The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-05

mitted but the committee could not
find it, and it's majority and minority
members alike eXonerated every mem
Der of the commission. He felt sure the
senate would approve that verdict.
Senator Young said it was an I'M
usual proceeding for legislature to
be called upon to inquire whether
commission of it's creation had faith
fully performed the duties which were
imposed upon it. There had been
reason, he thought, for the suspicion
which had attached to the sudden
change Of heart on the part of the
commission. 1t was due to the peo-
pie to know what had been done, and
why it had been done. He discussed
the question raised as to whether the
location at Hastings was complete,
holding that it was. They were there
to perform an administrative duty, and
when they had done it, they were
through. He had visited both sites,
and if there was not something lacking
in the soil of the Anoka site, then he
could not understand why it was given
up largely to gnarled burr oaks. He
compared the drainage Facilities at
Anoka with those at Hastings to the
disadvantage of the former. The Hast
ings site had natural advantages too
great to be ignored, he thought, and,
yet the commission had voted to re-
move 1t to Anoka.
A recess of ten minutes was taken to
Ventilate the senate rather than the
hospital.
Senator Culkin said no one would
deny the power of the Legislature with
the governor, to change the location of
the hospital, or other institutions, but
it should not be forgotten that the
state had approved the judgment of
the commission. 1t had expended this
money. It's acts had been given the
fullest, freeSt and fairest inveStiga-
ton and the Hastings people were
given every opportunity to prove these
charges, and yet no imputation or
dishOnOrable act was cast upon any
member of that commission, save that
Alvah Eastman was given several
pages in the report because of an as
serted lack of courtesy" When tho
news was flashed across the state that
Hastings had been chosen, a large Sec
ton of the state felt that an injustice
had been done A section of the state
had been given another hospital, when
it alredy had two almost within
stones throw Of each other. He de-
Tended Mr. Hopper eloquently. poor
man, unknown to the public at large,
was called to explain a vote to a body,
any member of which, however honest
he might be, might be embarrassed to
explain why he voted thus and so on a
certain measure.
Taking up the advantages of the
site. he said he represented $4,000
people in the counties of Wright and
Sherburne. These people wanted a
place near them where they could visit
those Of their friends and relatives
who had been stricken with mental
maladies. 1t was melancholy pleas
ure, but it was a privilege not to be
despised.
They felt that they were not asking
too much in asking that a hospital be
located west and north Of the cities.
He had seen this proposed site at
many seasons of the year and it was
fertile. Many men had made fortunes
on this site and surrounding farms.
Hastings had been fairly whipped, but
now it came and asked the state to
fight their battle for them and help
them out. AS for the advantage claim
ed for the stone on the Hastings site,
it was immaterial, in the light OF
modern constructive science, which
built hospitals, not of stone, but of
steel and brick.
1t was unfair to place south Of the
city practically all of the money col
leCted from the people of the state.
Public institutions were no mans boun-
ty, but, other things being equal, geo.
graphical equities should not be de-
spised. If the Hennepin delegation
enough for the state at large to grant
that the sewage would not be deleteri-
Gus to Minneapolis. 1t was conceded
that AnOka had the superiority in ge-
ogTaphy and in fuel supply, and, in
justice to that city, he was confident
the senate would adopt the report of
the minority.
Senator Morgan's recognition follow
ing another champion Of AnOka was an
encoura cement of the hope that a vote
would soon be reached. He reviewed
the reports and said that, when all
was read, the difference between the
two was that six favored one site, five
the other In view of this practically
even division of opinion as to the nat
ural advantages of the respective sites,
the senate would interfere with the
acts of the commission, throw away
the money it had spent, cast discredit
on the community in which it had
spent it, all to satisfy the demands OF
another disappointed community.
Senator McHale wanted the senate
to look over both sites in body. He
believed it one of the most important
matters that would come before the
legislature Not one of the members
could tell but he himself might some
day be an inmate Of such an inStitu-
ton.
Senator Yale said that, in creating a
commission, it was hard to avoid get
ting a lame duck. When Jesus selected
his twelve, one turned out wrong, and
1t developed that he received thirty
pieces of silver. Now, however, men
were wiser, and, If Judas lived now,
he might have covered it up. He
thought Alvah Eastman and o. c.. Mer-
riman were brighter than Hopper, to say
the least. The verdict Of the commit
tee was not guilty, but he thought it
was in the sense of not proven. The
contract between Hastings and the
state was not legal, because it was not
in writing, but it was moral obllga-
ton none the less. The senate had the
right to go over the proceedings of a.
commission which had cast dishonor on
itself.
Senator Schaller said no legal tech
nicality should be permitted to come
between the state and it's most abject
wards. 1t was not a question of coal
rates or of railroad trains, but of right
and wrong. His words might not be
given as much weight as they would
were he not among those who felt that
an injustice had been done. What was
there honorable about the action of the
commission? When Mr.. Hopper voted
fer Hastings, he was pure; when he
voted for Anoka, he became an object
of suspicion. He would not charge that
Mr.. Hopper had received any considera-
ton for his vote; he never had. He had
mistaken the temper OF that commits
sion when they decided that the hos
pitaI should be located at Hastings.
He thought that was finality.
For that he had been compelled to
suffer tortures most condign, the scorn
of his fellow men, so bitter that he had