man who was not present for
his own. This reduced Mr.. Davidsons $
vote to 49,
1t has been long time since the Legisla-
ture OF Minnesota has seen so close con-
test if it has ever occurred in that body be-
fore. OF course it is generally claimed
that the progressive movement of the far
mers has been the cause Of the great in
crease Of strength in the ranks of the oppo-
sition; but whether this be so or not, the
people have certainly nothing to lose but
everything to gain in keeping the parties
pretty nearly evenly divided When any
party becomes overwhelmingly strong it
will invariably use that strength to its own
pecuniary aggrandizement, ana the preju-
dice Of the people. But when the parties
are Of nearly equal strength the people will
be courted by both, their rights will be re-
spected, and their will obeyed by whichev-
er party is in power ~ a:
! The rest Of the Republican nominees
were elected by larger maioritiess than was
the Speaker. The following is the list -
Chief Clerk, S. H. Nichols, of Otter Tail {;
First Assistant, J. " Brewer; Second AS
sistant, NJ. B. Chadwick, Of Steele: Enroll
| ing Clerk, S. D.. tHillman, Of Olmsted !;
Engrossing Clerk, L. l.. Wilson, Of Dodge ::
Assistant, James Hunter, of Rice, who is
also Postmaster; Sergeant-at-arms, Ball
ley Mattison, of Faribault Assistant, John
g. sGreening, of Waseca. il = Wifi a.
Mr.. Hail., the Speaker, is quite young
man, about thirty-two and his appearance
would not indicate the reputation he has
earned for ability as presiding officer
He now enters upon the duties of that Of
tice for the third term in succession He is
said to be courteous and affable gentleman.
q good 4parliamentarian, and an impartial
othcer He is engaged in the mercantile
business at Dayton, Hennepin county.
should have mentioned that the Rev. Dr..
i Brown, Of St. Paul, was chosen Chaplain.
He returned his thanks, and stated that
the Office had boen unsought.