Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1897-04-29

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railroad company must deposit . bond
to cover all excess Of charges which
| may arise in cases where the courts
sustain the commission. But two other
railroad bills became laws, although
more than 50 were proposed and some
Others were meritorious.
A very important Till III every legis.
lature is that fixing the tax levy, and
in view Of the reduction of the assess.
ments during the last year it took close
fi,42ring to avoid any increase, bnt that
was accomplished and the tax levy Is
still l.. mills In making this possible
good deal is expected Of the valuation
method of taxing the iron mines, and
the further advantage in the new
Thorpe law authorizing the state board
of equalization to raise assessments in
any county when their Judgment in.
dicatas necessity for so doing. This
law will help the receipts from all
large corporations, whose influence
with their local assessors will no longer
be final but can be overturned by the
state board.
Notwithstanding the fact that for
once all the temperance elements were
united the legislature did not see fit to
pass the county local option bill, prac-
tical politics being the real reason for
its defeat. None of the great parties
just now seems ready to take up the
matter so it may rest for few months
at least.
One of the features of this legislature
has been the number of Investigations
into public and private matters, and
there was good sized expense account
attached to nearly every one of them.
The most important, especially in its
possible results, was that into the title
of the, Mountain Iron mine lands,
which the joint investigating commit
tee declared still belonged to the state.
This was instituted on the suggestion
of State Auditor Dunn that the known
facts in the case seemed to warrant all
investigation, which was held in exec
utive sessions and was apparently very
thorough. A bill was passed appro-
priating $1,000 to pay the expense of
retaining this aud other state lands
adversely held by other parties, and
the governor, state auditor and attor-
ney general were made a commission
to select a special attorney and direct
the prosecution of the claims of the
state. This same commission is ex-
pected to look after the forfeited
Duluth and Iron Range rail-
road land grant and any
other similar lands they may discover.
The Mountain Iron property is gener.
ally valued at $4,000, 600, and those
Duluth aud sfon Range lands aggre-
gate 6OO, 600 acres. much Of it valuable
pine and mineral .land, so, that the sue
1essstal nsosscntien of the state claims
to these properties would be Of wonder4
ful financial benefit to the public
funds. Then there were Investigations
Of the public accounts and expendi.
lures, Of the management OF the stock
yards, OF sugar beet culture in Mime
sofa, Of the Soldiers Home, and Of in
solvent banks: The 1900 expended in
these various investigations will be
considered money well spent, if the
matters can b carried through a. do.
sired. For instance. that would be
counted as triaing expense if the
state could regain actual possession of
tho $4,000, o0O Mountain Iron mine.
Not the least exciting. in its subse-
quent proceedings, was the investiga.
ton Of the site Tor the Fourth insane
hospital, but it ended with the whole
matter in statu quo, as lover Of legal
latin would say.
1t was to be expected that, after the
business experiences of the past two or
three years, there would be legislation
regarding banks and financial institu-
tions generally. The general banking
law was changed in many particulars,
with the national banking law as
model and stringent provisions added.
Greater safeguards were thrown about
savings institutions and it was made
moro economical to close up the affairs
of building and loan associations, when
tho necessity - for such action arises.
Many other bills on this general sub
ject became laws but these were the
more important Of those endorsed by
both houses and also by the governor.
The most desired law regarding the
courts was that repeating the struck
jury law, and it went through early in
the session. Then the fees for certifi.
Gates of declaration of full citizenship
were renuced to 81. Both Of these
seem to be decidedly popular laws.
One of the new laws seeks to faciii.
tate settlement of insolvent estates. 1t
authorizes the transfer Of assets to
creditors in partial or complete settle
ment Of their claims, when it is appar'
ent to the district Judge that better re-
sulta NAV be in that manner obtained.