Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-02-21

oAoAAoi "ho Unexpectedly given 10 Onas. "A. tll-
man, of St. Cloud, instead of to A. J. Edger-
ton, the former incumbent, who sup
posed to be sure OF the candidacy, as the office
Is OF no possible account anyhow, it did not
make much matter who wa' nominated. Mr..
Gilman is competent enough for much more
important office" The next day, July 80,
1875, the same paper said: 1.-The railroad COM
missioner is now mere statistical clerk with
clerk to perform his duties. As there il moth
ing in the world for him to do except to draw
his salary of $4,000 a year, either of tho able
gentlemen nominated by the respective parties
for this office will be admitted even by their
most pre- udicod enemies to be abundantly
competent to perform this high duty" Again
on tho 3Oth Of August the Pioneer Press said:
IF it should really turn out that neither Gill
man nor Sencerbox is eligible to the office of
railroad commissioner and there should be no
valid election and the Office should become va
cant, why the people would be the gamer by
the sum of 49, or 81, 200, and that would be
the extent of the calamity" He submitted
that with such an endorsement as to the use
lessness of the Oflice-and nothing had since
been shown to prove that it had increased in
effciency-the House could not go back upon
this bill, but would recommend it for passage
MIR. j. N. Stacy submitted a few facts and
figures to show that the office was useful one
and had brought money into the treasury
through listing lands fer taxation.
MIR. >. Thompson Jr., submitted the same
facts and figures in precisely the same Ian
guage.
Mr.. HUM presented the same facts and fig
ures in a little different language.
MIR. Gearey said he had favored the bill in
the first place, but had received new light and
would now vote against it.
MIR. Denny opposed the bill because he es-
teemcd it wrong. 1t transferred the duties of
the office to subordinate bureau to which
those duties did not properly belong.
p Mn(y clYar, tho
it might not save great deal, it was some
thing and if $4,000 could be saved to the State
without injury to its interests, it ought to be
done.
MIR. Benson protested against this way of
doing business. He had offered an amendment
to the bill, and though he had risen several
times to explain that amendment he had not
been recognized by the chair. He thought it
was dlscourteous to him, to say the least. He
thought 1t was the duty of the State auditor to
attend to the taxation of railroad lands; that it
was the duty of the attorney general to con-
duct prosecutions when they were necessary,
and that it was the duty of the secretary of
| state to compile the statistics. He regarded
these officers az the proper ones to attend to
the duties of the Office.
Mr.. Schroth offered an amendment cutting
out the clause providing for extra clerk hire
Tor the insurance commissioner. If the office
was useless this appropriation was not needed.
Both Mr.. Benson's and MIR. Schroth's amend
ments were lost
MIR. Hicks had heard no good reason why the
office should be maintained. He should favor
| the bill.
Mr.. Comstock offered the bill substantially
ON the same line as last week, and endeavored
to make it party question, which imputation
was theoretically denied by Mr.. W. NJ. Camp
bell.
| Mr.. Fairbank favored the passage of the bill
and cited some figures as to the Winona Il st.
Peter railroad to sustain his position.
Mr.. Riley said his constituents were in favor
of the abolition of the Office, and he would
favor it. 1t was a useless Office, and in these
hard times We ought to save as much as posi-
BILE.
Mr.. Bohan opposed the bill. He saw many
good reasons why the office should not be
abolished. He did not consider the bill in the
interest of true retrenchment.
MIR. j. N. Stacy moved that when the COM
mlttee rise they recommend that the bill be in
definitely postponed. Mr.. McCracken and Mr..
w. Nj. Campbell moved to amend by recon-
raending it for passage.
division was called and 81 votes found to
be in the affirmative.
MIR. Comstock charged that tho clerk had
counted persons not members who were stand
ing IN the lobby, and demanded new count,
Mr.. Hicks resented this imputation upon the
integrity of the clerk, and would vouch for
the absolute accuracy Of his count
Mr. Comstock insisted upon new count.
MIR. Jones moved that the committee rise.
Carried.
The report of the committee was then
adopted by the House; yeas SO, nays "A, as fol
lows: