Mower County transcript., 1907-02-27

sumeient prom Hto wtasrrant tho state
/ In extending credits, which the trust
now does The very basis Of the suc-
cess of the trust in agricultural im-
plements has been in making the
sales apparently without much regard
to whether the machinery was ever
paid for or not The bane of this line
of business has always been the
| credit system. It was the rock on
| which the well known firm of Sey-.
| mour, Sabin & Co, who once made.
agricultural Implements in the state
prison, split. nd in asst the IoIall ar !.
Z, clamor to down the trusts i feel some!
what apprehensive that the state. may
have undertaken a very large con-|
tract. AS Indicative Of the feeling bel
tween the house and senate i motel
thatone day last week the senate wasl
debating the bill and trying to amend
it. At the very same time the billE
| was reached in the house and thel
house took it up and sunlmarily passed.
1t. A few minutes later the senatel
had voted down all proposed amend-I
ments and then it took up the samel
bill and passed it with only nine neg-l
ative votes, so it now only awaits thei
governors signature to have theI
state fully set up in the business of
making agricultural machinery.
Result May Be Beneficial.
AS there have been three individual
enterprises of this kind go to pieces
in Minnesota, involving losses to in
dividuals of many hundreds OF thou
! sands of dollars, perhaps even mil
lions in the aggregate, cannot say
that I look with any great joy upon
this rather hasty action. 1t is, how
ever, the natural outgrowth of the
antitrust sentiment and in all proba-
| bility it is necessary for the public to
! trusts are not to become too DOM
inant and too unbearable. It is prac-
tically an impossibility for individuals
| to fight the agricultural implement
trust The state can grapple with the
| monster and in a degree win GER
| tainly hope 1t WILL. but I look a good
! deal for pandora box of evils to be
opened by the bill which so suddenly
became a law this past week.
The question of reciprocal demur-
| rage came up in the house during the
| week and the Nolan bill was passed
with only one negative vote.
! Senator Sundbergs committee,
! which is investigating the cost of theI
railroads, is really making more prog
ress than the railroad commission andl
still it is very far from being ready
to make a report. While Mr. Hill,
president Of the Great Northern rail
road, does not, Of course approve. their
action because it is being taken with
a view of reducing freight rates,
nevertheless he is meeting the legis-
1ature very cordially. s'z>,
Invited to HIPS Headqu uarters.
The sergeant-at-arms of the senate
one day last week subpoenaed Mr.. Hill
as witness before Senator Sund-
berg's committee Mr.. Hill desired tc
leave the, city on important business
on the following day and he: accord.
ingly took up the matter with: Sen:
| ator Sundberg to fix a convenient
! time. This was readily accomplished
and Mr.. Hill invited the senator to
bring his entire committee down to
the Great Northern building, where he
| would accommodate them with desk
room and facilities for gathering in
formation more rapidly than they
1 @t1 70 n6
! to give them the impression that he
rather enjoyed telling them what
they wanted to find out, though per-
! haps he is not overwhelmed with
| pleasure at the outlook Still it indi-
Gates that he does not propose to
wage a direct fight on the legislature.
! He is wise enough to realize that the
popular sentiment is anti-railroad and
| thus we are learning he knows that
the railroads must bow to popular
sentiment whether. they like it or not.
1 s4 The senate has been somewhat
/ criticised this winter as being inclined
to favor corporations. The railroad
/ committee of the senate has been
criticised, but this has been unjust.
| That committee reported out favor
ably and very promptly the bill4for re-
Educing railroad passenger rates to 2
t cents per mile and while the house
took three weeks time to consider the
question Of placing a fund Of $4,000
Fat the disposal OF the attorney general
to employ more legal ability to prose
cute the railroads in the courts it no
sooner reached the senate than it was
'bounced through almost instantly ui-
. der suspension Of the rules. 'ies ssslss +.
Senate Simply Conservative. -5
This does not look as though the
senate was controlled by corporations.
Witheut wishing to criticise between
the. tive bodies it is safe and correct
to sal, that The history Of the STATE: has!
been that the senate is usually the
more conservative n and the body
(which exercises the greatest judg-