The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-12-24
! THEY ARE { HUS' | IN 1 c.
The Organizers Of the Legislature
of 897 Waste no Time in
Sleep just Now
That Minneapolis Municipal Ex-
posture Creates Considera
bic Comment.

Z q Ole comment.
For the next two weeks there will be
"a close and spirited contest on oyer the
organizationo of the house and possibly
some Of the places in the senate. In
the latter the contest is likely to start,
if made at all, with the position of
sergeant at arms. Capt. West, who
held the position two years ago, is
otherwise provided for and will not be
a candidate. All the other officials
will bend their energies to agreeing
upon a candidate for the place and the
Reinstatement of all the others.
Should the contest over the first place
general one it might result
IN fight foran the places with the re-
|sultsof a general reorganization in all
but this.is not expected.
The speakership contest presents
every appearances Of having been prac-
tically settled BY the failure of the
field to combine against Jones, the
Sixth district candidate, and it is now
believed by the better posted authori-
ties of the inner circle that Jones has.
more than enough votes pledged to
elect him. The Dispatch credits him
with 81 votes, which are eight more
than enough to nominate, and the
other liars connected with the metro
=
There would be no special significance
in this admission but for the fact that
there is acertain rivalry between the
professional prevaricators who write
politics for the city papers, and if one
makes a bad break the others are sure
| to catch him up at it.
4 (. =
The topic of general interest in the
lcitiessn now is the investig ation in prog
1ress in Minneapolis. The iLVestiga-
ton excites much interest in ST. Paul
because there are also aldermen in st.
Paul The ST. Paul council and the
I Minneapolis council are not alike.
/ For one thing the St. Paul council CON
Isists of two branches the assembly
land beard Of ldermen. much the same
las the senate and house Of representa-
itives-while. the Minneapolis council
is composed merely of a lot Of thieves
commonly called aldermen. Another
point of difference is that the Mime
Iapolis council robs on the syndicate
plan and the St. Paul council on the
individual plan. That is to say when
a corporation wants to steal a charter,
a franchise, or anything of that sort, it
Esublets the contract to committee
consisting of a majority of the council.
Then the next time it wants to steal
something it subjects the job to the
minority and buys one or two of the
majority to help them out. They thus
avoid all jealousy, and everybody is
satisfied. In ST. Paul whatever is
lstolen is done strictly on the individ-
ual plan. The corporation has man
who goes around and buys its alder
men and assemblymen at retail. From
the standpoint of a professional thief
| it must be admitted that the Mime
apolis plan has several points of
superiority over the st. Paul plan.
| =. i. i.
| There is a popular superstition to
the effect that St. Paul and Minneapo-
| lis are constantly at war. In some re-
spects this is true, and in some it is
not. tall depends on what interests
are touched. For instance, it will be
found during the coming session that
not only st. Paul and Minneapolis, but
Duluth, will be found working in very
close harmony upon the subject of
municipal legislation. AS some scrib-
bier has said, Minneapolis has made
up her mind hereafter to sentence her
thieves to State prison instead of to the
city council, and the other cities are
determined to follow suit AS means
to this end the attempt will be made to
pass a general charter bill which will
make it possible for a good citizen to
go into the city council without sacri-
Ifcing his good name in the community.
Asa matter Of course there will be
some opposition from well recognized
sources, but the probabilities seem to
be, in view of existing developments
in Minneapolis that the country will
tnrn in and help the cities to reform
themselves.