The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-12-19

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! without the story now going the
rounds to the effect that Rines. as a
part Of his present ambitions, has his
I eye on the state authorship: that
I Sam r1verson, the present incumbent,
Is going after the governorship, and
that Alex James, a member of the
state legal department from Pipestone,
wants to succeed to the head of the
department. How all this dovetails
IN the present controversy is beyond
me, but they say the whole thing has
a connection. Rines was at one time
mentioned for lieutenant governor. AS
| for Mr.. Iverson, his gubernatorial am
billions are we'll known.
yr :. !. 5rN
Every taxpayer in the state can not
but feel proud of the record just made
by the binding Irvine plant at the
| state prison. Warden Wolfer has
turned the last of the receipts of the
year from the industry into the state
treasury, making a total from Aug.
of over $1,2O0,00O. For the same
period a year ago the revenue from
| this source was trifle over 100000.
| In another year the prison will be
turning out farming implements by
the thousands, and not for the bene-
| fit of the harvester trust either.
!. !. !.
H. T. Halbert, the head of the Min
nesota Bull Moose party, gave iber-
ally of his own money-he says over
| $2,2O0-to the cause and now P. v.
Collins, whom the committee says
never gave a cent, yet accepted some
! thing like $1,000 from the Taft forces
| for advertising, wants to be shown.
Last week Collins, who was the third
| party candidate for governor, had half
his office force camped in the secre-
tary of states Office copying the Bull
| Moose financial statements, but if he
found anything that would controvert
the Halbert claim he failed to say.
Halbert was foxy enough to anticipate
the arrival of the Collins clerical
force to the. extent of filing a sworn
statement showing the advances made
by him.. Frank B. Kellogg, the st.
Paul trust buster, has offered $500 to
help Mr.. Halbert out Mr. Halbert
says he does not absolutely need the
money, but he could use it.
< :. !.
Possibly it is a case of whose dog is
kicked which accounts for the rather
i'll reception by the two Democratic
members of the state board of control
q y1of 1nfn I1,
Public Examiner Fritz covering his
examinations of the boards financial
affairs. What some of the criticism
INDUCED in by Mr.. Fritz has to do
with the finances of the board are not
explained, but they are there, and
while the executive insists that they
are not reflections on the boards
Judgment or ability yet they do not
help matters. Mr.. Fritz can not see
why the board should use more fuel
in one Institution than another, size
considered; why there is a difference
in cost per capita in the matter of
foodstuffs and standard goods; how
there has been such a marked in
crease in the cost for maintenance in
the past ten years; why the institu-
ton farms do not pay better; why
more work is not exacted from the in
mates, and why the boys training
school at Red Wing is not transferred
to some other point. Mr.. Fritz does
not hold all of these things against
the board; he is simply puzzled why
ic
cratic board on the state list and this
probably explains a few things. The
present administration will be in
charge next April
!. !. !.
The use of the public examiners
department in bringing out disagree
able things and making them a public
record began back in Sam Johnson's
time, when former State Auditor r.
G. Dunn was made the beneficiary of
lot of insinuations that entered
heavily into the war waged against
him by his political enemies when he
ran for governor. The late Tony
Schafer was also strong on going out
side the question of dollars and cents,
though it could be said that the criti-
cisms INDUCED in by him where not
because of malice or politics. When
julius Block was state treasurer an
attempt was made to use the public
examiners department to the extent
of so questioning a law, under which
the treasurer's Office was operating,
that it would reflect on Mr.. Block. E.
T. Young was then attorney general
and when the report was brought to
him to sign he refused and accom-
panied his refusal with a letter Sc
verely arraigning the public examiner
for going beyond what the law pro-
vided. 'Is the money there, was it
expended properly, are the books
right, are they we'll kept? is what you
have to d." wrote Mr.. Young. "That
Is your duty only
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