Willmar tribune., 1913-03-12

rate being made on Mankato stone, as
low as that now In force and that as q
result the quarries IN which the COVER
nor is understood to have an interest
might have to close down. So that, TAX
ing everything into consideration. it
would scarcely be surprising II after
all. the adoption Of distance tariff Is
more remote than its sanguine advo-
Gates seem to think.
ADVERTISING BOOOMERANGS.
There are those who attribute the pas
sage of the eastman bill in the senate
to the advertising campaign in Its fav-
or 1--WE made up our minds to show
them," said senator counted on for the
other side, that we were not going to
be dragooned and lined up by page ads
in the daily papers. If the jobbers and
the railroads wanted to influence us they
should have tried some other method"
Others attributed the educational cam
paign" to motives not altogether so al
truistic as those professed. "These
people are not in the habit Of paying out
1 thousands of dollars for promoting the
welfare of the country towns" they
said. "They made it too plain that they
had fish of their own to fry.
AN UNSETTLED DlofO1h.
The boundary dispute between Min
nesota and Wisconsin seems as far from
settlement as ever. 1t will be remem-
bered that two years ago commission
was appointed by the state legislature
to confer with a similar commission
from Wisconsin with regard to the mat
ter but it's efforts were fruitless and
! the commissions were unable to get to-
gether. It was understood that their
principal difficulty was with regard to
| territory in the vicinity Of Superior and
Duluth. 1t seems altogether likely now
| that the differences will have to be set
! tied by the courts. In the mean time
it is considered desirable, speaking in
diplomatic language, that a modus vi
vendi should be established to put an
end to the guerilla warfare in which the
fishermen of the two states have been
accustomed to engage. Having this end
| in view the present legislature has ap-
pointed a commission to confer with a
| similar commission from Wisconsin
| with view to having the states enact
uniform fishing laws. The Minnesota
commission is composed Of Senators
| Manley L. Fosseen Of Minneapolis, L..
o. Coke of Lake City, George c. Car
penter of Buffalo; Representatives Thos.
Kneeland of Minneapolis, Frank Min
nette of Sauk Centre and John A. Healey
of Hibbing.
| TROUBLE FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN y
| BILL.
The defeat this week of Mr.. Knee
lands bill for a constitutional amend
ment which will permit of divorcing the
state land department from the audit
| ing department is regarded as indicat-
ing that there is trouble in store for the
bill introduced at the governors sug-
gestion to create department Of pub
| lie domain although the measure has
been favorably acted upon by the house
| committee to which it was referred.
The agitation for measure of this kind
has been going on for some time. Gov
| ernor Johnson urged repeatedly that
| the auditor, who is purely an accounting
officer or should be, should not be re-
quired to discharge the highly important
duty of administering public lands, for
| ests, mines and so on. At his sugges-
| ton Senator Works introduced a bill
| four years ago to relieve the auditor
of his duties in connection with the pub
| lie domain, but he did not get very far
| with it, as it was considered that with
out an amendment to the constitution
nothing effective could be done along
that line. Governor Eberhart renewed
Governor Johnson's recommendation in
a somewhat different form, and it is
this recommendation that Mr.. Knee
lands bill was framed to carry out. 1t
is his idea that the public business
| would be more economically and more
! efficiently carried on if a number of
boards and commissions which now
manage separate departments of the
public domain independently and as re-
cent Investigations seem to indicate,
neither as capably nor as honestly as
they should, were merged and system
atised under a responsible~he
COMMISSIONS ABOLISHED.
Mr.. Kneeland's bill is framed with
this end in view. 1t abolishes the drain
age commission, the timber commission
the forestry board, the reclamation
board, the game and fish commission
the geological and natural history sur
vey, the board of immigration, the Of
fees of surveyors general of logs, COM
missioners and superintendents Of state
parks, forests and forest reserves and
all other offices subject to the boards
and commissions above mentioned and
merges their duties in department OF
public domain under the direction of a
single responsible official to- BE known
as the commissioner of public domain
The commissioner is directed to classify
his work into divisions of administra-
ton, determining the matters to be
within the scope Of each substantially
as follows:
/. State lands and immigration.
2. Geology and mines.
| 8. Waters, waterways, waterpowers
and drainage.
| 4. Game and fish.
5. Forestry including timber, timber
and log surveys, state parks, forests,
and forests reserves.
| SALARY LIST FORMIDABLE.
Each of these divisions is to be under
$4,000 year, except the chief Of the
fish and game department who is to re-
ceive $4,000. The salary of the commits
sioner is to be $4,000 and he is given a
deputy at salary Of $4,000 and a sec
retary at a salary of $1,s00. The COM
missioner himself is given authority to
fix the compensation Of such additional
assistants as he thinks it necessary to
employ. This salary list is likely to
prove bone Of contention and may be
modified to suit the more economical
views of a progressive house. There
are many who think that the commits
siOner is given more latitude than it is
safe to allow any appointive officer for
he is to be named by the governor, and