The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-11
UNRELENTING AS TO l.. G.
POWERS.
WILL FIGHT ANY GOVERNOR
WHO DOES NOT AGREE TO RE-
MOVE THE PRESENT LABOR
COMMISSIONER.
He Having Roasted One of the Fed
Grafton Representatives at the
Recent Session.

The report which the federation
council will present at the convention
of the State Federation Of Labor,
which meets in semi-annual session
at st. Cloud, Sunday, will be a hum
mer from the standpoint of organized
labor. For the past month the secre-
tary, assisted by the entire council, has
been busily engaged in it's compilation,
and at meeting last evening. with all
the members present. the finishing
tiUcheS were applied and the secretary
ordered to give it to the official organ
for publication. The recent legislature
is handled without gloves, the labor
commission is roasted to a rich brown
turn, and even the chief executive Of
the state receives considerable adverse
criticism. The report Of the investi-
eating committee declaring the labor
commissioner guilty of the principal
charges preferred by the federation
council, is gone into at length, and
the senators and representatives who
refused to accept the unanimous Opin-
lon OF the committee calling for a re-
organization Of the bureau in the in
terests Of the laboring classes are de-
nominated incompetent and preju-
diced" The names and addresses Of
the senators and representatives who
voted against the bill for reorganiZa-
ton are down in black and white,
while the active friends of the meas
ure are eulogiZed for the course taken
by them. Democrats, Republicans and
Populists receive equal praise, and the
cry Of partisanship cannot be rung in
by those who ever and always at
tempt to belittle reports of a like tenor
as partisan measures, got up in the
interests of certain political parties at
p. the expense of the one in power
Twenty-eight meetings were held by
the council, ten communications sent to
the legislature. two to the president of
the United States and two to each of
the senators and representatives in
congress from the state Of Minnesota,
eight resolutions were passed and
given to the press for publica ton,
while conferences were held with rep
resentatiVeS from the State Immigra-
ton association, manufacturers and
dealers in binding Irvine, boots and
shoes and other business interests
Nine recommendations, including the
doing away with semi-annual conven-
tions, opposing the election Of any one
for governor who will not pledge him
self to representatives Of the fedora
ton to remove from office the present
incumbent of the labor bureau, the
publication and preservation of the
names Of legislators antagonizing
measures advocated by the federation,
cooperation with the business men
Of the state interested in an effort to
do away with state competition in the
state prison and other penal institu-
tons. giving the council power to Sc
1ect its own lobbyists at the capitol,
and contingency fund for the pur-
pose Of publishing and circulating the
records of legislators unfriendly to or
gained labor measures. Henry Johns,
of Ramsey county, is touched up fol.
his attack on ]. F. McAulay, of st.
Cloud, the federation's lobbyist at the
sessions of the late legislature The
council also defends itself in language
unmistakable, for withdrawing its OPP
position to the appointment Of w. L.
Culkin, of Wright county, as United
States land commissioner at Duluth.
after it had adopted resolutions de-
nouncing him for his course on Senate
File No. 558, bill to reorganize the
labor bureau, and other measures 1t
looks as though, if the recommends
tons Of the council meet with the ap-
prevail Of the convention, the future
political pathway of Commissioner
Powers, or any governor who refuses
to displace him and appoint some one
known to be friendly to the laboring
organizations affiliated with the State
Federation of Labor will not be one
where the rose-tree blooms or the
moccasin-a flower gives forth it's fra
GRANGE.