The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1897-02-18
4 BIT OF HISTORY
CORRESPONDENT CoWEN REVIEWS
| THE COATES-HALL CONTEST.

OOnnGOF ONOGNI 10WCN nGViGW0
| THE CoATES-HALL CONTEST.
Change of Opinion From Coates to Hall.
Face of the Clear intention of the
Voters - Election Law Amendments.
Iron Ore Tax-Repea1 of the Struck
Jury Law-Convict Labor Prob EN-.
ST. PAUL, Feb. l6.-[Special. 1.-The
state poultry show, with all it's noisy
cackling, enda1 Saturday night, and
the Legislative mill, which had been
shut down fer three days, resumed
business Monday afternoon at the old
stand, and statesmen orators will have
mo competition this week.
| One Of the somewhat surprising
events just prior to the recess was the
decision in the Coates Hall contest in
the house. The elections committee
reported in favor Of the seating of
Coates, the Republican contestant, but
that action was reversed by the Repub-
lican house by the surprisingly large
vote of 80 to ID. This is the second
contest in the house, both contestants
being Republicans, and in both in
stances the Republicans voted against
their party associate, members declar-
ing in explanation that party was i'm
portant but principle and justice were
the deciding influences. Populist DON
nelly last week welcomed the spirit of
fairness shown by the speeches on the
.Coates-Hall contest, and expressed the
belief that it would be to the present
and future credit of the Re.
publican party. The secret his
tory of the Coates Hall contest
is interesting. The elections commit
tee had reported in favor of Mr.. Coates,
and on Wednesday it was thought the
report would be adopted, although a
few questions seemed to indicate a
strong tendency the other way. The
contest turned on technicality, cleo.
ton officers having failed to qualify
properly. By throwing out the votes
received by such unqualified officers a
majority was made for Coates, but
there was no question raised as to the
legal rights of the voters thus disfran-
chised. This was the point which
struck nearest the heart of the matter.
Members believed that the first thing
to be considered was whether the vot-
ers were qualified, and then whether
ignorance Of law shown by election of.
ficers should make qualified voters suf-
fer penalty. It was stated that in
most rural districts slight technical
violations of the intricate election law
were almost unavoidable, and if such
technicalities were allowed to over
throw the plain will Of the people every
country member was liable to have an
election contest on his hands. These
were the arguments Of the members on
Thursday, Wednesday night having
been given to the arguments by the at
torneys. After the night session five
of the Republican leaders met
in the room of one of them-whether
by accident or by design matters not
and discussed the contest. Until that
time there was an undercurrent in ia.
vor of Hall but everything pointed to
the seating Of Contestant Coates. It is
uncertain whether anything final was
decided on at this conference but it
was evident when the discussion was
taken up the next morning that there
was decided change of opinion, and
as jacobson, Johns, Feig and Staples
expressed themselves against the re-
port of the committee those still waver-
ing were brought over and the ringing
speech of Abbott, whose name heads
the roll call, clinched things, and the
overwhelming vote resulted. AS an
incident showing how unexpected was
the vote what occurred at the reporters
table may be told. These young men
keep close watch of the proceedings
and can usually be relied on to predict
with reasonable accuracy the general
result of almost any vote. AS the dis
cussion was about to begin on Thurday
morning there was a canvass of those
about the long press table. The ques-
ton was not, (Which will VIM" but
"What will Halls vote be?" The an
swers ranged from ~ to So, the last be-
ing jeered at as ridiculously high and
being admitted by it's author to be
a wild guess. None ventured to pre-
dict Halls success, and the generally
accurate "press gang" naturally felt
somewhat chagrined at their failure to
forecast the result.
Members and the public generally
have not yet seen the end of the now
famous Foss "morbid sentimentality"
bill, and the fighting qualities Of Mr..
Foss are certainly to be commended,
for his usually peaceable demeanor has
evidently deceived his colleagues in the
house. He could stand being laughed
at on the floor, he made no complaints
when the newspapers joked about him
self, but when his pet measure was as
sailed he bristled up and was ready
for the fray. And his morbid senti-
mentality" bill bids fair to have nine
lives-thanks to his careful nursing af-
ter its various knockout" blows. He
introduced the bill several weeks ago,
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