The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-19
BAT Tie ROYAL
IS ON TODAY
HOUSE WILL TAKE UP TAX CODE
IN COMMITTEE OFF THE
WHOLE
BOTH SIDES SEEM SATISFIED
Friends and Opponents of Proposed
Measure Say Situation Is
satisfactory to
Them.
M1ssoURIANs VISIT HOUSE

The battle royal is on today. The tax
code will be taken up by the house in
! committee of the whole this morning. 1t
was taken from the committee on taxes
and tax laws yesterday morning by a
practically unanimous vote and it will
become a special order Immediately after
! the reception Of petitions and other COM
munlcatiOnS In the regular routine of
the house this morning.
On the face of it, the situation would
| seem to be entirely within the control
of the friends" Of the bill Under the
rules adopted at the opening day of the
special session, the special order will be
resumed each day until the tax bill is
disposed of. The daily resumption of the
special order will shut out committee
reports and the Introduction of bills un-
less the house takes it upon itself to
| suspend or rescind the rules
On the other hand, the situation is all
that the so-called opposition to the code
has asked for or dared to hope for. AS
matter of fact, it is all that the on
position desires. The constitutional con-
Vent1on bill will be recommended out
and the constitutional amendments
agreed upon by, the committee on 1u-
| dietary will be ready to send into the
house tomorrow or Friday. The friends
could, OF course, If they had clean ma
1or1ty of the house. prevent either bill
coming in until after the tax code is out
Of the way; but the chances are that
they will not attempt to keep either out.
The preliminary skirmish over the code
yesterday appears to be a victory for
the friends but the retreat of the op-
position was so obviously premeditated
and so complete that it displayed beyond
cav1 that the same opposition has still
card or two up its sleeve to be played
later. The friends expected that when
MI. Wallace presented on behalf of the
tax committee the demand for the con-
sdtutional amendment bills that fight
would be precipitated, which would re-
suit in taking the code from the tax com
! m1ttee, anu at the same time show up
the strength of the opposition.
Opposition Changes Front.
The opposition presented complete
change of front, to the undisguised sur
prise OF the friends" 1t failed utterly
70 go on record, and allowed the friends
10 take the code from the tax committee
with just one lone dissenting vote out
Of total of 1OS The coup accomplish
ed by the opposition gave Mr. Jacob
son an apparent victory, but left the
1rlends' and the public as much in the
dark concerning the opposition and its
strength or organization as before. The
SITUATION down to date, briefly summed
up, leaves the tax bill just where it start
ed two weeks ago-in the hands of the
committee of the whole
Inc light yesterday morning was not
even pretty The opposition made only
a semblance of fight, and that so thin
that no one was deceived Mr.. Wallace
chairman Of the committee on taxes AM
tax laws, started the ball by demanding
as instructed by the majority of his com
mittee. that the constitutional amend
ment bills referred to the Judiciary be re-
called from that reference and given inro
the custody Of the tax committee James
A. Larson, Of Redwood, another member
of the committee, was ready with the
substitute decided upon by the friends Z
He demanded that the tax committee be
discharged from further consideration of
the code and that it be at once returned
to the house. The opposition had orig
inally decided to meet the demand for the
code with a substitute which would re
suit in directing both the tax committee
and the judiciary committee to report
Thursday or Friday and bring both the
code and the constitutional amendments
into the house at the same time At a
hurried conference before the session the
| plan was changed, and Mr.. Dunn of the
judiciary committee, sent up the substi-
tute as blind, just in time to be ruled
out of order by the speaker.
Friends Are JubiIant.
The friends were jubilant. They had
met the enemy won the first skirmish,
and the foe was about to be delivered