The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-03-14

nOunce to our readers that, after q
battle the most desperate and pro.
longed. ever seen in our Legislature
since Minnesota became state, the
supplementary text book law has
finally passed and is beyond the pow.
er of its enemies. The necessity for
supplementary legislation arose from
the arts and devices of the Book Ring;
they discovered or created difficulties
in the law of 1877, and when the
friends Of the measure attempted to
meet those difficulties by appropriate
legislation, they flooded St. Paul with
their lobbyists and contested every
step from the day the bill was intro
duced in the senate. to the hour.
when, on Thursday last at $50 p. m.,
it finally passed. No words can de-
scribe the energy, desperation or cor
ruption with which they fought the
battle; and when the bill finally passed
they held a meeting at the Merchants
Hotel, on Saturday morning last, to
arrange their plans for packing the
ne.rt Legislature nth their tools, so as
to effect hostile Legislation at that
time!
That our readers may not think we
are exaggerating the ordeal through
which the bill has passed we give the
following as the names of few of the
lobbyists in the interest of the Book
Ring:
I. Liberty Hall, editor of the Glen.
cOe Register, the man who gave Mr..
Brandt the $1,000 bribe which was so
signally exposed. Liberty did not. as
might have been expected, give up
his nefarious work when Mr.. Brandt
displayed the 5000 before the House,
but continued until the last hours of
the session, upon the floor of the
House and elsewhere; actively work
ing against the bill.
IL. 4. J. Cheeny of Chicago, rep
resenting Ivison, Brakeman, Taylor &
Co. school book publishers. This
man was the brains of the Ring, as
Boyce was it's brass. He was bold and
unscrupulous. He had his pocket full
of 81, 900 bills. which he displayed as
a guarantee of his ability to carry out
his pledges to members.
Ill. III. II. Boyce of Milwaukee,
representing the firm Of Van Ant
werp, Bragg 4 Co. of Cincinnati,
School-book publishers. This man
had a suite of rooms at the Merchants
and led his forces in royal style. His
insolence was masterful. When the
bill was on its final passage Col. Feller
of Wabasha county rushed out to
Boyce in the lobby, and told him they
could fight off the vote no longer.
"By Cd" replied Boyce, ''you
mast fight it off till midnight. The
session closed at midnight. But un-
fortunately for him the previous ques-
tion had been ordered and the vote
was inevitable. Boyce was the man
who stood behind Liberty Hall in all
his work.
Nv. j. \. Comstock of Chicago,
representing \. ). Barnes 4 Co.
school-book publishers
V. Col. J. c. Hamilton. late In.
dian Agent ut the Sisseton Agency.
representative of Van Antwerp.
Bragg. Il Co. and too decent a man to
have engaged in such dirty work
vi. \. =. Tukey of Mankato. rep
resen,ing the firm of Cowperthwait 4
Co. of Philadelphia. This man pre-.
tended to be willing to furnish books
at lower prices than Mr.. Merrill until
the falsity of his representations were
exposed on the floor of the House.
VII. J. \. James of Mankato lex
representative who acted as aide de
camp to Tukey.
VIII. f. Z. Barnum of Sauk Cen.
ter. shrewd and desperate LOBBYIST.
IN. Dan Pinneo of Wadena, slv and
foxy.
y. In addition TO these field officers
there was an army of fnon-commission.
ed officers. and private soldiers, in.
Guiding Nash. Getty. Smith. johnson.
DR.. Falk, etc. etc. etc.
The permanent headquarters of the
Ring was at Mrs. Morse's house of
prostitution. Here Liberty Hall pre-
sided. 1t was the duty of the ropers-
in to find out the members who would
drink; these were piled with whiskey
until half drunk. and then brought to
Mrs. Morses. Once there they could
be talked to with safety. for if they