The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-03-06
The bill is thirty-page document and
represents weeks Of labor, all of which
was given by Mr.. Dunn.

was gwen by Mr.. Dunn.
:. :. =
The nearest thing to actual prohibit
ton came last week when the house,
by an overwhelming vote, passed the
O'Neih "roadhouse" bill. The meas
ure prohibits county boards of COM
missioners from granting saloon Ii
censes. 1t puts the country saloon
out of business. That nearly eighty
saloons scattered over the state will
be compelled to close their doors if
the bill becomes a law is not so bad,
but the fact that at the same time
over $4,000 in road and bridge reve-
nue. will go up in smoke brings some
regret. Under the law all revenue
from country saloons goes to roads
and bridges and this revenue is wiped
out by the new bill The bill is pri-
marlly directed at closing out a lot
of groggeries which flourish in the
timber country and near lumber
camps. At the same time more than
one respectable saloon is hit. This
Is especially so in those counties hav-
Ing a heavy German population.
+ :. J.
The O'Neill bill is the first bit of
real liquor regulation that has gotten
by the house since the session began
and for body composed of men cred
tied with drastic ideas in an anti
liquor way its failure in this line to
date has caused considerable COM
ment. The whole trouble is that both
house and senate want to do too
much IN the regulation line and the
hopper is choked in consequence
Again there is constant suspicion
on the part of a fairly large minority
that those engaged in trying to Sc
cure sane regulation are in league
with the brewers and there is much
wrangllng as result For two weeks
now the house committee on temper
ance has put in it's entire time dis
cussing bill permitting saloon to
continue on the death of the propri-
etor pending the probating of the es-
tate and it is no nearer settlement
than when the discussion started.
The committee at first favored it.,
then attorneys for the breweries,
when asked what they thought of it,
gave it their approval and now the
committee is split In the meantime
the opposition is looking on and smil-
ing. 1t is an old story and they know
the text by heart
< = =.
With the national senate holding
up one of the appointments to the in
terstate commerce commission, and
confirmation unlikely while President
Taft is in Office, report has it that P.
M. Ringda1 of the state board of con-
troll is favored by President Elect
Wilson for the place. If this is so his
name will likely be presented to the
new senate. Mr.. Ringdal will sever
his connection with the state board
Of control April 1, when he will be
succeeded by Ralph W. Wheelock.
X \ x
This session of the two houses has
been free from any personal encoun-
tiers, but there came near being one
last week when H. H. Dunn of Albert
Lea invited Representative Childs of
Minneapolis to step outside because
he accused him of being in league
with firm of printers who hold the
contract for legislative printing.
Chllds did not accept the invitation
and there is much coldness between
the two. The controversy was over
the printing Of some legislative mat
ter which the committee in charge re-
fused to permit Childs is the chair
man of this particular committee.
Economy is the keynote of those
who hold the purse strings in the
house and like many other proposed
reforms some of the things attempt
ed have strayed beyond the common
sense line. For instance, a lengthy
amendment to a bill is not permitted
because it might increase the cost Of
the daily journal. Then daily calen-
dars and general orders are not al
lowed because they, too, would add
to the printing cost. In consequence
DAAAo oAu IAS11 udul pUldClCn are at
the mercy of the desk clerks. All
around the cure seems to be worse
than the disease. Possibly $4,000 will
be saved on the printing for the ses-
sion, but the chances are that double
that amount will be FILTERED away
under the guise of reform.
= = <
Theater passes now have the call
in the house and senate, but the one
thing left in the way of legislative
good things will go by the board if a.
bill offered by Representative Green
of st. Paul gets by. Green wants it
made misdemeanor for any public
officer to accept free admission to
any theater or place of amusement.
Minneapolis members this year have
been providing the theater tickets,
which consist principally of admis-
sion to picture houses Those for
seats in the higher priced theaters
are decidedly limited and hard to get.
Green's rap at the honored custom is
said to be actuated by pique because
Minneapolis members have been en-