The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-10-02
PUBLIC UTILITIES
TO Be The Il ISSUE
EbeThart Will Seek Renornina-
ton for Governor.
SUDDEN CHANGE OF FRONT
Despite Recent Optimistic Declarations
Executive Abandons Extra
Session Plan.


Session Plan.
st. Paul-(SpeciaD- course you
have heard the latest Governor Eber-
hart's announced abandonment of his
promised call of the legislature in
special session. Yes, it is true, and it
is final as far as any special considera-
ton OF statewide utility control act
is concerned. Who advised the gov
ernor, if any one; how the decision
was reached and how he expects to
head OFF a slamming from those he
holds responsible for the course taken,
no one knows. The call is off and that
is all there is to it. Arlington, Mimi,
where the governor spoke at county
fair, furnished the atmosphere that
sent him on the back course. Catch
ing the first train out his excellency
FASTENED to st. Paul, met his private
secretary, George F. Author, at the
Union depot, hurriedly dashed off a
statement to "Ye Public" and a few
minutes later the wires were carry
ing the message to the four corners OF
the state. An hour later he took the
train for Fergus Falls, where he had
another speaking engagement. The
statement issued you have probably
read, but If you have not here it is in
brief: 'The house organization is
against state control of public utilities
and any appeal to the present body
would be barren of results. After a
careful canvass of the situation 1 am
of the opinion that the only way to Sc
cure this much desired reform is to
carry it direct to the next primaries"
Quite frank, you will have to admit,
after numerous credited interviews
that the movement was going along
swimmingly and that the call would
be made, and still more so when you
consider that the whole thing is a
practical announcement of his excel
lency's gubernatorial candidacy a
year hence. What the issue will be it
is needless to mention.
!. :. !.
Discussing the question of whether
or not statewide control would do all
that was claimed for it as a panacea
for utility ills, or whether or not
there was a general demand for the
law, the whole thing SINNERS down
now to the proposition of who wins,
the governor or the opposition. That
his excellency showed courage is un-
deniable and that he has cast a tenn
porary blight on the legislative Ca
reers of those who opposed him is
certain, for you must remember that
state government says is gospel and
with a lot of us what a governor does
not do or say is unquestioned evil
dence that he is along safe and sane
lines. But has not the governor in
passing the buck" put a hundred or
more active political war clubs in &C.
ton. Those members of the legisla-
ture, among them Speaker Rines and
others, are now on the defensive and
the return on their part can certainly
only be in kind. What the finish will
be time alone will tell. One thing
certainly has been elected into the con-
troversy, and that is fight. This is
one characteristic that the governor
has not often been accused of, but his
hat Is in the ring now and utilities is
his weapon. And I guess it is going
to be some fight, too.
!. !. :.
While to many members of the leg
islature who were unwilling to come
to St. Paul in answer to a special call
and number of interests to whom a
special session of the legislature
meant trouble Governor Eberhart's
decision to abandon the call is a de-
cided relief, yet there are many who
would have liked the governor to
have gone ahead with his plans. I
refer to the thousands of farmers who
have suffered from the hog cholera
plague. The proposed special session
appealed to them, as it meant help.
Then there was the Bendixen 2-cent
fare law, the continued presence of
" AASA AAoy yCL put M1AACoOtd DdCA III
the Scent fare class. While the peo-
pie and the legislature could not be
reused to the Importance of statewide
control of public utilities, yet it was a
stepping stone to other things and
sometimes think that if the governor
had persisted in his course he prac-
dcally would have forced the reluc-
tant end of the game.
This is the freight car shortage sea-
son and the members of the railroad
and warehouse commission are now
devoting their attention to the annual
pest. Prompt loading and unloading
of cars by shippers is given as the
principal cure for the disease and if
this is done the commission says it
will attend to the railroad end. Dur
ing the month of October a year ago
the commission found that over 5000