The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-04-09
The Currier Distance Tariff
Railroad Bill Dead Be-
yond the Hope Of
Resurrection.
Sheets and Hemstead Voted
for and StiVers and Price
Voted Against the Bill.
Doodle Said to Have Been
Freely Used but There
-.~r is no Proof.
The Baking Powder War
and the Doodle Tactics
of the COmbatants.

anQ Cu6 bOOQl6 IaCClCS
of the Combatants.
Union Special Correspondence.
ST.. PAUL, April 6, 1891.
The famous Currier bill; house file
No. SO, and Mr.. Curriers' substitute
therefor, house file No. 90l, have been
put to sleep and are now beyond resur-
rection by the present legislature. The
fate of the bills is what might have been
expected as the logical outcome of the
obstinacy and bullheadedness of their
author and the Alliance contingent in
the house, who would yield nothing in
the shape of amendment or revision,
either in the committee room or on the
| floor of the house, which would make
the measure acceptable to reasonable
and fair-minded men. Mr.. Currier held
| a full hand in. the committee of the
| whole and refused to accept any amend
| ments with as much insolence and
bravado as feudal lord. Mr.. Reyes
proposed an amendment which would
not have made the bill entirely salts
factory but which would have prevented
it from running a dozen or more towns
and cities in this State, but Mr.. Currier
felt confident and declined to allow the
| amendment to be engrafted upon his
bill. Mr.. Curriers' bill laid down an
| irOn-clad rule that the terminal and
commodity tariffs should conform to
the distance tariffs, and Mr.. sKeyes' pro-
posed amendment mad scertain excep-
| lions where the railroad commission
could suspend this clause. There was
a small house present when the matter
was discussed in committee of the
! whole, and of these the Alliance held a
very respectable majority and as a con-
sequence lost sight of the fact that it
would require So votes to pass the bill
on the calendar. When the committee
arose Mr.. Curriers' face was wreathed
in smiles and he felt so confident of sue
cess that he paid no attention to the
future progress Of the bill, believing
that it would find friends enough to
pass it. In the meantime the opponents
of the bill were working night and day
to secure it's defeat and when it came
up on the calendar, Friday, Mr.. Currier
did not have enough votes. The result
was 48 yeas, Sc nays and 10 absent or
| not voting. "< r." ~
Two members of the 10Th district
delegation, Messrs. Stivers and Price
voted against the bill, while the other
two members, Messrs. Hemstead and
Sheets, voted for it. Before the result
of the vote had been announced Mr..
Mcguire changed his vote to s'no'' in
order to give notice of a motion to re-
consider, and with the understanding
that the reconsideration should not be
had except when Mr.. Searle was pres
ent, and when the attendance was
practically as large as when the vote
was taken. The final killing of the bill
was deferred until Saturday. At a
caucus of Alliance members Friday
evening, they agreed to accept the
Keyes' amendment and to strike out
the section in the bill prohibiting the
use of free passes and to consent to al
most any other amendment provided
the opposition would consent to a re-
consideration. The Alliance was too
late, however, in showing a compro-
mise disposition and the house, on Sat-
urday morning, refused to reconsider
the bill by vote Of SO yeas to Al nays,
the speaker ruling that it required So
votes or a majority Of the whole house
to reconsider a bill which had been de-
feated on it's final passage. An appeal
was taken from the decision of the
chair by Mr.. Feig, the house sustaining
the speaker by a vote Of So to As. Mr..
Champlin's ruling was unq uestionably
incorrect but the result reached under
1 it was exactly the same as If he had
held that majority of those present
! could reconsider. Without doubt, a
majority were opposed to reconsider
alton, but under the speakers ruling
several who otherwise would have
voted in the negative saw a chance to
/ go on record in favor of the bill with
out any danger Of it's being reconsid-
cred.