The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-03-09

Minnesota Legislature
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The revised code as amended by the
judiciary committee was made spec
ial order in the house at II a. m. Mon
day, and the house settled down to
pass the bulky mass of laws. It
worked hard all day and passed
eighteen chapters of the new code. It
is estimated that if the members work
at the code steadily every day it will
require week or ten days to pass it.
There are over LOO amendments to
the code, and whole chapters were re-
written.
Representative J. II. Dorsey is au-
thor of bill to prevent contributions
to campaign funds of political parties.
1t is aimed at what is claimed to be a
practice by large corporations of con-
tributing to campaigns and charging
the money to the expense account of
the corporation. The Dorsey bill
makes any such contribution unlaw-
full and declares that any stakeholder
who shall take part in or consent to
such contribution shall be guilty of
a felony. The penalty is made $1,000
fine or one year in the penitentiary.
"A bill by Representative Wyman of
Anoka requires mutual life insurance
companies to make a distribution of
their surplus at least once in each
five years. Contracts for insurance
in violation of the license of such COM
panies may be revoked by the State
insurance commissioner.
The bill to abolish grand juries, or
to be more explicit, to provide for
calling grand juries has passed the
senate by 81 to "a. The bill was a
special order and provoked spirited
contest, but the friends of the measure
were in the majority. Senator Wilson
secured the adoption of an amendment
by which judge in g district having
more than one county may call a
grand jury. Under an amendment by
Senator Lord, the grand jury is sum-
moned when, Sin the opinion of the
judge, the public welfare may be best
subserved.'' By a second amend
ment of Senator Wilson, grand juries
may be summoned by a petition of 100
persons.
Senator r. B. Wood of Long Prairie
has introduced bill providing that a
person may plead guilty to a criminal
charge where the penalty is sentence in
the State reformatory or Imprisonment
in the State prison not more than two
years, without the summoning of a
grand jury, or, if the person has been
indicted, during a vacation of the
court. The bill is somewhat similar
to a measure introduced by Senator
Albert Schaller of Hastings. Senator
Schaller's bill provides that a person
may plead guilty to any offense no
matter how severe the penalty.
The bill introduced to lower the
garnishment exemption on weekly SAL
aries met a sudden death in committee
in the house. The bill was urged on
the committee by members of the Re-
tail GrOcers' association, at whose
solicitation it was introduced, but the
committee declared that it would add
to the burdens of the poor. A similar
bill in the senate was referred to the
judiciary committee, which has not
reached it yet. This bill will receive
the scant consideration it deserves.
The railroads have been forced to
accept the reciprocal demurrage bill,
with an amendment requiring shippers
to give bond to cover all demurrage
which may accrue because of delay
in loading cars.
Bucket shops must go if the house
committee on general Legislation has
it's way. The Erickson bill prohibit
ing the operation of bucket shops has
been approved by the committee on
general legislation of the house and
will be reported back for passage. A
bill by Representative Peterson which
puts prohibitive license on bucket
shops was allowed to remain in the
committee until the fate of the Erick-
son bill is ascertained. The same
committee has also approved the
Wallace bill which provides for State
inspection of hay in Duluth. Mime
apolis and st. Paul. The work will
be done under the direction of the
grain and warehouse commission and
fee will be charged to defray the
cost of inspection.
Representative Tanning has intro
duced a bill which will stir up the
merchants of the large cities. The
bill compels each merchant TO file
with the assessor true statement of
all fire insurance carried on the stock
during the twelve months previous to
the time of assessment. The assessor
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