The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-01

get clear Of the gross-earnings tax. II
there is any credit to be attached to
the act the Populists are entitled to it;
and IL any dangers result from it the
Republican party is responsible, for it
made'it part Of it's platform, and thus
forced the issue, which it subsequent
ly refused to carry out.
The defeat of Meilicke's freedom
of market bill" was another colossal
crime on the part of that congrega-
tion of skalewags. It sought to en-
force the constitution of the state,
and break up the meat rings, the
wheat-rings and the elevator rings,
and all other trusts and combines. Its
passage would have been worth mil
lions Of dollars to the producing class
Of Minnesota-but it was killed.
And this Is what the Pioneer Press
calls "the most predominantly Repub-
lican Legislature which ever sat in
our legislative halls" 1t has, says
the same sheet, "vindicated the over
whelming expression of public conf
dence in the Republican party which
was recorded at the polls last fall"
Indeed 1t has! AS the Frenchman
kept hotel. He said he kept hotel
like HIP And he did.
They came within an ace of repeal
ing the Usury law. Only the thunders
Of THE REPRESENTATIVE stayed
their sacrilegous hands. They passed
n vUc IN nj ovarhtfont roi1-
way charges; or to squeeze out water
ed stock; or to release the property of
our mortgaged farms from double tax
alton; or to break up the rings, trusts
and combines; or to compel the taxa
tion of the rich mems hidden property
which now escapes to the tune of mil
lions; or to reduce the expenses of
government; or in fact anything else
to help the people struggling through
the most dreadful period the world
has ever known.
But they have renewed the vicious
system Of "struck juries," which en-
ables the rich man or corporation to
buy the Sheriff. and have him select
as jurymen the men who are already
bought. The Legislature of 1891,
abolished it unanimously. The re-
cent corrupt gang re-enacted it.
1t makes justice farce, and renders
the poor man helpless as the lamb led
to the slaughter. We are told that a
great lobby employed by Tom Lowry's
street railroad company engineered it
through. 1t was to head off suits for
damages.
Then they passed a bill. which we
defeated in 1893, providing that if a
man, through poverty or sickness or
absence from the state, neglected to
pay his taxes for fifteen years, and an
other man came up and paid them. he
took the property absolutely. The
rule Of law has always been that If A
paid the debt of B he could not re-
cover back the money, for it was none
of his business to pay the debts of
other men without being requested so
to do. But under this system he may
take the mans homestead-and turn
him out of doors. It is all very we'll
to say man should pay his taxes; so
he should; but many nowadays are
absolutely unable to do so, as the lists
Of delinquent lands in the newspapers
of all the counties show.
In short, this congregation of i'm
beetles and corruptionists were utter
ly deaf to the cries of an impoverished
people, and what they did has added
to the horrors of the situation.
With the exception Of the Populists,
and half dozen decent men of the
old parties, they return to their homes
richer in purse and poorer in reputa-
tion, and followed by the excavations
Of the whole people.