The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-15

by the state auditor and attorney gen.
eral. 1t was admitted that the stat,
had cases which should be investigated
and tried in the courts, and it wa:
also admitted that some one must b,
hired to do the work Regarding thu
d1nerence in the amount to be expend
ed under the two propositions, he sale
he did not believe $25, 900 was enough
and that $500 was only enough tt
light one Of these cases, of which there
were five or six. 1t was necessary tt
remember that the corporations hold
ing this land would fight the state
claim to the last.
Regarding the Mountain Iron com.
mittee report, all he had to say was
that the committee had been fearless
ana mad stated what the evidence
showed without fear or favor, and re-
eardless of whether the offending state
off1cer was Republican or a Demo-
crat What was more there was evil
dence that indicated that men high in
office had been guilty of collision. Mr..
Grondahl admitted that the state had
a claim, and in the next breath had
round fault with the committee for
talking Of a man who was dead. 1t
was not the dead man they referred
TO, 1t was the official acts Of a state
oHlcer, ana this was certainly in the
province Of the committee.
In reference to the proposition to
nave the attorney general prosecute
these claims, Mr.. Jacobson said that
of11cer had fOreStalled such action in
that he had already given an opinion
that the state had no rights under the
Duluth and Iron Range forfeiture. 1t
had been urged that the attorney gen
eral had not proceeded under the reso-
luton adopted by the house two years
ago, because he had had no funds, and
at the same time Mr.. Childs was ap-
plauded for his fight to prevent the
union Of the Northern Pacific and
Great Northern roads. If he had no
funds for one of thesse cases, where
did he get them for the other?
He declared that he would never vote
a dollar to aid the attorney general in
prosecuting these actions. The meth
cd proposed-the appointment of a
COMMISSIONERS one which had
worked we'll four years ago. AT that
time the pine land business Of the state
was placed upon much better basis,
and the same result might be expected
in the present instance
Still another argument urged against
the bill was that it meant a junket
Upon this point he had some personal
testimony to offer He had served
upon the pine land committee four
years ago, and his recollection was that
he got $40 for his services extending
over several months. He believed the
speaker could be trusted to appoint
members of the house who would serve
not only for the per diem Of IS, but
men who would as we'll serve the state
faithfully and clear up the question as
to whether the state had any rights to
the land under consideration.
He also pointed out that this plan
was satisfactory to the state
auditor, who did not agree with the
attorney general in the matter, and
for this reason he believed the amend
ment should not be adopted.
Henry Johns also spoke in opposition
to the bill. He insisted that it con-
templated nothing more than a junket,
and the matter was one which could
not be settled by such a commission
as the bill proposed. He suggested
that there were five lawyers on the
Mountain Iron investigation commit
tee who could do better than such a
and on general principles
he would favor the Grondahl amend
ment. At this point the house took the
noon recess.
The special order was resumed imme-
diately after the noon recess, Mr.. Don
nelly taking the floor in defense of the
Jacobson bill as introduced. A large
part of his speech was given up to an
explanation of the proceedings of the
pine land investigation four years ago
which cost the state 81 800 and out ut
which the state recovered nearly $780,
600, besides stopping the pine land
frauds.
Mr.. Dahl opposed the bill. raising the
point that it would be a reflection upon
the Republican attorney general and
the Republican party Mr.. FOss also
opposed the Jacobson bill, because he
thought it was the duty of the attor-
ney general.
1t was Judge Hicks, however, who
led the fight on the bill; and such a
fight! 1t brought the friends Of the
Jacobson bill together and it scattered
the opposition so that when the vote
came only six voted against the orig
inal 1t probably did more to defeat
the Grondahl amendment than Mr.. ia
cObsOn could have done.
Judge Hicks launched out into the
wide ocean of discussion from the
start. He tore down the standard of
the Jacobson bill and ran up the black
flag of uncOnStitutionality' in it's
place. He ridiculed it and it's author
for having introduced it. He was
strong on what the courts would de-
eide when the bill was brought before
it, and he spoke with all the assurance
Of eight years of experience on the
bench. He pointed out, first, that the
could not grant the power
to summon witnesses to a committee,
because, in case witnesses refused to
come, there would be no power to COM
pei or punish him. He seemed to re-
gard this as a perfect barrier to the
operation Of the bill. But it was that
part of the bill which read: Said
committee and every member thereof
is hereby authorized and empowered
to send for persons and papers, etc.
that stirred up his ire. He pictured
each one of the committee taking his
with him and travelling
all over the state in quest of evidence.
He dilated upon the morals of such a
and, in spite of the fact
that large number of ladies were lis
tening to the debate, he broke out in
a vulgarism such as has not been heard
on the floor Of the house during the
entire session. He referred in an in
way to the Stenographers
going with the members, and then, as
if in parenthesis, he added: 1.-The bill
is loose whether the women would be
or not"
The manner in which this was drag
ged into the debate turned many a
face scarlet, but no attention was paid
to it and the speaker went on to a
finish. Subsequently, in discussing the
merits of the Jacobson bill, Mr.. Doug
las referred to the disgraceful charges
and insinuations made and the remarks
were applauded. Mr.. Underleak also
spoke in favor of the Grondahl amend
ment, and Stockwell in favor of the
original bill.
Mr.. Foss moved to amend the Gron-
dahl amendment, providing that the
amount to be given the attorney gen.
eral should be increased to $4,000 The
speaker ruled that the question of one
method or the other-the Jacobson plan
of committee or the Grondahl plan
Of MIA pinor tho YlT-OSoo11tiOYl in tho hands