St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-07
THE House PASSIVE.
Only a Bare Quorum Was in
Sight on ReaSSembling
Yesterday.
Most OF the Day Spent In
Acting on Accumulated
Measures
In the General Order Stage
One Debate and q Gen.
eral Surprise.
The Eight-Hour Day Bill Fails
to Receive Sufficient
Votes.

Yesterday was dull and uneventful
one IN the house of representatives.
Many of the members had not returned
from their Sunday trip home, and those
who were in their places appeared to be
in very lazy numor, particularly Mr..
Fleming. who spent greater portion OF
the afternoon stretched out in his chair
in peaceful 81 lumber.
Ths calendar was taken up, and quite
number of bills were passed, but they
were for the most part small and unim'
pOrtant ones, of only local Importance.
and went through without opposition or
debate of any kind. The Duluth bill to
legdlIze conveyances of married women
prior to 1865 was one OF the
most important matters which came
up during the day, and created
the only discussion OF any interest. 1t
was. however, passed by worry good
majority, as was also Mr.. Towards bill
to reorganiZe the state labor bureau,
which increases the number OF its en-
plOyeS from four to seven, increases the
salaries and gives the department more
power and more work to perform.
Eight-HOur Bill Defeated.
Tho "eight-hour BILL" to shorten the
working day on state, county and city
work, did not meet with such favorable
treatment, although it was almost
unanimously recommended by the COM
mittee of the whole on Friday last, and
was lost by vote OF Al to 81. 1t will
come up again, as Representative Neils-
son, of Ramsey, gave notice of recon-
sIderation.
At the opening of the afternoon ses-
sion there was still large number OF
vacant chairs, and as it was the general
desire to take up the calendar, q call of
the house was issued. The call did not
prove flattering success, and motion
was maze to take up general orders in
committee of the whole, but 1t was lost,
and the calendar was resumed.
When S. f. 50. which is entitled an
act to legalize conveyances of married
women, and the purpose of which is to
clear the titles of the property owners
of one entire addition in the residence
portion of Duluth, was read, it created
quite
A Lively Storm
among certain of the members. al
though the opposition was conducted by
Mr.. Cairns. of Hennepin, alone and
unaided. while nearly all Of the other
members were favOrably inclined to-
ward it, and many of them spoke in
support of it.
When the bill had been read Mr..
Cotton explained, as he has frequently
done before, that the bill was simply
curative act, to remedy a technical
flaw in the title to certain valuable land
III Duluth, and thus remove the neces-
sity of an individual law suit on the
the part of every individual property
owner to quiet title.
The difficulty, as Mr.. Cotton stated. is
caused by question as to the validity
OF q conveyance of land in 1865 by q
married woman who signed her hus-
bands name to the instrument by virtue
Of power of attorney from him, and
the flaw lies in this fact, the law eX-
pressly refusing to recognize a contract
between q man and wife in relation to
real estate.
Cairns Smells WoOdchuck.
When Mr.. Cotton had finished Mr..
Cairns arose, and boldly and emphati-
cally declared that that the bill had a
woOdchuck in it, If any bill ever did
The legislature. he said, had no right
to settle disputes as to the ownership of
real estate. The proper place was the
courts. He did not question Mir. Cat
ton S motives in supporting the bill, but
insisted that it was very unjust one
and intended TO deprive certain of the
claimants to title in the property OF
their rights.
This Mr.. Cotton Indignantly denied,
and went or to say that the only claim
ants were heirs of the husband who
had been hunted up by land shark, in
whose behalf Mr.. Cairns spoke, wholly
for the purpose of eXtorting money
from the rightful owners in exchange
for quitclaim deeds. although they had
no rights in equity and no tenable ones
in law.
Messrs. Fletcher and Young, of the
judiciary committee, explained that tire
committee had carefully investigated
the bill, and had found the facts as fan
as they were obtalnable to be as Mr.
Cotton had stated them, and the meas
ure TO be just and meritorious one.
| Mr.. Cairns stated that the claimant
was not an heir, but the husband him
self, who is still living, and that a tes
| case Is now pending in the courts which
will settle the matter for all time. The
! woman, he said, was married to the
| man. and the power of attorney givel
3 ncI wa uOO Wdo nOb ouL
| ficient to cover the transfer.
TO this Mr.. Cotton replied: IF she
was not his wife, this law will not affec
the case at all. We do not ask the leg
! islature to recognize the marriage or t
amplify this power of attorney" Whel
the vote was taken the bill was passed
"a to 8.
| Juvenile Cri minals.
F. NJ. Wilson's bill providing that al
! cri minalS under the age of sixteen shall
| be sent to the state reform school wa!
easily passed, although Mr.. Rodger re
vived the objection raised in committed
of the whole that some youthful Grim
| inalS were so depraved as to require
more severe treatment than they coulC
receive at the reform school. He citet
the instance of titteen-year-old boy IL
another state who recently murdered
both of his parents ana his sister.
Mr.. Wilson explained that the objec
of his bill was simply to perfect the
present law relating to the reform
school. and prevent the release OF chill
dren from that institution by means o
writs of habeas corpus, as had fire
quently been done in GoOdhue county
The measure was passed by vote o
so to 3.
A Hating Spirit.
There was not supposed to be an