St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-11
THE HOUSE OF sLOTH,
Otherwise Known as the Legisla-
Iure of Minnesota

The senate and house are making
conscientious efforts to do no more
work, and with such success that it is
very probable that at the close of the
session, Tuesday noon, April %, there
will be some 500 bills upon the calendars
and general orders and in the hands of
committees unconsidered. The bulk of
these bills relate to and affect the gen.
eral interests of the state. Many of
them are of great importance. a num-
Der provide new sources of revenue for
the state. The house is not doing prac-
teal work, most of its time being given
up to windy debate and personal SQuab-
bles. The senate is asSiduouSly practic-
ing upon the adjournment act, and with
great success. 1t is more than evident
TO even a casual observer that bills like
those taxing express companies and in
creaSing the tax upon telegraph and
telephone companies are being held
back, either with view to letting them
die in committee or to ''club" the cor
poratiOns they affect into coming down
handsomely to have them killed. There
has been no legislature so notorious as
this for introducing bills of this nature
and for this purpose. There are bills
out that were referred to house commit
tees on Jan. Is, and no apparently good
reason can be given for their being held
back. Take the following list of bills:
House File No. Officiating to corpora
tions organized for manufacturing purposes,
referred to committee Jan. 49, not heard
from since.
House File No. 18I-To regulate the rental
of telephones. referred to committee Jan. %,
not heard from since.
House File No. 2I1-To legalize certain
articles of Incorporation. referred to COM
mittee Jan. so, not heard from since.
House File No. $3.50 amend statutes of
1873 relating to interpretations, referred to
committee FEB. g. not heard from since.
House File No. 754-To define liability of
transportation corporations TO passengers,
referred 10 committee March 8, not heard
from since.
House File No. 769-To tax sleeping car
companies per cent on their gross earnings,
referred to committee March s. not heard
from since.
House File No S2O-Relating to the duties
of the state auditor, referred TO committee
March -, not heard from since.
House File No. S44-To increase the tax
upon telephone companies per cent re-
ferred to committee March 13, not heard
from since.
House File No. S49-To increase the tax
upon telegraph companies 2 per cent re-
ferred to committee March Is. not heard
from since.
There are nine bills, all of which but
one relate 10 corporations, and some of
which are directed to the benefit of the
state treasury. They are buried in a
committee, some of them for nearly
three months. An attempt to get one
OF them from the committee failed the
other day. There is no apparent in
tentiOn OF having the bills ever come to
light again, although they are not local,
but public measures. Does this sudden
demise strengthen the assertion made
SO often and so strongly in the house
that these bills had been introduced as
''clubs." or that having been honestly
introduced, they are being questionable
suppressed? There are bills in the
hands of the judiciary committee that
have been there since Jan. Is; bill be-
fore the labor committee since Jan. II;
four bills before the committee on edu-
cation since Jan. 10, and so OH. These
data are furnished by the chief clerk of
the house. The actual time in which
the house has been i'll session is so in
finitesimally small that it exposes the
failacy of the argument that more work
will be done in ninety day session
than in sixty. Just as much time, and
more. has been frittered away as two
years ago. and Just as much unfinished
business loads down the committees,
calendar and general orders now as
then. Up to Tuesdays night adjourn
ment the house had sat on seventy-one
days. The following table shows the
number of sessions each day, and the
hours and minutes in session each day: