The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-15
A SUM TO BE APPROPRIATED AND
SPECIAL COMMITTEE APP
POINTED.
HICKS HELPED NATTER ALONG
By Fight Which He Made Against
1.-THE Surprised the
House.

interest, and apprOpriatlng $25, 900 for
that purpose. The bill (H. j.. GID was
introduced with special reference to the
Mountain Iron mine case and the for
fixture OF the Duluth & Iron Range
land grant, but there are several other
similar cases which the committee will
have occasion to investigate in case
the bill becomes a law. This may be
questioned in view of the Iateness of
the session.
The bill, as introduced, provided fer
three senators and four representa-
tiVes. Upon this point the author was
not strenuous, and the house reduced
the committee to five, two senators and
three representatives. The state audi
tor was added to the governor and at
torney general, with whom the COM
mittee is directed to advise regarding
the prosecution of the work, but in
every essential particular the bill pass
! ed practically as introduced
It's provisions are that the commit
tee is ''to inquire into whether the
state is justly entitled to any real
property located within the state which
Is now claimed adversely thereto bv
any party or parties; and thereupon.
W prose-
cuted such judicial proceedings as the
committee shall deem proper to estab-
Iish the title of the state to such real
property or to remove any clouds now
resting on the states title" 1t further
provides that the cases shall be prose-
cuted by any attorney or ATTORNEYS an
pointed by the committee, the compen-
satlon of such attorneys to be fixed bv
the committee and approved by the
governor, to whom the report shall he
made on or before Jan. 1, 1898.
Numerous attempts were made TO
amend the BILL mostly by those who
were opposed to it's provisions in whole
or IN part, but after the first test Of
strength there was little tolerance on
the part of the triumphant majority
On the final vote there were 90 votes
for the bill and only against. the on
position consisting of Messrs. Dahl
Hicks, Johns, McGrath, Poetz and Sew
erance. After the vote had been an
nounced, Judge Hicks gave notice that
ne would file protest against the ac-
tlon OF the house and have the same
entered on the journal, as is permitted
by the constitution. The spirit Of tba
dominant party was once more stirrad
up by this defiance, and they shouted.
Read the papers" The speaker hasi-
Iated. Judge Hicks signified his will
hhgness to have the protest published
ana the clerk read as follows:
me undersigned members of the house Of
representatives. do hereby protest against
Ine passage of H. F. GIL for the following
F1rst-The bill commits to a committee Of
ne legislature duties which naturally and
properly deyolye upon one of the executive
eral. "0' 6eH-
second-The bill, if enacted into law. is an
evasion II not in direct conflict with the
provisions of sections of article 4 of the CON
StttutiOn of the state
Henry G. Hicks,
John F. Dahl,
Henry Johns,
D. f. McGrath.
After the bill had been reported Mr..
Grondahl offered ali amendment which
was IN effect new bill and which
provided that the state auditor and the
attorney general should prosecute the
cases, and appropriated $500 for legal
and other necessary assistance. Legal
action was to be begun not later than
Nov. 1, 1897 Mr.. GrondahI opposed the
original, saying there were many cues
lions involved purely Of a legal char
not own the lands in question. so that
the whole proceeding was one which
would have to be fought out in the
courts. He had examined the report
OF the special committee, of which Mr.
Feig was chairman, which had inves-
t1gated the question two years ago;
as well as the recent report Of the
Mountain Iron committee, and he
found practically no new facts brought
out by the recent committee, unless it
was its reflection upon the honesty Of
ex-State Auditor W. w. Braden.
He had read the report carefully.
and except for these repeated insinua-
lions he could find no evidence which
would convince jury that Mr.. Braden
had done anything unlawful or had
been guilty of any fraud.
The only thing of this character was
letter written by Mr.. Merritt which
proposed to do certain things and dt-
vide the profits. AS an indication Of
the unreliability of this kind Of evil
dence he said he knew a member of
the present house who had in his pock-
ct a letter from a certain corporation
making an offer to divide the profits
We're urging him to enter upon He
knew this man was perfectly honest,
but If he should die it might be used
like the Braden letter to throw suspi-
cion upon his character. He expressed
himself as being grieved that the mem
bers Of the committee had permitted
themselves to defame a former public
servant who is now in his grave and
unable to defend his honor.
The same argument was made re-
garding the Duluth & Iron Range for
TEXTURE case. The statutes of the state
and the records We're really the only
evidence necessary to prove the true
state of facts, and everything purely
legal matter to be decided in the
courts
What therefore, he asked, was the
occasion for q commissionso of seven men
with a complement of clerks and law
yers, to do what was directly in the
line of duty of the auditor and the at
torney general? He pointed that these
men had been tried and not found
wanting; that they were among the
most popular men in the state, because
they had done their whole duty. They
could be trusted to do as they had
done before. There was no necessity
to vote $25, 900 for a commission. What
was wanted was an appropriation
which would enable the state officers
to do their whole duty.
Mr.. jacobson said that he was dis
posed to accept any reasonable amend
ment to his bill, but the Grondahl
apaopdr1nNf SiN1nlv Y,aaart that the