Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1911-04-28

GOVERNOR! ! / B \ ! SIGNS
The. kEEFE BILL.
HftGT ~ ...!... - su.Ef{HE&
Most Important. Measure Passed
by the Legislature.
SESSION NOT NOTEWORTHY NO :|::l||| D. mi
Very Little Accomplished In the Way
Of Constructive Leg =.
isiatlon.
Especial Correspondence.

St. Paul, April %: The Minnesota
legislature is a thing of the past and
the entire state is now, taking stock
of the ninety-day session of the law.
making which has just closed. Gov
ernor Eberhart has signed every bill
that was passed by the legislature
with the exception of the "seven SEN
ator" constitutional amendment which
was passed in the closing days of the
session and which will become valid
without his signature. The law is SO
framed that the governors signature
to a constitutional amendment is not
necessary in order to have it go prop
erly before the people. In spite of
this it has been customary in the past
for governors to sign these measures
The governor did not wish to sign
this one because he disapproves of +
At the same time had his signature
been necessary he probably would
have affixed it in order that the meas
ure should go properly before the PEG
pie so that he might have an oppor-
tunity to say whether or not represen-
tation in the larger cities should be
limited. At present the limitation
would affect only Ramsey, Hennepin
and St. Louis counties, but other coun-
ties, like Winona, Blue Earth, Stearns
and Polk, might be affected by it later.
The most important action of the
legislature was the passage of the
Keefe bill, known as the Oregon plan,
for the direct election of United States
senators. The real meaning of this
bill is that the man who is a candi-
date for United States senator who
shall receive the highest number Of
votes will be the choice of the people
for senator and by another provision
of the bill legislators are asked to
pledge themselves in advance to vote
! for the man so designated. The ef-
feet of the measure is to absolutely
destroy party lines so far as the Unit
ed States senatorship is concerned and
will work to the advantage of the can
didate- of the minority party,~.~After
hesitating for some time Governor
Eberhart finally signed the bill. He
might not have done so had it not
been for the fact that he feared veto
would mean that he is opposed to the
direct election of United States sena-
tors, and the contrary is true.
j. !. :. =
Those who oppose the bill do so on
the ground that it will almost Ger.
tainly result in the selection of mi.
| nority party candidate, as happened
in Oregon, where Senator Chamber.
lain, Democrat, was elected by a Re.
| publican legislature. They say that ii
works out in this manner: The mi,
nority party will probably have o1,ly
| one candidate, while the majority
party will as probably have many can
didates. The result will be that the
! minority party will concentrate its
vote, while the vote of the majority
party will be scattered among many
candidates, with the result that the
minority candidate will receive the
| greater number and the minority will
accordingly dictate to the majority
the naming of United States senator
| !. !. \
In it's direct application to Mime
sofa the Oregon plan is generally sup
! posed to be move against the re
! election of Knute Nelson and in the
! interest of John Lind. The measure
is Democratic measure and it's adop
ton secured through the intelligently
cohesive action of the Democratic mi
nority of house an. senate. The
measure is supposed to explain the
singular attitude taken by John LIND
In the last election, when he forced
county option upon his party and went
up and down through the state declar
ing that party platform pledges meant
nothing. In spite of the fact that Mr.
Lind declared that he was not can
didate for the United States senate
it was supposed even then that thi:
was his ultimate aim Among the Re
publicans men like Knute Nelson, C
A. Congdon, Ripley Brewer, James A
Peterson and others are already beini
discussed as possible senatorial can
didates. +
!. j. +
Another important bill signed b,
the governor after the session ad
journed was the capital punishment
measure, bill introduced in thu
house by Representative Mckenzie
and passed in the senate on the las
day of the session. This bill abol
tshed capital punishment in the STATE
of Minnesota. 1t had special and di
rect application to the case of Marti1
O'Malley of lie Sueur county, con
victed of the murder OF his stepchil
dren and sentenced to be hanged. Thu
governor had refused to sign the dealt
warrant and the grand jury of L,
Sueur county had asked the legisla
ture to inquire of the governor VIII!
he did not do his duty. O'Malley'