The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-18
FIGHTING THE BILL
ISSUE OF CAPITOL CONSTRUCTION
CERTIFICATES Is OBSTRUCTED
IN THE SENATE.
GREER AND CULKlN OBJECT
TO THE PAYMENT OF INTEREST ON
THE CERTIFICATES OF IN
DEBTEDNES1.
HASTINGS BILL DEFERRED. TOO.
San Jose Scale Bill Is Recommends ed
to Pass i'm the Midst of
1t All.

The capitol bill met with a back.
temporary, at least in the senate yes
terday. That august body Of legislators
seemed determined to work, and from
early dawn-the sun did not come out
until late yesterday evening they
struggled with general orders.
Senator Greer got his San Jose scale
bill recommended to pass after hard
fight in which his chief aggressors
We're the members of the Ramsey coun-
ty delegation.
Perhaps this is why he led the forces
that were marshaled against the cap
itol funding scheme
But no matter what the reason was,
Senator Greer pitted himself against
the passage of the Ramsey delegations
bill authorizing half a million dollars
of capitol construction certificates, for
the present, at least, and asked that
progress be reported He raised the
constitutional objection that the state
had no right to incur Indebtedness in
such a manner.
Senator Stevens said that the bill had
been carefully drawn, and the credit of
the state was not involved. The certif-
icates would merely entitIe the pur-
chaser to share in the proceeds of the
copitOl construction tax as they came in.
Good business policy demanded that
the capitol be built when labor and
material were cheap and the unem-
ployed could be given work.
Senator Culkin said the economy Of
the bill should be looked into carefully.
1t seemed to him that the payment of
interest on these certificates would re-
duce by so much the money actually
expended in the work of construction.
Senator Young advocated the bill.
Senator Wyman said the basis of tax
alton at first was to yield $4,000 an
nually. The reduction in the assessed
valuation had cut this to about $120 O00
This would take about four years to
get the money which could be Dor
rowed on these certificates as needed.
Senator Stevens said the capitol com.
missioners desired to have this bill
passed, believing that by the early con-
structiOn of the building they could
save the taxpayers of the state $3.50, 000
The honor of the commission had been
pledged that not a dollar over $1,000
600 should be expended, and it was in
fulfillment Of the pledge that they
asked the passage of the bill Senator
. Greer still wanted to report progress
but Senator Stevens insisted that action
be taken.
Senator Greer then sought the priv
ilege of the floor again. He charged
that the object Of the Ramsey delega-
ton in pushing the bill was to get it
out of the way, preliminary to the
passage of another bill, which would
permit the investment of the state
school fund in these certificates; "a
raid on the school fund.- he called it,
Senator Culkin again pleaded for time
for consideration, not only for the legal
questions involved, but the economy of
the proposed plan of investment He
did not see what there was to pre-
vent the speedy floating Of all the
certificates, so that the interest charges
would be run over a long term Of
years. The original intention had been
to run the work Of construction over
ten years. The design now seemed to
be to cut that down to five If the
appropriation was expended for inter
est, the taxpayers would not have them
in the capitol.
Senator Sheehan said Senator Cullzin
had evidently miSread the bill. It made
a change in the method of paying the
contract. The interest charge could
not be figured to exceed $4,000 This
would be small compared with the
saving made by the commission on the
construction at the present low prices
He resented Senator Greers imputa-
ton that raid on the school fund was
contemplated.
Senator Culkin insisted that if tho
work was done to take advantage of
the present low prices, then the inter-
est must of necessity approximate or
exceed 100000.
The motion to report progress was
adopted.
Senator Greers revised bill to pre-
vent the spread of San Jose scale was
taken up when general orders were
reached. He said there were like bills
existing in many of the states of the
Union. Iowa was opposed to the pas
sage of this law, and the local repre-
senatives of nurserymen had in