Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1911-03-02
REAL AND IMAGINARY OCCUR.
RENCEs IN LEGISLATURE AT
ST. PAUL.
County Option in Senate Reform
School lnvestioation =. Distance
Tariff = Reapportionment - A Va
cuunn.
County Option in the Senate.

as TAR as this session OF the leSlSla-
ture is considered, in the House sew
eral days ago, but on Monday of last
week the Senate killed it again, when
they defeated the County Option Bill
by vote of thirty-seven to twenty
four.
There was very little interest taken
in the Senate proceedings.
In the House the contest was inter-
esting and exciting as prize fight be
tween champions, but the scrap in
The Senate was as tame and insipid as
mother spanking her baby, or more
like man striking corpse.
The vote on County Option by con-
gressional districts is interesting as
it shows in what part of the state the
friends and opponents of the measure
are LOCATED.
First district. for, 8, against 5: Sec
ond, for 8. against 8; Third, for 0.
against g.; Fourth, for 2, against s;
Fifth, for 5, against 2; Sixth. for ,.
against 5: Seventh, for 5, against g;
Eight, for 0, against 6: Ninth, for !,
against 1.
The friends of the measure claim
that they made much better show
ing than they did two years ago, while
its opponents claim that they lost
ground. but the vote at this time can
not be taken as criterion of future
conditions. This is one Of the ques-
tions upon which public opinion f,lc.
tuates more than any other and 20
one can determine future conditions
by those of the present.
Red Wing Reform School.
Quite little furry has been created
by the charges made at Crookston, by
ex-senator A. D. Stephens that the in
mates of the Red Wing Reform School
had been and were being treated in a
cruel and iahuman manner
A legislative committee has been
appointed to investigate the matter
and evidence is being taken.
In Institutions Of this kind it is very
natural that the inmates should be
dissatisfied with the treatment they
receive. They were not sent there fol
good time but to learn to behave
themselves. There are very few
homes in the land where the children
are not whipped occasionally for thei1
misbehavior and the best trend o
opinion is that such action is benefi
cial to the aforesaid children. If cor
pora1 punishment is &. good thing il
the homes among normal children, i
seems that in an instution like
reform school where the children ar
abnormal the managers would be jus
tiled in resorting to it so long as III
cruelty or brutality was permitted.
1t should be borne in mind howeve
that men and women placed in absc
lutte authority over others are apt t
become tyrannical and sometime
cruel in their methods of correction
and in the maintenance of disciDlin
and they themselves should be KEEP
under constant surveillance.
legislative investigations, however
seldom discover any irregularities c
exercise any restraint. In nine case
out of ten both Congressional and Les
islative Investigations sustain the il
vestigated From the very nature :
things they are more or less en- part
The inmates of these institution
have no one to represent them an
they do not know how to present the
case, and being interested partle
their evidence is distr,1sted from tt
beginning.
All state penal and charitable i
stitutions should be thoroughly inve
tigated at least twice each year b
investigations by Boards of Contrc
legislative Committees, etc, are
little va1ne.
The German method is much bette
In that country all Institutions a.
investigated every four months whet
er there are any complaints or nc
These investigations are made by sp
cial agents and neither the public
the heads of the institutions kno
who the Investigators are until the
reports are filed. Sometimes the
special agents are committed In d.
form like other inmates and rema
in the institutions for sometime al
determine the character Of the tres
rnent and discipline from person
experience.
Some such method as this shou
be adopted In this country, an inves
cation when the investigated knit
who the Investigators are 1s Of lit
value In determining actual con
x3nne