Morris tribune., 1909-03-06

Ipromises were made and delivered by
them, during their campaign last fall
to the Minnesota State Federation oi
Labor. Five of these six gentlemen
in their communication to the State
Federation of Labor in answer to the
question If elected will you be for
and support an act proposing an
amendment to the constitution of the
State of Minnesota relating to the
Legislature and to the initiation and
adoption of legislation, known as the
initiative and referendum said un-
equivocally and unqualifiedly yes
The sixth one answered as follows:
'sYes; if majority of the voters
want the Initiative and Referendum
it should be adopted
"And then the writer, evidently i'm
pressed with the sacredness of the OBJ
legation he was taking, called upon
the spirit of the martyred Lincoln to
witness his act, and added to the rest
of his answer tLese immortal words:
GA government of the People, by
the People and for the People,
"In the judiciary committee room
the other morning this same gentle
man voted not to submit the initiative
and referendum to vote of the peo-
pie, but to recommend it for indefinite
postponement.
cit would seem from that a pre-
election promise by member of the
Minnesota legislature is a joke"
If the Democrats in the house were
half way loyal to Governor Johnson
and the Kitchen Cabinet, were at all
plucky, or had not compromised them
selves by sharing in legislative graft,
we might have had battle royal the
other morning, when Representative
Carley of Wabasha, retaliatlng against
Rosenwald's proposition to investi-
gate the oil department, threatened
to propose an investigation into the
reason for the appointment by the
house of the throng of official idlers
who crowd the lobbies. He charged
that the proposed Rosenwald investi-
CATION was merely device for the
manufacture of political capital and to
find occupation for ward heelers who
had been hanging around the doors
for week or more to get the $5 a
day job he had been promised. He
made the further statement that all
the information it would be possible
to secure under the resolution author
izing the committee on general legis-,
lation to investigate had been asked
for by the committee on Illuminating
oils was in course of preparation by
the department. and would be in the
hands of the committee within a day
or two. He moved an amennment
that the committee on Illuminating
oil do the investigating insteadof the
committee on general legislation.
Mr.. Carley's live wire speech stirred
up the animals for fair. Half a dozen
members tried to get recognition from
the speaker. Rosenwald succeeded
first. The oil department., he said,
was already costing twice what it
ought to, and yet bill was in asking
for an increased appropriat tion. The
Oil inspectors be characterized as
lot of "barnacles," whose work could
be better done under proper super
vision at half it's present expenses.
Lennon Of Minneapolis made an on
slaught on the Kitchen Cabinet; No
Ian and White bobbed up with big
chips on their shoulders, defied Carley
and his investigation, said that the
speaker had been insulted and urged
the Democrats to come on. But there
wasn't a man of them had spunk
enough to back Carley up. Having
compromised themselves in dozen
ways, perhaps they couldn't afford it.
Besides the oil department really
does smell to Heaven. And in that
connection it is no secret that the job
had been put up with the Republican
leaders to sidetrack the Rosenwald
resolution precisely as Mr.. Carley pro-
posed, and so make an end of the
whole business. AS Mr.. Lennon point
ed out the Republicans were just
little deeper in the mud of the oil de-
partment than the Democrats were in
the mire. The Democrat CRATER had
ponied up while the Republican bar
nacle was still shy. 1t would have
suited both the Kitchen Cabinet and
the steering committee best to have
passed the matter up, but in the face
of Carney's belligerent.speec nothing
was left to do but to assume indigna-