The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-03-23
"OUR REPRESENTATIVES,"
Mr.. Gilman, having completed

| IL
:xty'days' service as a member o
the Grasshopper House. sresu me
his position as editor Of the ST. CLIQUE
Pfess, and in last weeks number at
tempts a defense of his action, 0,
more properly speaking, want Of ac
ton, touching tho Normal School
bill. The opportunity IS embraced
for making an onslaught on TUE
Journal and its editor, and charac
teristically Mr.. Gilman attempts t.
shift on to other shoulders blame
which belongs to himself. In hi
editorial Of last week and in one
which preceded it the week before
be charges that The JouRSA1's pro,
test against the teaching Of church
doctrines in one Of the public
schools Of this city during the hours
which properly belonged to Legitimate
school studies, "had helped to precpi-
'tate" this 'calamity"-v,z., the de.
feat Of the Normal School apportion-
ment bill. To sustain this charge 1t
remains for Mr.. Gilman to show that
such relations subsist between the
school in what was District No. /
and the three Normal Schools and
between THE JOURNAL and the Nor
NAL Schools as must necessarily rem.
der the one responsible for doings and
expressions of the other. The gen.
eral understanding is that each is to
be judged upon its own merits or de.
merits, and that each is separately
amenable to the public. TIE JOUR-
NAILS position regarding the introduc.
ton of doctrinal teachings into the
common schools did not seem to pref
cdice the Senate, or Senator Capser,
who introduced the appointment bill,
against the Normal Schools. Senator
Capser is known to be a stanch Cath.
olic, yet he appears to be much less
sensitive regarding this matter than
Mr.. Gilman. tits barely possible
that the different circumstances sur
rounding the election ct theaa two
gentlemen may have something to do
with this difference.
But Mr.. China asks to be re.
lieved from censure for neglect Of
the Normal School bill because The
JOURNAL last week was inconsistent
Hear him:
The general commentsof The JOURNAL
upon the action of the Legislature were
we'll enough, but As naturally as ducks
swim or water runs, the editor got into his
usual personal groove and wound up by
saying ''the vote BY which the bill was lost
wonld not seem to indicate that any Of the
member. from this county had devo:ed to
the measure any seriou. degree ofattention,"
the desi On Of which remark was to "indi.
cate" that our Representative from this dis
trict had an especial duty to do in the mat
ter, and had failed to do it.
We regret, so soon after returning
from thesharp conflict Of mind which
characterized the proceedings Of the
last House-"all of which he saw and
part Of which he was''-Mr. Gilman
should exhibit such amazing dullness.
Nowhere in last weeks article did we
claim the Normal School as a St.
Cloud institution, and nowhere did
We claim for it any special service
from Mr.. Gilman as the Representa-.
tive from the St. Cloud District. On
the contrary, we spoke Of it through.
out as State institution, and more
particularly, in the very paragraph
from which Mr.. G. quotes, as "the
only State institution vouchsafed to
Northern Minnesota" 1t was be-
cause of its being a Northern Mime
sofa institution, and the only one in
the upper half Of the State, that
"our Representatives" especial en-.
deavors in its behalf were expected.
Stearns county is the largest, wealth.
lest and most popuIous county in
Northern Minnesota ; in the Legisla-
ture it is numerically, if not intellect.
ualIy, stronger than any other county
in the upper half of the State; and
from these circumstances is looked
upon as the representative county 0,
Northern Minnesota. 1t was, there.
fore, We repeat, as one Of the Repre-
sentatives of the representative coun
tY Of Northern Minnesota that "our
Representative" was expected to put
forth strenuous efforts in behalf
of the only State institution North.
ern Minnesota has. Have We
been able to express this with sui
ficent precision for Mr.. Gilman tc
understand? We perhaps erred last
week Is not presenting the case il
more compact form; but we doubt il
any other reader failed to be able te
carry ene-half of q statement a, dis
lance Of a dozen lines to where it,
complement was to be found. Al
all events, Mr.. G. is the only one who
has felt called Upon to publish the
fact that he is able to grasp but one
half of an idea at a time.
| The alacri ty with which Mr.. Gil
man seizes upon and appropr;ates t.
himself The JOURNALS general crit
icism Of the delegation from thi,
county, and the nicely with which hi
seems to think it fits him, would ap
pear to ''indicate" that our Repre-
sentative from this District realizes