New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1911-04-26
Most important Measure Passed
BY the Legislature.
SESSION NOT NOTEWORTHY
Very Little Accomplished In the Way
of Constructive Leg
islation. ...-...
Especial Correspondence.

a....- Especial Correspondence.
st. Paul, April 22.-The Minnesota
legislature is 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 60 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 it.
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 peo-
pie so that he might have an oppor-
tundty 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 II later.
j. i !
The most important action of the
legislature was the passage of the
sKeefe bill, known as the Oregon plan,
for the direct election Of United States
senator's The real meaning of this
bill is that the man who Is 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.
!. !. !.
Those who oppose the bill do so on
the ground that it will almost GER
tainly result in the selection of a mi
nority party candidate, as happened
in Oregon, where Senator Chamber
lain, Democrat, was elected by Re
publican legislature. They say that it
works out in this manner: The mi
nority party will probably have only
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 a move against the re-
election of Knute Nelson and in the |
interest of John Lind. The measure
IL Democratic measure and its adop-
ton secured through the intelligently |
cohesive action of the Democratic mi
nority of house and 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
Il was supposed even then that this
was his ultimate aim. Among the Re-
publicans men like Knute Nelson, c.
A. Congdon, Ripley Brewer, James A.
Peterson and others are already being
discussed as possible senatorial can
didates.
!. + i
Another important bill signed by
the governor after the session ad-
journed was the capital punishment
measure, a bill introduced in the
house by Representative Mckenzie