The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-18
REVIEW OF THE WORK DONE
SHOWS AN ENERGETIC DISPOSE
ZION ON THE PART OF THE
MEMBERS.
THIS WEEK WILL BE BETTER
Probably, Even In the Amount Of
Business Done 5bysGthe State
sea SOIons.

" w UuSIlIeSS Will spirit which
presages an active and honorable leeis-
lative period. This does not mean that
the legislature is likely to conclude it's
session before the ninety legislative
days have passed; no legislature
with the usual amount Of seIf-respect
does that; but it means that much of
its business will be done before the
last week of the session.
In the house eighty-two bills have
been presented: some Of them substan-
TALLY duplicates, such as the several
measures repeating the struck jury law.
and many Of the others are the IA
miliar measures which have been be-
fore the public in years past.
Inc speaker, was unprepared last
tuesday to announce the house COM
mlttees, but the day was not entirely
uneventful. Mr.. Donnelly introduced
a resolution for the appointment of a
joint committee to investigate the
Mountain Iron mine scandal by which
1t is claimed the state was defrauded
out of the possession Of property valued
at $20,000,000 The house was not ready
to proceed with SO weighty a matter
without deliberation, and Thursday af-
and discussion of the measure and the
appointment by the. speaker of the
house members Of the Joint committee
Inc only member who opposed Mr..
Donnelly's method of treating the case
was Judge Hicks. OF. the Hennepin dele
cation He proposed to have the mat
ter referred to the attorney general for
legal opinion, holding that, as prac-
tlcally all the evidence, was document
airy, the only question was as to the ie-
gality of the REIMBURSEMENT of the
property in question blythe state audi.
tor.
1. rms opposition on the part of Judge
Hicks would haye.s passed unnoticed
perhaps, but for an incident which be-
came the feature of the Saturday ses-
sion. ..<~4
Representative jacobson, after diving
down into the forgotten past, brought.
up Tor investigation the old Salt Spring
grant, by which the state acquired 40. :
oVO acres of land from the general gov
eminent, about which little or nothing
mas peen published or known by the
puolic Within the last decade. ssl, a.. ~,
Inc house held a brief session Mon
DAY evening, at which, besides the in
PRODUCTION of several bills, the only
matter OF Importance transacted was
the adoption OF Senator Keller,s resolu-
ton for the investigation: of the sbeet
sugar industry. "a ;5Yc3ssa 49,
Speaker Jones was leady TO afilno,irice
the house committees "Wednesday
morning. The list contained few sur
prises, but, on these Hole, was more
than Or7jDa riIv cot; .x, TIL.
er had done what - ,1uld to recog-
me what Is gene ~ understood as
the better element W the bo,1se The
remainder of the session was devoted
almost entirely to the introduction and
reading of seventeen bills
The house put itself on record in ia.
Eor OF conservative appropriations and
liberal use of the pruning, knife. when
Representative Grondahl ATTEMPTED n
Dank movement to forward an appro-
prlat1on of $44, 900 for the Red Wins
state school. Mr.. Grondahl made =
plausible statement and a good 6obt
TO have his bill placed on general or
GERS without going to the committee on
appropriations, but the task was more
than any man could have ACCOMPLISHED
1t was opposed by all the old wheel
horses, and finally abandoned by it's
author N'
Inc feappoft1onn1ent question threat
ems to be the principal bone of con-
tent1on in the present session. because
OIL the decreased representation which
must inevitably be suffered by the
southern counties of the state. on Az
count of their relatively smaller ponu-
ldtIoh as compared with the northern
ana western counties. since the last an
pcrtonment. The principal trouble
seems to come from the First congress
s,onal district, in which the decrease
Will be most marked. The senate had
rejected the proposition Of the house
70 appoint joint committee of eight
senators and fifteen 8. REPRESENTATIVES,
ana substituted fourteen senators ami
fourteen representatives as the number.
Inc feature of Fridays session was
the way in which the house turned
ooWn the senate amendment The first
suggestion was to abandon the ioin.
committee idea, and the motion was
niaoe Dy Representative Litt1eton To
lhEs eaect. But Representative Jacob
soh' aLtef roasting the senate in a most
uhparHamentary style, suggested the
proprlety OF a committee of confer
ehce 1h1S was appointed, with Messrs
JACOBSON and LfttIeton at the head
out IT Is generally conceded that each
mouse viii ultimately prepare and pass
It's own Dill, and that the compromise
NOAA1C after JillS stage has been
reached
The session sof Saturday. wou}d. ba
Deen hum-drum indeed had not Judge
HICKS trod on the tail of Donnelly;s
coat ana made some very unhappy ref
efenceS to an election contest in which
senator w. D. Washburn and Mr. Don
ely were the star performers. away
pack IN 1879 Judge Hicks attitude
on the Mountain Iron mine resolution
referred TO before ~
the opportunity for one of his most
artistic castigations.
IN THE SENATE.
The senate has not vet begun to hold
all-day sessions, but considerable work
mas been done. The standing commit
tees have all been appointed and their
clerks named. Some of the more i'm
portant, as, for instance, the Judiciary
ana that on legislative expenses. have
peen holding daily sessions Several
special committeesoan are also at work.
There have been fifty-eight bills in
troduced, and two passed both the SEN
ate and house; another passed the sen
ate and is now in the house, leaving
three to the credit of the senate for the
week II ,t 4 s-.......
The standing committees were an
pointed Tuesday. This discussion over
the chairman Of the Judiciary commit
tee had been an absorbing topic, and
was settled by the committee electing
It's own chairman instead of having
MIN named by the president of the SEN
ate.
The debate on reapportionment
showed that there. is a. unanimity of
OPTION in regard to the necessity Of
this measure; and the senate claimed
the privilege of equal representation
with the house on the joint committee,