The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-07
DOUBT AS TO RECORDS
SERIOUS QUESTION RAISED IN THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
YESTERDAY
M'GRATH SAYS IT'S FALsE

He Did Not Vote Against II. F. $50,
but for It--Rcpresentative Yale,
of WinOna, Went Further, and
Pointed Out That the Clerk Re-
corded Him Four Times on Bills
When He Was Not There.
The usual formal motion, that fur
tIer reading of the journal be dis
pensed with and the same approved"
pfeclpitated a debate of forty minutes
in the house Yesterday
MIR. McGrath (Rep), of Clay. wanted
the Journal corrected so as to show
mat he voted in the affirmative and
not In the negative on H. F. 100, which
was passed Friday afternoon.
Mr.. Staples tRep.), of Dakota. held
that this could not be done. as it would
establish precedent and in case of a
close vote on a bill one of the mem
bers could come in the next day and
change their vote and defeat the meas
ure.. The correct course to be pursued
would be to have the member desiring
to have his vote properly recorded to
file protest and have it spread on the
journal. Corrections such as deSirc d by
Mr.. McGrath could not be made.
Mr.. Yale (Rep.l. Of Winona, took the
ground that the proper time to cor
rect the journal in any way was when
it came up for approval. and quoted
| rule 2 to sustain his position.
The rule reads as follows:
Upon the appearance of A quorum
the journal of the preceding day shall
be read by the clerk, unless otherwise
ordered. and any mistakes therein
may be corrected by the house"
Mr.. Staples contended that his posi-
ton was the correct one and cited an
instance in point. On Friday the bill
of Mr.. Yale. H. F. So. abolIshing days
of grace. was passed by vote of so to
10. In case member should say that
he had voted in the negative and the
house should allow the journal to be
corrected In this case the bill would be
defeated.
Mr.. Jacobson Nepo, of Lac qui
Parle. took The ground that the only
time to correct the Journal was when
it came up for approval. and that the
Journal must snow what actually
transpired. Bills passed could not be-
come a law until the journal Of the
Gay they were passed was approved.
H. saw no danger in the correction
asked for by Mr. McGrath.
Mr.. Roberts tReo.,, of Hennepin. III
sisted that the point raised was very
important one and as it would estab-
action.
On motion of Mr. Foss Rep.), of
Grant, the question was referred to
the committee on rules and the re-
mainder of the journal approved.
Later in the session Mr. Yale (Rep),
of Winona, secured the adoption Of
resolution calling on the committee on
rules to report whether rule 2 needed
any amendment in view of the point
raised opposition to the request of Mr..
McGrath.
MR.. YALE MAKES A FIND.
In this connection is 1t noticed that
the journal for Friday, on page 1, states
that Mr.. Yale was excused. In the
face of this, on pages 8. 10, II and Is,
Mr.. Yale is recorded as voting on the
passage of four different bills. Mr.. Yale
admitted yesterday that he was not
present at the session of Friday, except
in spirit, being at Winona attending
funeral.
The committee on rules held no
meeting yesterday. but a number of
members spent portion of the after
noon looking up authorities on the
Point The decision arrived at was
that the house by a majority vote
could allow member to have the
journal corrected even as to his rec
orded vote.
In order to guard against any mis-
take in the future. particularly when
| the vote on the passage of a bill is
close, a rule will be reported and
adopted requiring the verification of
| the names of those voting in the af-
| f1rmative when demanded.
TO FINISH MARCH 81.
Mr.. Larson (Rep), of Redwood. just
previous to adjournment asked unani-
nous consent to introduce a resolu-
ton. The resolution was to the effect
that Friday. March 81. be set as the
day for final adjournment of the pres
ent session of the legislature, provid
ing the senate cOncurred. The chances
are that the resolution will never reach
the senate, for as soon as it's purport
was ascertained notice of debate was
given by Mr. FoSnes Union), of Chip
pewa, and it went over under the rules.
Mr. Larson afterward explained that
a number of the farmer members de-
sired to be home early so as to attend
to spring blowing. AS the passage of
the resolution would decrease the pay
of each member and employe about
SEQ, it is safe to say that it will be
killed.
SCORING FOR THE $500"
Mr.. Hennessy Oem.), of Ramsey,
had sent to the clerks desk and had
read the following letter:
st. Paul, Feb. l, 1S99.-Hon. w. B. Hen
messy, House of Representatives-Dear Sir: AS
one Of your constituents, l desire to call your
attention to matter which believe merits
the attention of the honrabe body to which
you belong. The Canadian government and
the Canadian Pacific railway are expending
large sums in Minnesota in an attempt to per
suade- our splendid class of agriculturists to
emigrate to the bleak wilds of Western Mani
toba and British Columbia. Every newspaper
mt OF odNresr of
| and preposterous statements about the polar
weather in that section. In St. Paul and
| every large city there is a bureau of emf
familie, have been persuaded to leave Min
nesota soil for the Siberian widness of the
Northwest territory.
In February 1897, l had the honor to be
delegate to the annual meeting of the
Minnesota division of the National Farmers
was appointed to investigate the actual con-
dition of settlers going to Canada from this
state. Documents were introduced to show
that many families were actually living dur
ing that winter on boiled wheat. and the COM
mittee was empowered to receive contributions
of food, money and clothing for the unfor.u-
nate farmers of the Canadian Northwest Lack
of fund.- prevented the committee from making
the investigations as thorough as they should
| be, but from the Canadian papers alone few
clippings from which | enclose. the awful
conditions of that section may be perceived.
1t is almost impossible for the Canadian Pa
| cific and the immigration department of Can
| ada, which are one and the same, to secure
| Germany, Sweden and Norway the return
| ing paupers have Blocked that, so they are
| turning their attention to the Galiclans Rus
| sian Jews and, blush to write it, the in
| habitants of North and South Dakota and
| Minnesota. ] believe it to be the solemn
| DUTY of the Minnesota Legislature tn warn