The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1913-03-07

the state will be given another oppor-
tunity to pass upon the proposition for
state insurance against damage by
hail and wind which was defeated at
the last general election. Under the
provisions of Senator Sundberg's bill,
which has passed the senate, the state
auditor would be authorized to levy an
acreage tax on lands insured against
loss by hail and wind at the option of
the owners of the property to create
the insurance fund for which any loss
es sustained would be paid.
The balance of the days session the
senate spent in listening to an ad-
dress by Halford Erickson, member
of the public utilities commission, of
Wisconsin, on the work of the commits
sion and on the advantages gained by
state control of public utilities. 1t is
sion to provide for uniform system
of accounting by public utilities
wherever located, and to prescribe the
minimum requirements with respect
to gas and electric light and power
furnished for public use.
Sees That Public Gets Service.
The commission directs its efforts
towards seeing that the public gets
good service and complaints are heard
and remedies provided generally in
formally and by consultation and
agreement. The object of the COM
mission is rather to take measures be-
forehand to insure the best service
than to provide a remedy afterwards
in case the service is inadequate.
The testimony of Mr. Erickson was
to the effect that the work of the
commission in Wisconsin had resulted
in great improvement in the services
rendered by public utilities in that
state and that this is generally recog-
nized Both by public utility corpora
tons and by the public.
Rines for State Auditor.
r. C. Dunn yesterday put Speaker
Rines in nomination for state audi
tor to the accompaniment of wild
cheers by members of the house.
The incident came about when Mr.
Kneeland's bill for a constitutional
amendment authorizing the separation
OF the state land from the auditing
department was under consideration
There is no necessity for the Eepar-
alton proposed" he said. ''The pres
ent auditor has sufficiently managed
the state lands, and during his admin
istration the public school fund result
ing from land sales has been greatly
augmented and carefully guarded. If
may say SO, his predecessor was also
careful to husband the states re-
sources and did not complain that too
great task was imposed upon him
when, in addition to doing the work
of auditing the public accounts. he
was required to manage the states
public lands. And it," he continued.
as l confidently predict, the speaker
OF this house, who is thoroughly capa-
BILE of discharging the duties of the
office, is elected state auditor two
years hence by the people of the
state, they need have no fear that he
will prove unequal to the management
Of the public domain"
House Goes Wild.
Then the house went wild, the mem.
bers rising to their feet and cheering
Mr.. Dunn to the echo.
The debate was continued some time
longer in the hope of saving the bill.
The arguments of those who favored
it, however, proved of no avail. The
hnal vote was IS against the bill to
35 in its favor.
This result is regarded as foreshad-
owing the defeat of Mr.. Kneeland's
companion measure, the Public Do
main bill. This bill involved a scheme
for the reorganization of all depart
ments exercising supervision over the
public domain under one head and
was framed to comply with the recon-
mendation made by the governor in
his annual message. 1t is now thought
that it will be impossible to secure
its adoption by the house.
NNA' III SbIldIo uo-
voted short session to the passage
OF a number of minor bills affecting
Minneapolis only. On motion it was
agreed that the county assessor bill
would be made special order for
Friday at 1890 a. m.
Bills Deserving Attention.
At its session the house took I'D
the calendar and passed a large num-
Der OF bills among which the follow
Ing deserve special mention.
1. Mr.. Bjornson's bill which pro-
vides that hereafter constitutional
amendments shall be published in all
the papers of the state. The rate fixed
for papers of less than 10000 circu-
lation is 25 cents per folio Where
the circulation is 10000 or more the
present legal rates may be charged.
2. A joint resolution offered by Mes
srs. Harrison and Bollmer, memorable
ing congress in favor of a canal con-
Meeting Lake Superior with the Mis-.
sissippi river via Brule and st. Croix