Willmar tribune., 1898-09-07
and retard the states development.

and we pledge our utmost efforts il
every department OF state government
to regulate and reduce these oppres-
sive charges by practical legislation
of the nature of that defeated by the
last republican legislature: We make
this demand for the salvation and
prosperity Of the great wheat-produc-
ing industry of the Minnesota and Red
River Valleys, of the iron industry of
our northern ranges, and of the gener-
al shipping interests of the state as
against the aggrandizement of favored
centers to the east. =: r.
ExtOrtionate rates ongrain in north
ern and western Minnesota, nearly
double those charged in neighboring
states, have driven away settlers, re-
tarded development, and produced
bankruptcy where nature promised
prosperity. We demand that the
rates charged by the railroads opera
ted by the two great iron companies
in St. Louis county shall be reduced
to a figure which will allow shipment
by independent mine owners. Thous-
ands of acres of rich iron lands have
been made worthless because of extor-
tionate rates charged by these syndi-
Gates and all competitors of the two
great iron companies have been driven
from the field through the Indifference
or instrumentality of Republican ad-
ministration. 49,
We condemn the railway and ware
house commission appointed by repub-
lican governors as the subservient in
strument of interested railway and ele-
vator companies, and demand the elec-
tion of such commission by the people.
We denounce the combined railway
and elevator ring of this state which
controls the location and building of
private elevators and prevents the free
erection of competitive eleva when
ever it chooses so to do.
x.
We condemn the state labor commits
sioner for the prostitution of his Office
to partisan purposes and the issuance
of political reports on "the purchase
power of gold" at the
expense of the taxpayers of the state
without authority of law, and to the
neglect of the labor interests: of the
state, which he is sworn to subserve.
We condemn the public examiner for
permitting the operation of banking
and trust companies in fragrant VIOLA
tion OF law, and the governor forwith-
holding the reports on such institu-
tions from the courts and the public:
and we charge upon said executive Off
cials through such protection of un-
lawful financiering no small RESPONSE
bility for the era of bank-wrecking
which has robbed the people of the
state during the past five years of SO
many millions of dollars of hard earn
ings deposited in these institutions.
XII.
We condemn the state auditor for
refusing to place upon the tax rolls of
the state the deed OF 260,0 acres of
swamp lands selected by his predeces-
sor and decided to the Great Northern
railway, and we denounce the attempts
of republican officials to annul said
deed and give this powerful railway
corporation the power to select for it,
self from the states public domain.
XIII.
We condemn the extravaganza and
Iooseness which has characterized the
administration of the present secreta-
ry OF state and of many of the state
Institutions, and we pledge ourselves
to do all in our power to give the
state an administration of economy
and retrenchment such as is forced
upon the homes and places of business
in this period of financial stress.
XIV.
We condemn the state administered
tion in the appointment of oil inspec-
tor and surveyor generals of logs, and
we demand that these offices be placed
upon a salary basis and that the hea-
Wy fees now derived and used as a cor
ruption fund shall be turned into the
state treasury. - - :
XIV,
We commend the recent decisions of
the state supreme court in regard to
the fixing of railroad rates and the
taxation OF railway lands, md we spe-
cial]y approve of that principle laid
down by Justice Canty, that the rates
charged by public franchise corpora
tlons shall be based on the actual
cost of reproduction OF the plant, in
stead of upon the watered stocks and
bonds Of said corporations. s. .:= :*.
,ess.. IL XVI. ~,.-s-. :
We believe in the principle. of home