The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-19
TWO STATE OFFICIALS ARM c1vEv
A WARM TIME IN THE
SENATE.
POWERS AND HIS BUREAU
TAKE UP A BREEZY DEBATE DUR
ING THE MORNING sEs-
SION,
WHILE BANK EXAMINER KENYON
Is Given u Vicious Roast by Senator
Keller and Others I'm the
Afternoon,

Labor Commissioner Powers and
Bank superintendent Kenyon were
both the victims Of severe criticism
at the session of the senate yesterday
The formers turn came first, the re-
port of the investigating committee
preclpltat1ng a lively debate during
the closing hour of that session
Mr.. Kenycn's trouble began with the
consideration Of the Wyman banking
bill, Of which Mr. Kenyon is the ac-
credited author, and which was a
special order for o'clock yesterday
afternoon.
While no final action was taken by
the senate in either case which could
be construed as an official reproach
to the officials named, yet both were
raked fore and aft by the orators on
the senate floor.
The trouble began when the senate
reached the order Of special commit
tee reports, and Senator Dunn pre-
sented a long statement of the work
Of the Powers investigation commit
tee.
The report was first proposed for
printing, but Senator Greer suggested
that this course would compel the full
investigation of the new charges in the
report. Senator Howard thought the
report was important enough to print.
Senator Greer said that some of the
same lobbyists who worked for the
establishment Of that bureau were
now fighting it, perhaps because they
We're not employed there. He stood
ready, in the light Of that fact, to
vote to abolish it whenever it had
ceased to serve the people for whose
benefit 1t was created.
Senator Stevens said the charges
were serious. They reflected on the
commissioner and on his party. Fair
less to both demanded the investiga>
ton. He thought a reasonable time
and latitude should be allowed.
Senator Young said the senate could
not remove the labor commissioner
whatever it found. No one would op-
pose the investigation Of abuses al
legged, but if it appeared that the
charges were merely aimed to wreak
a political revenge, then it fell below
the dignity Of the senate. He then re-
lated the discussion by which the COM
E1ittee arrived at its decision to give
each side one evening each. Then the
counsel were consulted and they final
be required for testimony alone. Then
the committee decided to limit the
inquiry to the charges of personal
wrong doing. Mr.. Erwin declined to
go into the testimony on this basis.
What were the other charges? They
were not specific. He could not, Mr..
Erwin said, particularize. Mr. Erwin
had practically admitted that he was
On fishing excursion. If Mr.. Erwin
did not represent any body, he was
there for purposes of buncombe Or dis
play. If he did, then he should go
through the records Of the Office and
find the objectionable facts. The in
vestigation had all the earmarks CT
political bitterness, of rnud-slinging, Of
the absence OF honorable purpose. If
the senate insisted ON pushing this
fishing excursion. he would have to
resign from the committee.
Senator Howard said that while
there might be partisan politics behind
the inquiry, it was evident from the
senator's speech that there was plenty
Of partisan politics interposed in front
of it. He had introduced the bill in
the other house under which the
bureau was now acting. He repre-
scented the district in which Mr.. Pow
ers lived. He demanded that the
charges be investigated. If they were
not true, it was a duty to Mr.. Powers.
If they were not true, then it would
react on the men who make the
charges; if they were true, then it was
due the people to know it.
Senator Ringdal said that the charges
were perhaps not as specific as their
makers would have made them had
thew known what the aninus of the
committee was going to be, but he
thought they were specific enough. One
was that mortgage statistics collected
by the department had been garbled;
was that not specific enough? That
flour statistics expensive in chara cter,
had been collected and never reported;
was not that specific enough? Probate
court statistics were also collected at
great expense. Why were they not
published? Because they did not con-
form to the preconceived notion of the
head Of the department. AS for the
stress laid by Senator Young on Mr..
Erwin's failure to look over the records
Of the office, Mr.. Ringdal said that in
the first nights testimony it developed
there were practically no books Of
record, but a plethora Of daily reports
in more or less chaotic condition.
The senator then yielded the floor for
the noon recess.
After the recess there was a special
order, but by unanimous consent the
bills in regular course were given their
second reading. The special order was
S. F. 3d. the Wyman banking bill, but
it had to yield to the debate on the
Powers business. Senator Ringdal
yielded the floor to the special order,
but Senator Knatvold took advantage
Of him to continue the debate. He
wanted to substitute for the report a
resolution declaring "Mr. Powers guilty
Of being a Republican and partisan, -
Senator Stevens said that the charges
were worthy of investigation and Sem
ator Yale said the question of expense
frightened him. Senator Wyman call
ed for the special order, so the labor
matter was made a special order for
2:30 Tuesday.