St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-25
Hansbrough's Bill to Provide
a Customs District for
North Dakota,
Which Will Deprive Collector
Edwards Of His Per-
Quisites
And Make His Salary Lest
Than That Of Most of /
His Clerks.
A Chapter on Dakota PoIt
TICS Wheels Within
Wheels.

The announcement that Congressmap
| HansbrOugh proposes to introduce bill
| providing for customs district in
| North Dakota has caused a great deal
of unPasiness to Collector Edwards, and
| his corps of assistants. as we'll as to the
| minnesota senators and congressman,
| 1t is an open secret that Collector Edt
| wards owes his place exclusively to
| Senator Washburn, who was obliged, in
| order 10 defeat SaIin. to parcel out ali
! the offices in advance, and the st. Paul
| collectOrship was promised Edwards be5
! cause he commanded the greatest num4
| Der of votes. Ii the proposed bill of
Hansbrough's should perchance go
| through both houses of congress and re.
ceiye the signature of the president
Collector Edwards might as well return
| to his farm. for the perQuisiteS of his
office would not buy his salt. The cus--
toms district over which Collector Ed
wards prasides is known as the Mime
Sofa district. the name of which would
naturally imply that it is in Minnesota,
but that is
NOT WHOLLY TRUE.
1t takes i'm large section of North
Dakota. and it is from the Dakota scb-
ports that tw0-thirds of the revenue Of
this district comes. If these supports
were cut off the Minnesota district
would have but three subOffices, viz.
Minnesota Transfer. st. Vincent and
Bismarck. Tie Transfer Office pays no
perquisites and it is only during the
summer that the Bismarck office is
open: while st. Vincent has not been
paying expenses since the port of entry
was removed to st. Paul some two
years ago. The greater part of the busi-
ness at st. Vincent comes by rail, but
since the .hanit0ba road sent its Winni-
peg traffic by way of Npche, n. D.,
there was not enough business left at
st. Vincent to keep one man employed
Collector Edwards is paid $1,000 a year
and tees. but, under the new arranges
ment. as outlined by the champion OF
North DakOta's interests. he would
practically be obliged to live on 81 l,0O0.
which is $500 a year less than the poor
est paid man in his employ. The next
question now is what are the collectors
friends going to do about this? Are
they going to stand aside and let the
man who put w. ID. Washburn in Sena@
tor Sabin's chair be
FROZEN OUT?
Rumor says they will not. and that
there will be tall fight of large dimen-.
sions between the Minnesota and North
Dakota senators nd congressman, be-
fore the readers of the GLOBE eat their
Christmas dinner. 1t is said that Sena-
tor Washburn, since his return from
Europe, has given the matter very
serious consideration. 1t means a great
deal for him personally. If he should
ii To put the brake on the wagon in
time. it might cost him his anticipated
rp.lIOnrinn from
Southern Minnesota, without exception,
champiOned Edwards candidacy, and
for Washburn to permit Edwards to be
Laid on the Sheif'' would mean nothing
else than political suicide. Washburn
might not. i'll fact. could not. seek re-
election to the senate If he permitted
this, and as he is of that school of poll,
tfcians who always expect second
term, whether they are deserving of it
Or not, Senator WaShburn can be
counted upon as stern opponent OF
Hansbroul his proposed bill. SENATOR
Davis. Ito protect home industries.'s
must necessarily vote against the bill,i
and the congressman must do likewise
The proposed bill means a good deal.l
1t takes away some of the finest Offices
Minnesota has had since it threw off
the territorial toga. and it can be relied
upon that MinneSota'S representatives
in Washington will not relinquiSh these
fat offices without struggle if tits pos
Sible to hold on to them. There ara
more
FINGERS IN THIS PIE
than are visible to the naked eye.
The Staunchest supporter that Hans
brOugh has is none other than Jud La
Moure. State Treasurer Booker is also
warm advocate of the proposed bill
Ion general principles" as he says
himself Booker and La Moure have
other reasons for advocating the change.
If the bill went through, Penn bina
would, without doubt. be made the
point of en- ry for the new disuict. Jud
La MOure'S tather-in-law, n. Z. Nelson.
who has been in the custom service for
the past twenty years. would, in all
probability. be appointed collector. He
is now deputy collector at Pembina.
Then again Booker and La Moure have
bank at Pembina, and if Nelson were
appointed collector his recommended
ton in favor of making this bank a
United States deposit ory will go good
ways with the secretary of the treasury.
So that it can be seen that there are
several wheels within each other that
must be kept well oiled in order to pre-
vent friction. Booker and La MOure
are both busy supplying all the neces-
sary oil. but it remains to be seen il
their plans will be "a CO." n. E. Nell
sons candidacy for the collectorship
will receive very
GENEROUS SUPPORT
from the North Dakota politicians, buf
is likely to be held up for some time, Ii
not entirely laid out. by Secretary VIM
dom. The secretary and Mr.. Nelson,
who. by the way, is the youngest old
man in the two DakOtas, were at one
time, it is said, warm personal friendsS
but it has long since been whispered on
the street corners that these two men
have not been on the best of terms since
Window was defeated by Sabin. As
that time J. Bookwalter, now land COM
missioner for the Manitoba road, was a
deputy in the st. Vincent custom office.
which was then presided over by Col-
Iector McMu urtrie. Nelson was the lat
ter's first assistant, or special deputy
collector. Bookwaiter went to st. Paul
and took of his coat for Sabin. When
the latter was chosen to succeed Win.
dom he appointed Bookwalter collector.
and SO McMurtrle, who was q bosom
friend of Window. was left out in the
cold. Window. it is said. always sup
posed that Nelson was party to Book
walters appointment. and never took
kindly to the Norwegian after that,
Windows memory is pretty good, and
he will no doubt get even with Nelson
on this nOint if the latter should come