The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-25
beard at
Gle Capitol.


Republican bosses are beginning to
condemn themselves for the change in
dhe statutes which made the railroad and
warehouse commissioners elective in
steao OF appointive officers. They have
discovered that under the new system
their control of the department is Grip
pied and the commissioners have too
much latitude and independence There
IS a degree of friction existing between
certain leaders Of the Republican party
and the members of the commission. and
GOV. van SAINT, himself, is said to be
quite FeXed at the three men who hold
III their grasp the disposal of numerous
official berths
Inc cause of the trouble is simply that
the commission has displayed too much
IN the dilatpry feeling in the matter Of
appointments They have allowed a
number OF men appointed by Gov. Lind
to remain in Office, because Of their
recognized proficiency in the grain in
Spectlon DEPARTMENT, and this of course
does not please the powers that be. The
governor is in possession of nearly two
thousand applications for positions in
the department, and political obligations
are being ignored by reason of the
fact that the commission declines to obey
the decree that has emanated from the
source of authority. Had the commits
sioners been given their present positions
by appointment of the governor, which
would make them amenable to him in
a party sense, they would perhaps not
exercise the same independence that
characterizes their present actions. and
this is fully appreciated by Gov. Van
SAINT and his political associates.
The governor and the commissioners
held continued conference Yesterday
afternoon at the office of the commits,
sioners. He applied for meeting with
them in the forenoon, but they saw fit
to put him off until later in the day.
Judge Mills Of the commission informed
reporter sfor the G o b G that moth
ing was done at the meeting regarding
appointments: He explained that no
plans were adopted for the removal Of
any of the present regime nor the APP
pontment of NEW subordinates in the in
Spect10n department. When Gov Van
SAINT was seen upon the same proposition
he confirmed Judge Mills statement,
saying:
No, nothing of that kind was done, but
1 should think they would have to make
some new appointments soon, for there
is a great deal of clamoring fer action
The governors own statement that
there is a great deal of clanoring" by
the Republicans for the change in the
employees of this department therefore
bears out the statement Of the G o b e
that the administration is greatly dis
pleased at the commissioners for turning
a deaf ear to all the entreaties that
have been made to them.
George H Spear. who reported the
house proceedings in the last Session of
the legislature for the Minneapolis Jour
nal, is said to be actively soliciting a
berth on the staff of the new state tax
commission, it having become known
that there will be a cierllship or two to
give away in connection with that func-
tionary. There are also other candidates
for the place which Mr. Spear seeks, and
the chances are that the latter might
possibly be left out. Considerable cppo-
l. Sitfons to Spear will arise from certain
representative Republicans who are
friendly to the view that he has received
emoluments fully commensurate with his
services to the party, and that owing ito
his neWness in the ranks of officeseekers
the party is really not in duty bound to
recognize the demands of his friends at
this time. Spear was pretty we'll cared
for by the Legislature. He was given a
clerkship, which he held in connection
with his reportorial work and for which
his stipend amounted to 81 a day He
had at his, command a stenographer to
whom he paid S. a day. Aside from this
the Journals reporter was presented with
gift from the legislature of $1G0. With
these. facts before them some have con-
cluded that if Mr.. Spear should happen
to ''miss out" on his new enterprise the
party should not be punished too So
verely.