The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1897-02-11
BUSINESS BODY
s61ATE LEGISLATURE GAINING A REP
UTATIoN FOR WORK.

At Saturdays Adjournment the Desks Of
Both Senate and House Were Cleared.
Reapportionment Believed to BE AS
, sured-Revision OF Banking Laws-The
First Junket-GrondahIs Bicycle Bill.
ST. PAUL, Feb. Especial. lon the
face of things this is business legisla-
ture. Saturday night found both
house with clear desks. all work re-
ported from committees having been
disposed Of. And the committees kept
well up with their work, too. Secretary
Of the Senate Langum was bit in
climbed to boast over the working .ree-
ord Of. that body until Chief Clerk
bowling assured him that the house
was also even with its work. There
are two reas ons for this state Of affairs
First, and most important, is the
knowledge gained by the leaders from
their former Legislative experience that
crowding business is necessary at all
stages of the session. Too many legis-
lators think 90-day session is long
enough to allow easy going methods
for the first month or two. These are
the supporters Of frequent motions for
adjournments over from Friday until
Tuesday. They maintain that the
committees should thus be given
more time to consider bills referred
to them, but more experienced legisla-
tors have learned that when the house
or senate adjourns for three days the
members go home and no committees
can meet. Hence nearly every pro-
posed three day adjournment has been
antagonized and generally prevented,
and the result shows in the condition
of legislative business. The second
reason is that the most important
measures have not yet been reported
back from the committees and in gen.
eral the bills thus far are of compar-
itively minor interest and therefore
more easily disposed of. However, the
most important measures usually are
longer in committee SO that this fact
has less to do with the present ad-
vanced stage of business.
Reapportionment is now an assured
thing. After three weeks deadlock OF
the preliminary details Of the subject
both houses yielded little and the
compromise seems to make reappor-
tionment possible. Past experience has
shown that when either house alone
attempts reapportionment, the result
has been failure, joint action being the
only kind to make success certain. This
fact made the leaders willing to accept
a compromise. The house wanted
joint committee of 10 representatives
and 8 senators, those figures giving
about the usual proportionate represen-
tation of the two houses on joint COM
mittees, but the senate insisted on an
equal number of committeeman, claim
ing IA from each house was proper.
Friends of superintendent feared the
contention Of the senate was scheme
of the enemies to defeat that end, but
the compromise gives the house, where
they believe their strength is greatest,
a majority of on the joint committee,
there being 15 representatives and IA
senators. Of course this is but the
first step, but it is looked upon as so
favorable to just reapportionment as
to assure the ultimate success of the
newer portions of the state in their
fight for enlarged representation in the
legislature. 1s
If anyone ever doubted that this leg
islaturs wanted to amend the banking
laws the action of the house on Satur-
day should convince them of their
error. Adverse reports on the three
banking bills, one by Mr.. Mcdonald
and two by Mr. Donnelly, we're pre-
sented by the committee on banks and
banking, whose members favored some
amendmenr of the banking laws along
the same lines as provided in these
bills, but believed certain provisions
too radical, and therefore not advisa-
BILE. Mr.. McDonald's bill was the first
to be SO reported, and that member at
once moved to reverse the committee
action and place his bill on general
orders for consideration by the house
in committee of the whole. His bill
prohibits loans by banks to officers or
stockholders of such banks, requires all
increase of the cash to 90 per cent of
deposits subject to check, limits the
size of loans according to the securi-
ties offered, requires more specific bank
statements, and provides penalties for
violation of the law. After a lively
debate the committees action was re-
versed, and few minutes later SINH.
lar action was taken in relation to Mr..
Donnelly's bills to require daily
publication of financial condition,
and to require the publication of
the names of all officers and
stockholders of banks together with the
amount Of stock owned by each. It
does not follow from this action that
the house favors these bills in all re-
spects, but it means that some positive
action is desired and the members felt
that it would be a gain in time to
amend these bill in committee of the
whole rather than to await the intro
duction of other bills that would have
to go through the committee ON banks
and banking again and even then, per-
hans be no more satisfactory than these