Willmar tribune., 1899-07-05

July 5, 1899.
county seem to have agreed with us
last fall
| Every delegate in our convention,
and every person who voted for Messrs.
Grue and Nelson, knew that neither OF
the gentlemen were orators nor great
political leaders. They were common,
everyday citizens, possessing in large
degree the confidence of their neigh
bors as honest men who would vote
for what they considered the right.
We expected to elect John Lind as gov
ernor of the commonwealth, and wished
to have Legislature that would carry
out the reforms he suggested, and we
aid all we could to accomplish that
design, as far as Kandiyohi county
was concerned. We succeeded here,
but unfortunately the rest of the state
did not realize the Importance of hav-
ing legislature to back Lind, and so
our members became part of an insig-
niicant minority. What could they
90 under the circumstances? Had thew
been men of unusual brilliancy and
force, with large experience in legis-
lative work, they might have intro
duced lot of bills to place the repub-
llcans on record, but they could not
have accomplished anything more
They might also, if they had been as
unscrupulous as some legislators, have
introduced blatant "reform" measures
calculated to bring forward the lobby
lst with the illegal tender" to buy
their silence, and then permit their
bills to die from neglect, meanwhile
blaming others for the defeat of their
reforms" They might thus have
built up reputation with the unthink-
ing as reformers," aud at the same
time gathered the "unrighteous MAN.
mon." But they were not built that
way.
If there is any man in the county
who voted for Messrs. Grue and Mel
son with the expectation that they
would make a great stir, introduce and
get passed large number of bills or
shake the capitol building with ora
tory, let him step forward and an
nounce it. If there is any man who
can truthfully say that in any of our
articles published during thecampaign,
or in any remarks made by US orally
or in writing, we caused him to believe
that they would make phenomenal
record, let him come forward and sub
stantiate it. We will cheerfully open
our columns to him for that purpose.
OF course, every person is liable to
make mistakes, and where we think
Messrs. Grue and Nelson have done
60, We shall take the liberty to criti-
ciseE as iDns dem al1fs Il,
But we see no reason why we should
criticise them for not doing what no.
body expected them to do.
F'elg seems to call into question the
sincerity of our members as friends oil
reform. Now, while temperance work
may not be recognized by Feig as
REFORM" we cannot refrain from ad.
ding what Rev. Richard H. Battey
state superintendent Of the Anti-Saloon
League, has to say regarding the mi.
nority of the senate temperance com.
mittee appointed by Lieut.. Gov. Smith
Mind you, this much-lauded republic.
an official appointed a temperance
committee a majority of which were
out and out saloon men). Mr.. Battey
says, in the May number of the Min
nesota Issue:
"On this committee also were three
Senators whose names should ever
shine in the annals of temperance work
in Minnesota, Hon. Charles Halvor-
son of Dawson, Hon. L. E. Jepson OF
Minneapolis and Hon. o. N. Grue OF
Grue, Kandiyohi county. In every
place and by all means these three
men sought to help our Anti. Saloon
cause. Let their constituents and
friends at home take up their shields
of Christian craftsmanship and stand
by them, for thecorrupt and blacklisting
rummies will spot such men and drive
them from our Legislative halls if pos
sible."
"Why did not Messrs. Nelson
and Grue urge the farmers to Or
der twine from the prison and thus
save from three to FIVE cents per
pound? Mr.. Nelson was on the
prison committee; he must have
known early that the twine was
going fast and that there was dan
ger of getting the order in too
late. He ran partly on the twine
issue. What did he dO?'
Peoples ideas as to the duties of a
legislator differ somewhat Some
think they should attend to the law
making business; others think they
should be a sort of commercial agent
to put his constituents on to some way
of getting ahead of other people. We
suppose the honorable ex member con-
sidered it his duty to post his constit-
uents on bargain sales in the StPau]
/ dry goods stores.3 When he has an
swered our eighth question he will see
what the last legislaturethought abou,
the subject. -.
Il r. :a $50, >,ss->.., =. ...,- =.
i "Now a few questions as to our
4 reform Governor Lind. V +.