The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-10-11


said, i guess not | says: You
have always voted for it and help
ed us to pass it, oh, WELL he says,
that is when it had not gotten
through the house We got the bill
on the calendar and the chief OBJ
jectors were Plat of Connecticut
and Allison of Iowa. So | asked
Nelson of Minnesota to call up the
bill one day when Plat and Allison
were absent. Mr.. Nelson called up
the bill, Plat and Allison were abb
sent, no one objected, and we
passed it in less than a minute Ii,
about half an hour Plat came
back. He says, What have you
been doing?' l says: Nothing, only
we have passed few house bills
and among them the free home
stead BILL He says: That is an
outrage and / will move to recon
slider it."
The following letters from Senator
Nelson, Allison and Plat, in the above
connection, fully explain themselves,
and explode Pettigrew's boast that he
was the whole thing in securing this
important legislation.
SENATOR NELSON'S TESTIMONY.
In order to get the facts in the case
this extract was sent to Senator Knute
/ Nelson OF Minnesota and the following
is his reply:
Alexandria, Mimi, Aug. IS.
Hon. Frank Crane, Sioux Falls, s. ID.
Dear Sir: Your favor of the 18th, en-
closing stenographic report Of Sena-
tor Pettigrew's remarks relative to the
J passage Of the free homestead bill, Is
at hand. My recollection Of the events
In connection with the passage Of this
bill in the Senate does not exactly
agree with Mr.. Pettigrew's. While
Senator Allison may not have been en-
Enthusiastically in favor of the bill, he
did not oppose It, My recollection Is
that he was not in the chamber when
J called up the measure.
| Senator Plat was not In Washington
the day the bill came up for consider
alton. He had left the city some days
before. / had talk with him before
he left and l told him should call up
the homestead bill at the first oppor-
tunity, to which he replied that he
should be very glad to have me wait
| until he returned, but that IL / could
not see my way clear to do so, he could
find no fault as he saw the great inter-
est our people in the west had In the
matter. / saw him as soon as he re-
| turned, which / think was the day
after we passed the bill, or the day fol-
lowing, and he did not intimate to me
| that he had any idea of making mo-
| ton to reconsider, and don't think he
ever intended to make such motion.
There was Democratic senator
| from a southern state, who was OPP
posed to the bill and found some fault
because we had substituted the House
bill for the Senate bill without the re-
port Of the committee. At his sugges-
ton, to get the matter in regular form.
| I had the House bill referred to the
commissioner on public lands, polled
the committee on the floor Of the Sen
ate and Immediately got the bill re-
ported back favorably and unanimous
| IL. The Democratic senator was not in
the chamber when called up the bill
When he returned and found that the
bill had been passed. he did not, as was
| claimed by some at that time, threaten
to have 1t reconsidered.
| The truth of the matter Is that all
of us in the northwest were greatly in
terested in the passage of the bill, rnd
! I don't think any Of us claim any sLe-
cial credit above any of the rest. Al
though the bill was called up by my
self and passed unanimously ! don't
feel that | am entitled to any special
credit on account of what | did, for l
! did no more than my duty. The great
struggle as to the passage OF this bill
has always been, as it was at this time,
| in the House, where, on account OF the
great amount of money involved, many
! of the members from the eastern and
middle states were opposed to it.
The men who especially deserve
credit for passing the bill in the House
are Delegate Flynn Of Oklahoma, Mr..
Eddy and Page Morris Of Minnesota,
and your own congressman. | think
the representatives from South Dako-
ia. Oklahoma and Minnesota deserve
great credit for their work In passing
the bill through the House, for there
IL was a more difficult matter to ac-
complish than in the Senate. The at
titude of Senator Plat and the Demo
cratic senator, to whom have referred,
was. on all fours, pretty much alike.
From principle they were both OPP
posed to the bin, but made no factious
opposition and gave us a fair chance.
/ remember very well how jealous
the House members from the Dakotas
were about this bill. AS soon as 1T
reached the Senate, they were in the
chamber nearly every day until we
succeeded in passing it. and know
they assisted me materially In remoy-
ling certain opposition that existed in
the Senate. Yours truly.
-Knute Nelson.
SENATOR ALLIsoN's CoRRoBoRA-
TON.