The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-05-26
THE LEGISLATURE,
Adam Bede's Opinion of 1t.
(FrOm Bede's Budget.)

Adam Bede's Opinion of 1t.
(From Bede's Budget)
If an honest man is the noblest work
of God an honest legislator is the no.
blest work of man. Neither has been
wholly successful in his creations, but
If We still believe in the one we may
hope SfPr,> the other. When the great
body OF our citizens are honest and
above bribe taking, then our legislators
will be honest also. But it is hard for
pubic officers to rise higher than public
opinion, and so long as the people look
with contempt upon the legislature,
just SO long will we have contemplate
men in 1t. There is no honor in being
burgess for the State of Minnesota.
and except where political ambition or
honors attained in other walks of life
sustain member, his actions are too
readily simmered down to a financial
basis. In the earlier days corporations
purchased privileges that ought never
to have been granted them, and thus
set the example of thrift to members, so
that If now they can get nothing with
out pay and must often pay to prevent
what they don't want, they can re-
fleet that they have brought the evil
upon themselves and are being inflicted
with the natural penalty. few SEN
atorial fights have also disgraced our
state and lifted mortgages from the
lands OF legislators, but this evil can be
removed by popular elections. Until
this change is made it will be as hard
for a rich man to get into the senate
without cash on delivery as for camel
to go through the eye of a needle.
A member who sells his vote ought
on conviction thereof to be imprisoned
for ten years and disfranchised for life.
A few convictions would tone up
things wonderfully, and soon we should
hear the public speaking with esteem
of our state lawmakers, and when it
became an honor to be a member of the
legislature, few would swap the honor
off for cash.
There was not much money used in
this session, as times are hard and
there were but few measures with mon
ey powers back of them to be bled.
However, it is generally understood
that some members accepted as low as
$25, others as high as 500 and in few
instances more, while the average was
about $50. Men of influence who could
control a few votes with a little talk
on the floor were rendered a few hun
dred dollars. 1t is claimed that some
lawyer members were reached with re-
tainers or promises of future patronage,
and this is perhaps the most insiduous
way of all.
But the members are pretty fair types
of their constituencies, and if a consid-
erable number of them were willing to
sell their votes it only proves that the
standard of honesty is not so high as it
ought to be among the great body of
our people. Nor has any party a mo-
nopoly of virtue. Republicans were said
to be a little higher priced than pops,
UuC CAdI COA1CO IL Jill VI dCllCc d1u Is uOL
morally significant.
So we bid the boys adieu, trusting
that those who stood the test will con-
tinue in the faith, and that those who
faltered in their trust will repent and
be forgiven. They have gone with the
shears and the stationery and waste
basket, and the bills that never passed,
and with an insane hospital pictured in
their eyes, and many will return no
more forever. But their names are in
the blue book as the years are passing
by. They are under cover, and are safe.
A Fusion Legislature
The Populists of certain districts in
Kansas have sent men to the legislature
who are more nearly Republicans than
Populists. They have sent some men
who vote with the Republicans on every
question in which the interests of cor
porations are involved. Readers can
readily learn by reading this weeks leg
islative report who these men are. It
is nqf f'necessary now for the Advocate
to do more than call attention to these
mems records. The people are in that
frame of mind which will insure their
assignment to an early political grave.
No one can help but have supreme con-
tempt for men who willfully betray the
very people who have entrusted them
with power. In justice to those who
are trying to do their duty, it should
be said that large majority of the