The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-05-02

THE IRISH ANDAl
and corner in the building, and the last
lien claimant brought in before he can
try his action. To commence such an
action on large building, is generally
worth several hundred dollars. No
laboring man can afford to commence
it. Many of the men who work on the
building during it's different stages of
construction get through long before the
building is completed, while the mater
ial man continues to furnish material for
q longer time. The conseq uence is that
the statutory time allowed for commeno
ing the action expires as to many OF the
workingmen's claims long before 1t does
as to the claims of the material men.
but no action is commenced until some
material man, having large claim, is
willing to pay the expense of bringinga
SUIT to foreclose all these liens. By
this time large portion of the laborers
have lost their liens, as they could not
afford to commence the suit themselves
The others who have not lost it in this
manner are obliged to answer IN the suit
within 20 days after the papers are
served on them, whether they are
through working or not. a great many
of them are either too ignorant or poor
to employ a lawyer and pay him $40 or
$50 to answer for them, aud they lose
their claims for that reason. Thus g
great majority OF the laboring men are
frozen out before the suit is commenced,
by reason of not being able to commence
it within the statutory time after their
labor was completed, and those who
have not been frozen out in that manner
are frozen out afer the suit is commenced
by not being able to employ lawyers to
protect their claims after the papers are
served On them. AS the
suit cannot be tried until the building
is finished, they may neglect to put on
the finishing touches, if they so desire
and the suit may be easily prolonged
from three to five years. OF
course, the laboring mon cannot employ
an attorney to dance attendance at court
term after term in this way, and he
either dies or gets tired long before the
suit is terminated. I think
the workiagmsn's mite ought to be bet
ter protected; and a country which gives
him no better remedy than this, can
hardly be called civilized. The bill
which has just been passed by the legis-
lature and killed by the governor, pro-
vided remedy that was so Simple and
certain that any cheap lawyer or law
yer's clerk, who knew enough to fill out
the blanks in deed, could file and FORE
close lien under 1t as easily as he
could sue for the same amount in JUS
tice's court. While this bill gave the
lien claimant quick and simple remedy,
it was not harsh or unjust to anyone.
1t gave every man chance to defend
his rights on the merits, but not on
technlcalities, because when errors in
the lien or proceedings were pointed out,
the court, when it deemed it just ard
proper, could allow it to be corrected by
amendment. The claim that the bill
wrs unconstitutional is simply frivo-
lous." From Judge Canty's opinion of
the bill he drew up. we can see plainly
what Governor Merriam's aim was in
vetoing it. It was to crush the labor.
ing man, and though the present chief
executive of Minnesota succeeded in
helping out dishonest contractors for
time, at least, the day will come when
law will be passed that will give honest
toll it's reward.