The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-12-25
CAUSING WORRY
ON CAPITOL HILL
St. Paul Graft Exposures May
Affect State Politics.
KELLER MEN ARE NUMEROUS
Many on States Payroll Secured Pc.
sitions Through Influence Of st.
Paul City Administration.

st. Paul-(Specia)- graft ex-
posures, high officials being indicted
and the grand jury still delving into
the doings of the underworld and the
police, st. Paul, the seat of state gov
eminent, is enjoying anything but an
enviable position. What is bothering
quite few on Capitol Hill, though,
is: Will the disclosures affect the
state campaign? Who will suffer,
the Democrats or the present state
crowd? And in naming the latter
do not want to be taken as meaning
that Governor Eberhart or his lieu
tenants are in anyway involved in
the disclosures. Where the present
administration comes in is the gen.
eral knowledge that Governor Eber-
hart and his hackers have been
friendly to the Keller crowd, which is
in control in St. Paul and which just
now is very much in the spotlight as
a result of the graft disclosures. Last
fall Governor Eberhart carried Ram.
:sey county overwhelmingly and at
the spring election which preceded it
Mayor Keller put the best man the
O'Connor crowd could produce out OF
business. Friendly relations between
the two administrations was the re-
suit and what more natural that in
the distribution of state plums the
Keller forces should be recognized.
in nil
Capitol Hill at the present time is
Charles Keller, state. fire mar
shall. He is brother of Mayor KEEL
Ter. Attached to the. custodians
forces at the state capitol are fully
twenty men who owe their positions
to the influence eXerted by the St.
Paul city administration. Then
there are q number of game wardens
and oil inspectors, so all around you
can see that even if in bad Mayor
Keller and his crowd cut some ice
in state way. Mayor Keller, how
ever, is through and so is the crowd
that has brought his administration
into disrepute. st. Paul voters will
have no more of the bunch. At the
same time it has less use for those
who acknowledge r. T.. O'Connor as
leader and it is here where the ques-
ton prompts itself: Will the state
end be hurt in the general job of To-
cal ditching which is to come? Might
it not result in new deal all around?
Governor Eberharts skirts are still
clean. Those of the O'Connor crowd,
however, are not. Still there is that
known friendliness I spoke of, so you
see most anything can happen. The
general body of voters are a tickle
lot.
!. !. i.
Laying aside the political feature
of it all, the seat of state government
is just now probably undergoing the
greatest overhauling in it's history.
Things known for years are receiv-
ing official scrutiny and some one is
due to get hurt in the process, and
Ewhether in the retirement of one ad-
! ADMINISTRATION St. Paul gets another
probably just as badly smirched it
will make the incoming crowd care
full. One has to live in st. Paul to
know it and its people. Politics is
meat and drink to thousands of it's
voters and they play the game 365
days in the year. 1t is perhaps the
most conservative town in the entire
West. Wealth and influence rules it.
Peace and comfort is the peoples
watchword. AS a rule Democracy,
headed by R. T. O'Connor, controls it's
civic affairs, but occasionally grow
ing minority rebels because of a high
tax rate or some other fancied griev-
1ance and then there is "a change It
is one of these every six-year changes
that is making the trouble now. The
Republicans do not know how to gov
'ern st. Paul and that is the whole
trouble. st. Paul feels better with
r. T. OConnor on the throne and it
looks very much as if he would be
returned. This is queer world and
there are lot of queer, people in it.
j. !. !. Il
Governor Eberhart's efforts in be-
half of the dairy and beef herds of
Minnesota are bearing fruit, accord
ing to communications received at
the executive department, and his
hopes of an increase of 10000 head
in the cattle herds Of the state look
as if they were due co be realized.
The scheme as started by his excel
1ency was for the banks to take up
the movement, gather together a car
or so of certified stock and sell them
ito the farmers. To this end he called
a meeting of state bankers. They re-
sponded to man and now his excel
lency has the satisfaction of receiv.
ing reports covering the movement
. far in advance of his fondest expec-
tations. In one town alone, Redwood
Falls, the bank in charge reported to
Governor Eberhart that it sold two
carloads of stock on the track and
could have disposed of double the
number of cattle if it had them.
+ + +
J. r. Keefe of Redwood county will
in all probability get into the race