The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-27
PAID THIRTY CENTS A COPY
WHILE THE STATE PAID OVER
NINETY CENTS A COPY FOR IT'S
1000.
GREAT NORTHERN's FAILURE
To Comply with the Labor Bureaus
Request for Information Is
Made Much Of.

was on the rack last night for four
hours and half, and the investigation
into the affairs of that much criticised
bureau developed more sensations, per-
haps, than have as yet come into the
case. Chief Of these were the fact that
the state had paid for the printing of
the purchasing Power of Gold" after
which extra editions were run off at
private, expense for a much less figure
than the state paid;that mortgage fore
closure statistics had been suppressed
for two years for fear of possible criti-
ciSm by Minneapolis real estate men,
and that the Great Northern road ruin
ed one tabulation' of wheat statistics
by its failure to comply with the de-
partment's request for statement rs
to the amount of wheat carried by it.
Mr.. Powers was sworn and examined
in his own defense in relation to the
charges against him, first in regard to
the journey to Leech lake, which was
on account Of his wife's illness, Dr. J..
w. Bell, of Minneapolis corroborating
this testimony.
The Rainy lake expedition was then
gone into. 1t-was, he said, in the in
terest of an inquiry by the labor bureau
into the condition OF, the mines. On the
way he fell in with a party of gentle
men who were going up to take claims
under the stone and timber act. There
had been a lot of fraudulent entries
on these lands, but 40 evidence of bona
fide claims. He, concluded to take a
claim himself, and informed his force
that if they wanted to spend their va
cation that way, there was a chance
for them to make a little money.
AS to the charge that Factory In
spectOr Mayo got a. horse and buggy
out of the department contingent fund,
he said that the condition of Mr..
Mayo's district was such that he could
only inspect many of them by entailing
daily livery bill. MIR Mayo offered
to buy horse and buggy and was al
lowed sum by Auditor Bierman for
the use of the horse. The other in
spectors were also given allowances for
livery and bicycles. The witness fig
ured that Mr. Mayo had saved to the
state by this plan $780,
On the charge that mortgage statis-
tics had been garbled, Mr.. Powers de-
MED it in toto. The tables were pub
lished finally as originally tabulated, but
not until after they were verified He
admitted that some of the tables used
IN Farmer Hayseed" We're compiled
from the figures obtained by Messrs,
Valesch and Ecknan, but said that they
We're gathered before he ever tcontem-
plated the publication of Farmer Hay
seed" which was due. to his almost ac-
cidental discovery that some of the
premises of the Coin book were con-
tradicted by the statistics on file in the
department. ta.t
The book itself he wrote in the even
lngs. Miss Bevans worked on it in and
out OF office hours, and, while she re-
ceived her pay in a check from tba
state, he had instructed her to have
her voucher made out for $40 less than
the amount of her work. He had MADE
this $40 good to the state by turnine
in bills which he had paid. The audi
tors report, he admitted, did not show
this settlement,
The proofreading on the book. Mr..
Powers testified, was not done by the
off1ce force, but was done by Mr.. Col
Inns under special arrangement wit h
the Pioneer Press company. He had
used statistics gathered by the depart
ment in the book but the department
had not compiled any tables for this
book especially. He had gone to Chi
cago once in connection with the hook
Coming down to, the factory law, Mr..
Powers put the, responsibility on the
inspectors if they. did not prosecute
cases Tor noncompliance of the law,
ana detailed his educational methods
with employers. No further answers
was made to the charges of non-en-
forcement of the, factory law.
When it came to the defense Of the
purchasing Power, of GoId,' Mr..
Powers had a Wad of manuscript 70
show how he had come to write thar
work. Mr.. Erwin opposed its admis-
sion, and Mr.. Evans said he wanted to
time of its inception. etc.
There was a long .wrangIe, and tha
examination of AIR. Powers was Their
resumed without the admission Of the
manuscript. He said he started on If
in 1891, and in his opinion it was within
the purView of the law 1t aimed 70
bring out the changes, if any, in the
rewards paid to agricultural labor In
the United States. Another wrangJe
ensued, Mr.. Evans insisting that the
committee could judge the motive from
the book; that Mr.. Powers should be
permitted to tell what his purpose was
Mr. Powers was finally allowed To ex-
plain that it was in accord with the
practice of other states to compile
price statistics. 1t had been the prac-
tice for four years to publish the fac
tory and statistical reports separately.
His only object in getting out this
work before Oct. l was to get il ont Of
the way before the other report was to
be made up.
The publication of the tax statistics
had been delayed by sickness in tha
families of Messrs. Powers, VaIesch
and Ekman. The work of collection
was continuous. Part of the results
had been published; the rest would be
The probate court statistics had been
taken up during one of the interrun-
tons of sickness in the, tax work. This
was work which could be taken IN
and dropped at will, without loss TO
the state. Milling statistics were not
printed, because the Great Northern
failed to make its report, asking that
the bureau pay 1t $4,000 for transcrib-
ing the reports.
Witness testified that he. and not
Mr.. Valesch, had prepared the report
of 1884 on trades union and appren-
tice statistics.
In response to inquiry by Senator
Ringdal, Mr.. Powers admitted thar
much of the material contained in the
Purchasing Power Of Gold" was not
original, but was taken from agri-
cultural department Compilations.
WAS 1t not a waste of labor?'
THAT is a matter Of opinion"
On cross examination Mr.. Powers said
he did not know where Mr.. Mayo's horse
was now. No report had been made
to the legislature about the horse and
buggy deal and the saving effected.
The mortgage foreclosures were then
IT, IL