The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-25
HOUSE is
READY TO VOTE
CRUCIAL TEST FOR NEW TAX
CODE COMES THIS
MORNING
FRIENDS OF BILL IN CONTROL
Little Doubt That They Will he
Able to Muster the Sixty
Votes Necessary to Its
Passage.
JACOBSON sTIRs UP MATTERS

The tax bill is ready to be put 10 the
crucial test of a vote in the house this
morning. If the friends" of the meas
uIe make no false steps they Will be able
TO pass it by a. bare majority. In any
event, II they pursue the tactics adopted
Yesterday, they will be able to hold the
Dill until they think they have the sixty
votes necessary to its passage on the
floor
When the house adjourned last night
the friends" were beyond question in
control OF the situation They could not
muster enough vote to pass the bill. but
they had clean working maioritv Of
the members present, and think they will
De able to- show the magic sixty This
morning. Yesterday afternoon thev car
Iled hllbustering tactics by long-winded
Debate, and in a show down prevented
the final consideration of the bill bv a
narrow margin. Final consideration de-
Iealeo, the opposition again ducked to cs-
cape going on record, and the friends .
nolon Tor adjournment was adopted 10y
vote Of sixty-seven to thirty-fve.
Inc opposition plainly overreached it.
seH yesterday afternoon Laybourn er-
roneously figured that if the bill ware
brought to vote, and the friends faiIe1
as they must, to muster the REQUIRED
slAly votes, that play for reconsilera-
ton would knock out the bill for All
Tune The friends were perfectly able
10 solve the opposition curves. and bv
clever ducking and the assistance OF the
speaker managed to staVe off consider9-
uoh OF the main question and secured
an adjournment. Without making any
concessions the friends claimed YES
terday total strength present and ac-
counted for ffty-six The list of absan-
tees has been large for several days. aud
was no better yesterday. The friends
confidently expect that today will bring
IN TOUR votes from the absentees, and
lhelr every move was calculated 10 stave
on a test which would show up their
minority and probably have a reaction
airy effect against them.
lie third reading of the bill was com
pIeted by the sketch work system en-
ployed by the clerks at $40, and the pre
hnllnarles of the final round in the drawn
out battle were on. The friends were
as fully aware Of their weakness as the
opposition, and began sparring for wind
James a. Peterson, of Minneapolis, start
ed the ball with the preliminary to a
speech that was intended to fill out the
AFTERNOON. When Peterson started for
MS argument the chief duckers Of the
opposition started for the doors. Pc
terson's voice gave out after eleven min
utas, and Jacobson was forced to stem
INTO the breach one day earlier than he
expected. The original plan was for
Peterson to hold the opposition vester-
day down to the adjournment. If the
strength for the bill did not line up as
expected Jacobson was to take the lead.
and with a little assistance from Dow.
ling, Larson, Burns and any others that
might chip in, hold the bill from vote
at least one more session.
Jacobson's s speech was in line with
every one he has made on the floor of
the house on important measures for sew
eral sessions He charged the Opposition
to the bill to the big corporate interests
and the members arrayed against its pas
sage with being Influenced by Doodle
AS is his custom he made no direct
charges, but his statements were broad
enough to keep the gallery on the oui
V1ve without giving the opposition a
chance to take personal issue with him
He explained at considerable length how
the governor is not to blame for the spe-
cial session. The legislature and the
legislature only. he said, is responsible
for the extra session, and it will have
to accept that responsibility. Mr. ia
cobson indulged in glittering generalities
for twenty minutes in exploiting the yir-
tues of the code and the tax commiss ion
and started his campaign Of insinuations
by the statement that there should not
He reviled the newspapers for stirring up
opposition to the code. He said that
for three weeks after the code was given
to the public by the governor, the news
papers were unanimous in indorsing the
bill and the work of the commission
Then, he said, the big corporations woke
up to the fact that they were about to
be made to pay their share of the taxes
and the voice of the people as echoed by
IL
jacobson said the reason the tax code is
so strenuously opposed is because it will
help the honest tax payer to tighten his
tax burden and force the tax dodger to
take up a portion Of his just burden
For the first time in his legislative
career w. B. Anderson is out from un-
der the wing Of Jacobson. He took square
issue with the gentleman from Lac qui
Parle, and though he came out of the
general fray which followed second best
he paid his respects to Jacobson i'll a
manner which ELECTED the unstintel ap-
plapse of the house and the gallery. An
dersOn hotly resented JacobSOn's imputa-
tlons of dishonesty on the part Of the
opposition, and charged jacobson with
being afraid to trust the people by let
ting them pass on proposed constitutional
amendments calculated to simplify the
work Of tax reform. He said in part:
"All the wisdom and all the honesty
of this house and this state is not re-
posed in Mr.. jacobson. He has no right
to iEsinuate that every man opposed 10
this tax code is dishonest l have an
abiding faith in the people. When we
were fighting the railroads neither Jacob
son nor Peterson told us we could not
trust the people. The report of the COM
mission itself justifies me in the position
that we should not attempt to legislate
until the constitution is amended. The
commissioners tell us that the restric-
tions of the constitution are an :nsuper-
able obstacle to just and equitable tax
legislation. Amendment Of the coastitll-
ton is the only logical method. The con-
stitution is the fundamental basis Of all
legislation. If the substructure is as
rotten as the commission admits that it
is. the law reared upon it will not e
worth the paper it is written upon The
next legislature will be as honest SIS this
and if the people are allowed to pass
upon constitutions amendments, L win
be able to legislate fairly for all interest IS
I shall not be moved by abuse or vitup-
Grafton, and I hope that, once for all
this house will deg the gentleman from
Lac qui Parle, and once for all put down
his continual threats and imputations Of
Doodle. / oppose this code on principle
E0nffuuasT ~ Eaw+K. D.-