The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-17
RECEIVED DUE CONSIDERATION
AND THE BILL WAS DEFEATED IN
THE HOUSE AFTER A LIVELY
sCRIMMAGE.
FREEDOM OF MARKETS MEASURE
Representative FeiG's Bill PASSES
After ~. FeatureIess Debate
Farmers Need Seed.

petitions sent in by constituents to
members, who might not otherwise
have opposed it, killed what was said
on the floor of the house yesterday
would have been most excellent new
chattel mortgage law.
The at first quiet, but ever growing,
sentiment against the measure ON the
part Of 1000 or 5000 township clerks
from various parts Of the state told
against it's passage. even when intro
duced by no less a dignified and re-
spected member than Judge Littietop,
Of Dodge, and, after the house had
fought stubbornly all the afternoon, it
was put to it's end by vote of 40 ayes
and 81 nays.
The bill was in the first place drafted
to provide that all chattel mortgages
be filed only in the office of the register
of deeds, putting them practically Upon
the same footing as real estate mort
cages. This is what raised a howl Of
objection from the township clerks
The new chattei mortgage law, which
is H. f. 352, substituted for HI. F.
81, came up on special order with Rep
resentative Fred Snyder, of Hennepin,
in the chair. When the measure-con-
tanning in all 26 Sections-had been
read to the house, Speaker Jones rose
and made a strong objection to the
portion which eliminates the double
filing system now irRSvegue. Mr.. Jones
wanted the fling mAde both at the
county seat and with the clerk in the
township where the property is located.
Mr.. Littleton objecdGd to this. He
cited the fact that the. law he was sub
mitting had been adopted in thirty five
out of forty states and was in
his judgment a firSt-e1ass revision OF
the chattel mortgage law. He pointed
out that the double fling system did
not help the person actually seeking
the record, and the man who has mon
ey to loan could easily spare time TO
visit the county seat. Mr.. Littleton
urged the adoption OF business law
for the body Of the people and not
for the beneht of township and village
clerks, who, with the 10-cent fee, prop
ably will each get $40 a year. Mr..
Jones SAID the people away from the
county seat demanded that, if their
ne1ghbor' property was incumbered.
they might know it from the records
without wasting two or three days.
The amendment, he said, would not
affect the law at all, but simply pro-
vlded for the fling 1t both points. Mi.
johns came to the aid of the
Jones amendment = and give. it
as the result Of 4 some 81 con-
siderable experience in chatteI mort
gage matters, that the additional fill
ing expense was Insignificant. MI
Underleak thought the present law
complicated, and, IN the main, most
unsatisfactory. The new law, he
thought, would eradicate many of the
Objectionable features, and, with the
Jones amendment, would only add a
small tax and obViate much incon-
Venience.
Mr.. Staples urged careful consider
atlon OF the provisions Of the amend
ment, and a few minutes later it was
voted down.
Mr.. Won Lehe was in favor of killing
the bill at this time, and in no mis-
taxable manner. Mr.. Staples took part
IN the general discussion and an
nounced that he thought the people
wanted a law which would make il
harder for people to place chattel mort
cages on their property
Mr.. Donnelly added his voice to the
opposition. He believed that when per
sons who have to borrow money are
cpnged to travel some distance to seek
out the records, it amounts to laying
a burden on the people. Loans, he
SAID, were usually from neighbor to
nelghbor, and the new law would have
the erect OF carrying people to the
county seats. He deprecated county
interference in town matters. lust as
he did state meddling with the county.
Judge LlttlefOn sent up as an amend
ment reconstructed section 2 which
was the one to which there had been
objection raised.
The amendment provided for the
Hing Of the record in both the town.
ship and county Offices The amend
n2ent appeared to be satisfactory and
was adopted.
further amendment, suggested by
Mr. Scott. provides that the mortgag &c
which may be in force when the law
gees into effect shall be recorded at the
office of the register of deeds.
Mr.. Littleton made the main arau-
ment for the bill. He said that the
chattel mortgage bill had been amend
ed seventeen times and that Ill cases
had been taken to the supreme court
upon 1t since 1860. In which SO cases
were upon questions whether the mort
gage had been properly filed; the direct
object of the bill being to correct this
defect On the other hand, there had
been only 81 appeals to the supreme
court upon real esate mortgages. which
proved the claim that he made which
was that the present chattel mortgag
law was the worst on the statute books
Of any state.
A call Of the house was ordered and
1T was discovered that sixteen of the
members were absent on junkets and
hence excused. But the bill would have
failed even with the votes of the alb
sentees. as there were only forty af-
firnative votes and fifty-one against
its passage.
FREEDOM OF MARKETS BILL,
The house passed the Feig freedom
of markets bill CHI T. 81 yesterday
morning, after a featufeless debate Of
fully an hour. The bill is a substantial
copy of the MeilicIe bi1l which passed
the house two years ago and was de-
feated in the senate. The direct end
in fact the only object, of the measure
is to prevent any combination or
agreement on the part of the grain
receivers at terminal points to fix a
uniform rate Of commission for grain
handled. The present rate is one cent
a bushel, and the claim is made by the
country members and shippers general
ly, that the grain can be handled at
terminal points for. less, but that no
commission merchant is permitted to
charge less than the amount stated.
upon penalty of being expelled from the
grain receivers association to which
ne belongs. The only persons threaten
ed by the legislation are in the Mime
apollS chamber Of commerce, and the
Duluth board Of trade
When the bill came up for discussion
on general orders, there was not
word Of opposition, and Mr.. Feig, who
was heavily loaded with speech, was
MN n al Ia