The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1906-09-28
e STATE .P]O!L.I[TIC

&+*+4'+.3
4 st, Paul, Sept 26.-Governor John
sons speech has been delivered It
contained good many surprises. Ey-
erybody was looking for the governor
to appropriate to himself the credit
Tor good many things his connection
with which would be hard to substan-
date, but no one was prepared for
quite such a>landslide !, The governor
got into the realm Of the humorous
when he claimed to be the inspiration
behind the bill which, put the insuT-
ance department on salary basis and
thereby saved the state $4,000 or
more. The governor would have hest
tated In appropriating to himself the,
credit for this bit Of legislation, prob
ably, II he had taken the pains TO look
up who really was the. author OF that
measure. The bill was the offspring OF
Dr.. A. b. Cole, chairman OF the Re
publican state central committee, and
when saw him the other day he was
Y III merry mood He said there had
been some talk Ola measure such as
this for some years, but 1t was news
TO him that the first suggestion
came from the governor. The first
animation Dr.. Cole: had Of the gov
asrnor,s connection with the bill was
when he read It; in the governors
speech the other night. eatsH!f
Governor Johnson was no more TOT
innate In claiming that he was the
power behind the legislative joint res
olution instpucting the board >of rail-
road and warehouse commissioners to
readjust freight rates. That resolu.
ZION instructs the commissions how to
do the work and the distance feature
81 explicitly mentioned! Nov the gov
| ernor in his message said that ft9was
lis opinion that a1tarih' on the Iowa
plan of q distance tarin was not do
osirable because It might prove tothe
Disadvantages fsof the Twin; Cities. The
legislature ID utterly disregardeda the
recommendation of the governor and
ordered the commission to proceed on
the very lines which he told them was
! not, the proIer course, II there ~ any
credit coming to, the governor BY the
legislature entirely disregarding his
reccmmendation and doing the very
thing which he told them hot to. DO,
suppose that he should, be entitled to
81, the comfort be can get out OF It.
II r-i'rf.lus2 ri gs,Hsfrsj.n, a..<:.~-.. g.
b The more / read of that speech the
funnter It seems to- me. MI Johnson
thinks there, is enough railroad legisr
lation except the reciprocal demurrage
BILL With that law he says that our
railroad statutes are efficient and
+ sufficient q II that is 80 the remedy
Tor all these Ills of which; Mr.. John
son has been complaining vas In his
own, hands ever. since he has been
governor. The constitution makes It
! his duty to see that all tho laws are
y enforced, II the people have not been
getting q fair. deal from the tenor
of his speeches Mr. Johnson seems to
have been fully appraised that they
were not-why did. he not invoke the
law and have at least. some Of these
things Strengthened, out q long time
ago1 .. II no new laws were needed 1t
ought, to be easy, as 1t Is his duty TO-
execute the laws as they stand. It is
very evident to those who are really
I'm earnest in this matter Of railroad
reform that there is some new legis-
lation needed. Whether Mr.. Johnson
thinks SO or not, know that q great
many people here think that it would
beaA beneficial piece Of legislation
which would make the orders of the
oommission operative Immediately
whsn, promulgated. In this recent
raatS reduction on merchandise rates
thearailroads have It in their power
Is prevent' those rates from going into
efect tor some time by an appeal to
tie. courts. It matters not how unjust
or Unfair q rate might BE- it is in the)
power Of the railroad company to de-
lay Its correction until the court Of
last resort has rendered decision.
Other laws that are necessary are
Jail sentence for rebaters, anti-pass and :
2-cent fares before the railroad laws
WILL w S1LA0I SMCAOAI ~ ouAA~ASAAs''
Governor. Johnson's railroad ex-
pert is standing joke at the state
capitol. 1t was not, of course, to be
expected that the, governor would
have any special knowledge of the
question, or that he was in
position to tell the kind of service he
was getting, or, indeed, what expert
knowledge of rates really was, and it
was not to his discredit ,. that he
thought the man he employed was
getting out work of tremendous value. |
But the cat was, out Of, the bag when
The result of his labors was submit |
ted to the railroad commission for its
sdi6cationn. Its members i saw at
glance that the governor has been
.gregiously Imposed upon. The fig
,res he submitted were Of absolutely,
Is value and contained no information
whatever that, was new; to them Any /
with : moderats knowledge
& arithmetic could have prepared the
ables presented ~ Johnson's expert, l.