The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-17
WARM DEBATE IN Rouse
PETITION FROM INMATES OF SOL
DIERS' HOME STIRS UP
WORDY STRIFE
DoBBIN DIsCREDITs DOCUMENT
Hennepin Legislator eliminates
Rather Broadly That MT. Peter
sons Petition Was Not
Written by Veterans.

The dull monotony that has prevailed
IN the house during the greater part Of
the week was broken yesterday by a
crisp discussion over petition from the
inmates of the soldiers homo, which WAS
presented by ]. A Peterson, Of Henne-e
pin. The document was quite VoIumi-
nous and written in a most effective
style, containing sections that were ac-
tually dramatic. In substance it was a
protestant most emphatic one. too
against the policy of subtracting all but
81 a month from the veterans pensions.
They declared that this amount was not
sufficient for their actual needs, such as
they have to supply The petition fur
Their emphasized the fact, which has been
up in the house before, that the soldiers
at the home are in need of overcoats
and other garments.
When the petition was read Mr.. Dob
bin, of Hennepin, arose and said: las
soldier of the Rebellion who loves his
comrades, 1 want to protest against this
petition becoming part of the record
OK this house. In the first place. 1 do
not believe that it was ever written by
any old soldier, and, besides, it is full
of false statements. 1t is Just such trash
as that that defeats the objects for
Which the old veterans ara working and
which we would be glad to give them in
the proper way
This impassioned speech brought tho
sponsor Of the petition, Mr. Peterson, to
the floor. He asserted with as much We
hemence as characterized Mr.. Dobbin's
remarks: 81 am surprised at the atti-
tude and language of the gentleman who
has just spoken. I want to inform this
house that l presented this petition
and I got it from its author, who is an
old soldier. The statement Of the gelt-
tleman from Hennepin that this " as not
written by an old soldier is absolutely
and unqualifiedly false. He should be
more careful before making such g.
statement"
Mr.. Dobbin clamored for the floor but
Mr.. Roberts got it first, and took 6iles
with Mr.. Dobbin. He said that the Pc
tition was fun of misstatements ana
should not go down on the minutes of the
meeting.
Mr.. Riley, Of Jackson, played a dual
role IN the little spectacular performance
He was at first opposed to accepting the
petition, taking very. much the same
grounds assumed by DobpIn and Roberts
but after few others had spoken on the
subject the house was surprised at a.
splendid aerobatic feat by Mr.. Riley, in
Which he landed squarely on the side of
the side of the old soldiers, and made
the most animated speech of any who
had spoken. He declared that it would
be shame to deny this petition place
on the record, and that the old soldiers
should receive more courtesy and SYM
pathy from the members than that which
some would accord.
The motion to print the petition as a
part of the record passed by a vote of
81 to 81
The house received bill from Repre-
sentative Wallace, of Hennepin. which
provides that Gov. Van SAINT shall an
point state board of urr commission
ers consisting Of four members. The
nrst shall be an art connoisseur, the Sec
ond an architect the third professional
artist, and the fourth the secretary CT
the State Historical society. The onlv
requirement eXacted Of the last man in
the quintette is that he shall be an as
tute politician. The function of this
aesthetic institution is to pass upon the
designs of all public buildings in this
state The commissioners are to receive
remuneration of So a day for actual
actually rendered
Mr.. Dunn's bill to empower nrohata
judges to cause memorial stones to be
erected over graves was consigned to a
maj resting place by a vote OF 40 to IS.
The Afford sbill, reducing the fabulous
income of the sheriff of St Louis conn
" TO basic salary Of $4,000 year, pass
ed the house, and the same result was
accomplished with reference to the Hunt
WOLF bounty bill and the measure of Mr..
Push 10 nave renovated butter properly
designated. =
Inc Roberts bill, to have constitutional
amendments placed at the top instead
OF at the bottom of the ticket. was
passed with twelve votes against it.