The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1910-03-17
Conservation Congress on The
Boards at St. Pau!
MUCH INTEREST SHOWN
Returns From Recent Elections lndi-
cate Interest in County Option
Propaganda
st. Paul Special to The Herald. Mar. IS

~. Idul St)eclal 10 Inc nefalu, MAI 10
We are no sooner off with one con
vention than we are on with another
one which many people will nc
doubt regard as of even greater in
terest and Importance than that which
met to advance the cause of tenn
perance. The preparations for the
conservation convention are elaborate
The program is a long and varied one
The attendance is certain to be large
| presume that the various munich
pal and state organizations will senG
delegates. This in itself would in
sure large attendance. In addition
to this, the governor has sent out to
people throughout the entire state 6
vast number of commissions appoint
ing the persons named, delegates
From what | learn l judge the gov
ernor has made liberal use in this
matter of the lists of voters and party
organizations which have been pre-
pared for the use Of the Republican
State central committee, and that, if
all attend who have been invited, it
will be necessary to build at least
one more auditorium to accommodate
them; and the time is short. How
ever, | have no doubt that majority
OF those favored with commissions will
regard them, as it was intended they
should, rather as token of execu-
tive appreciation than as an invita-
ton to take an actual part in the
proceedings OF the convention. The
governor in this matter has exercised
his usual political acumen No one
is quite oblivious to a compliment of
the kind intended.
Fer many, however, the convention
can serve no political purpose. Many
or those most active have no axes
to grind, except that the fuller de-
velopment Of the resources of the
state will prove advantageous to all
it's citizens. These are the men who
will make the convention the sue
cess it promises to be. No one has
worked more earnestly, more unset
fishly and more effectively to that
end than George Welsh, the COM
missioner of immigration. There can
be no doubt that as the result OF the
work he has done and that has been
done under his intelligent supervision
the advantages of Minnesota have
been brought to the notice Of great
many home seekers and that people
both at home and abroad better APP
preciate the productive capacity OF
Minnesota and the low price of land
even in the older settled parts of the
state. l have occasion to know
that even in southern Minnesota, in
CURRY regarding farm lands is now
more active than it has been for
years, and that people are coming
here from Iowa, from Illinois, from
Wisconsin, from Michigan and the
East and quickly picking up the most
desirable farms on the market.
The returns of the no-liceIse vote
at the elections of last week throw an
interesting sidelight on the present
activity of the advocates OF county op'
ton. A friend of mine has had occa-
sion to tabulate the returns from
number of towns and villages, and
was much impressed by the closeness
of the vote. A hur dred votes prop
erly distributed would have reversed
the result III over twenty villages and
a thousand would have left practically
the entire territory covered by the
elections dry or wet according to
the way the party who controlled
them, wanted to place them.
There is another point with regard
to this vote, which, in view of the
agitation for county option, is i'm
portant. My friend, with the aid of a
map, went very carefully over the
situation, as it affects the present
temperance agitation, which the cleo
ton returns revealed. After a criti-
cal study of the matter, it was his
contention that if at this spring cleo
ton, we had had county option
law, nine-tenths of the territory in
which the villages are located in
which the license question was an is
Continued on page 3