The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-25

Far more important than the delib
erations of the senate yesterday were
the discussions INDUCED in by the COM
mitteeS which met in the afternoon.
The taxes and tax laws committee de-
cided 10 recommend the bill providing
for the appointment of a commission
to revise the tax laws. and the COM
mittee on labor referred to a commit
tee the proposed laws for an eight
hour day and the abolition of the time
check evil. both Of which, it is believ-
ed. Will be returned to the senate in
such shape that the members may vote
plainly on the merits of the bills in
question.
There seems little doubt of the pass
ing of the tax commission bill, as the
original measure for the revision of
the tax laws was introduced in the sem
ate by a Democrat Senator MCGOWAN,
of Hennepin. and the Republicans were
so ready to see the popularity of the
proposition that Senator Greer had ac-
ton on McGowan's bill deferred until
he drew measure aimed at the same
result by a different course. Appar-
emily. therefore. no party lines are to
be drawn in the contest. The commits
sion provided for is to consist of three
men appointed by the governor, at
least one Of whom shall be a lawyer.
They will receive no salary. but will
be allowed actual expenses.
The same committee also recon-
mended for passage another tax meas
ure which~involves a matter of official
bookkeeping, more or less technical,
but not without Importance to the peo-
pie, especially in some communities.
The Jones bill provides that where
lands are sold at judgment tax sales,
the proceeds shall be distributed among
the several funds as the tax was levied
for the year in which the tax was de-
linquent. Under the law now in force.
all receipts from forfeiture sales have
been thrown into a common fund, there
to be distributed along the lines of the
tax levy for the current year. This
bill was likewise recommended to pass
ORATORY ON EIGHT HOURS.
Before the committee on labor was
one of the most eloquent two hours of
oratory that has been heard this ses-
sion, the committee listening to the ad-
Vocates of the MCGOWAN bills. one Of
which provides for the institution of
eight hours as a legal days work on
municipal, corporation and state work
and the other of which compels cor
porations to adopt at least a fortnight
Iy pay day and prohibiting the issu-
ance of time checks
Botn bills were referred after some
discussion. TO a subcommittee, consist
ing Of Senators Sheehan and ScheiI-
bach, 10 consider their constitutional
1ty. but even if these gentlemen should
report adversely, it is probable that the
committee Will report the bills back to
the senate for a place on general orders
In order that the senator shall not
be deprived Of chance to make him
self clear as to his disposition on the
general subject embraced in the bill.
President Field, of the stonecutters'
union of Minneapolis appeared before
the committee urging that the adop-
ton OF the eight hour system on city,
county and state work was but the
entering wedge which it was sought to
drive in order to give the workingmen
a shorter day and give more of them
chance to find employment
John Swift, one Of the veteran labor
leaders of Minneapolis, also spoke. urg-
Ing the members of the committee to
listen to the plea of the laboring men.
He said he was present at the worlds
congress of labor in England when an
elght-hour law was unanimously
agreed uDOn and its work had been
the uplifting of the masses.
E. H. Blackburn, of MINNEAPOLIS. also
spoke. declaring that the welfare of
the country depended on the welfare
OF those men whose work was en-
bodied in the concentrated effort Of
muscular labor and mechanical skill.
The professional men, he said, could
not get along without the mechanic.
but if left on their own resources must
themselves become artisans, however
scholarly their attachments.
The committee was in discussion of
the bill for two or three hours.
Senator Larson was afraid that the
adoption of the eight hour law would
draw all the surplusage of labor to the
cities and would embarrass the farm
ers, who could not promise their men
an eight hour day, and who could not
encompass the work of the farm in crop
time in a brief eight hours.
Senator Larson's contention was met
by the argument that the farmers were
seriously embarrassed by the lack of
help last year. without the eight hour
law. so q the cause of the shortage
of labor on the farms could not be
laid at the door of the eight hour move
ment.
The other law aroused some conten-
ton among the members of the cons