The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-26
House Appropriations Com
mittee Decides on Indefi-
mite Postponement of $780,
600 Beet Sugar Bounty
Appropriation Bill = At
tempt to Secure a Minority
Report Will Be Made.

The beet sugar bounty bill is again
scheduled for a -two-year sleep in the
archives devoted to bills marked in
definitely postponed The recomnit-
ment to oblivion was decided last
night by the house committee on ap-
preparations by a vote of to 5.
A majority report for indefinite
postponement of the measure desi gned
to pay the Minnesota Sugar company
$4,000 under the law of 1895 and the
subsequent appropriation act of 1899,
vetoed by Gov. Lind, will be sent to
the house. The friends of the meas
ure claim, however, that they will be
able to secure a strong minority re-
port and consequent fight for re-
versal of the committee on the floor of
the house.
Does Not Show Sentiment.
The vote by which the indefinite
poStponement report was decided upon
does not correctly exhibit the true op-
position to the bill in the committee
membership. Two of the committee
men who voted against the indefinite
postponement proposition made it plain
before voting that they are opposed to
the bill and will vote against it's final
passage, but they believed the COM
bined wisdom of the house should pass
upon 1T and preferred sending it to the
house WIlnOuC recommendation, W0lCn
is in itself a black eye for any measure.
After the meeting Douglas Fisk, one
of the legal representatives of the su-
gar company, said they were assured
Of strong minority report for the
passage of the bill, as the four mem
berS of the committee absent last night
are, he claimed in favor of the meas
ure. The hearing given on the bill was
eminently fair to everyone concerned.
INV T1r1c HnT0 \
by F. w. Fink, president and con-
trolling stockholder, and his counsel,
Judge Ell Torrance and Douglas Fisk.
The only opposition presented by 9TH
er than members of the committee was
by w. H. Weibeler, Of Belle Plaine.
Charges Unfair Treatment.
Mr.. Weibeler charged the company
with unfair treatment of the farmers.
He said that he was one Of the original
promoters of the beet raising Industry
among the farmers. He had been a
beet sugar grower in Germany and had
experimental in Minnesota to demon
strate the practicability Of the industry
with our climate and soil. His ex-
periments were satisfactory and when
the sugar company was organized he
helped to persuade farmers to raise
beets. He claimed he had been un-
fairly docked for dirt and tare as had
his neighbors and they were all dis
satisfied and opposed to the passage of
the bounty appropriation bill
Mr.. Fink told the committee how he
had been induced to invest his money
under the promise that the bounty
would help the company break even
While the business was in the expert
mental stage. He claimed that his
company had spent $106,0O0 in educat-
ing the farmer in the science of rails
Inn u L.,
had $263,OOO invested for five years he
has not received one cent of interest
or profit.
Sympathy for Fink.
Mr.. Fink left a splendid impression
with the committeeman, several of
whom believe he is the innocent pur-
chaser of a gold brick sold by the oIigi-
nal promoters of the scheme and who
manipulated the original bounty bill
Mr.. Fisk supported the measure by
citing the decision Of the United States
supreme court in the matter of pay
ment of the sugar bounties provided
by the unconstitutional act of congress
In 1880, and Judge Torrance on the
ground that it is an honorable debt
which the state seeks to avoid by
sneaking behind legal technicalities.
The committee finished its work in
executive session, which was animated
almost to the stormy stage. The rhe-
torical exercises were continued for
about half an hour before the door of
the committee room was thrown open
and a committeeman gleefulIy anounc-
ed:
=" Consigned to the grave"
The purported ground for the ad-
verse report on the bill is the uncon-
stitutionality of the measure. Should
the committee be overturned there is
little hope for the measures passage