The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-04-04
GO SLOW WITH CODE
is NELSON'S ADVICE
Senator Urges Legislators
to Be Careful and
Cautious

Knute Nelson of Alexandria, senior
United States senator for Minnesota,
addressed the state legislature yester-
day and discussed past and prospective
national legislation. incidentally, Sen
ator Nelson told of the part he had
taken in locating and building the new
state capitol. He also touched on the
revised code and warned the legislature
that down at Washington congress
thought it did very well if it passed
one important measure at session.
The inference of Senator Nelson's re-
marks was that the legislature should
either so amend the code so that IL
would be beyond honest criticism or
pass it over to another session of the
legislature.
Senator Nelson. in giving the legisla-
tures an account of his stewardship at
Washington. told of the repeal OF the
forest scrip law, under which so many
abuses have grown up, of the defeat OF
the statehood bill and of the failure Of
the senate 10 pass the rate bill. He
explained that the Esch Townsend bill
did not come to the senate until late
in the session and the senate committee
on Interstate commerce felt that il
needed mort time to investigate and
study the subject. The discussion of
the rate bill brought Senator Nelson to
the widely prevalent belief of strong
Aflctlon between the pTeSlueut anu the
senate.
Explains Treaty Defeat
To large extent this was not true,
he said, and he gave an entirely new
explanation of the defeat of the arbi-
tration treaties as they were presented
TO the senate by President Roosevelt
He explained that because of a sue
cessful suit by South Dakota against
North Carolina TO recover on certain
repudiated state bonds of the latter
state, the southern states senators lined
up solidly against the treaties in the
fear that-So time numbers of these
bond suits would be submitted to arbi-
tration. The Republicans, lacking two
thirds of the senate, without the DEM
ocratfc senators, he said, were unable
to ratify the treaty unless they acced-
ed to the Democrats demand that the
word agreement be changed to treaty
and future treaties be submitted to the
senate for its ratification Senator Nell
son said that had it not been for this
opposition the original treaties would
have been adopted by the senate. He
was one Of thirteen senators, including
Vice President Fairbanks and Senator
Platt of Connecticut, who voted against
amending the presidents treaties. He
told of the Santo Domingo treaty, which
also failed in the senate, and account
ed for this failure because of Demo-
cratic opposition
He said he was glad, however, of the
fact, for there would now be oppor-
tunity to investigate the claims Of
American citizens, many Of which are
said to be not founded on fact. Sena-
tor Nelson said that he called the legis-
lature's attention to the failure Of these
treaties TO show that there is no seri-
Gus friction between the president and
the senate.
Special Session
The Alexandria man spoke of the fu-
ture. and said he expected that the
president would call special session Of
congress either in October or Novem-
ber The object would be to consider
railroad rate regulation and tariff re-