Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1914-05-20
$ to approve and execute the law.

| is to approve and execute the law.
There never was period in the his
tory of the state during which so much
temperance and social welfare legisla-
| ton was enacted and enforced. | wish
to call your attention to the following
important laws enacted and enforced
during my administrations:
l. Prohibiting the drinking of in
toxicating liquors on railway trains.
2. Preventing anyone from Undue
ing minors to enter saloons.
8. Authorizing the recovery of dam
ages for injuries by intoxicated per-
sons from those causing such intoxica-
ton.
4. Extending local option to cities
OF the fourth class.
5. Regulating public dance halls
and prohibiting the sale of liquor
therein.
6. Prohibiting soliciting in dry ter
ritory.
7. Providing severe penalties for
inducing young girls to enter houses
of i'll fame.
s. Adoption of the Iowa abatement
law, the strongest law ever enacted
against the white slave traffic
8. Establishing the separate indus
trial school for girls.
10. Establishing a state hospital
for the treatment of crippled and de-
formed children of poor parents.
II. Prescribing hours of labor and
Y110 r,1c fpv, oh;
camille and manufacturing plants.
IL. Controlling and providing for
dependent, neglected and delinquent
children.
10. Pensions for dependent moth
ers.
II. Making desertion of wife and
family felony.
These and many other laws have
been enacted in the interest of social
welfare and uplift and all of them
have received my active support both
in enactment and enforcement.
Civil Service.
The highest and best test of an
executive officer is determined by the
character of his appointments. No
governor before me in the history of
this state has had occasion to fill so
many important offices OF trust and
responsibility. l cannot take time to
enumerate very many, but it is impor-
tant to determine the efficiency of an
administration from this standpoint
The appointments to the offices of at
torney general, supreme and district
courts, board of regents and heads of
the various departments are sufficient
for this purpose. Not even my bitter
est enemy has found any fault with
them, and it has been the greatest
pleasure of my official life to receive
so many favorable Communications.
The statement of President Vincent
that there is not university in Ameri-
ca which can boast of a more efficient
board of regents, is a commentator
that l prize very highly.
l strongly favor civil service, and
while only the dairy and food depart
ment was under civil service regula-
tons when l became governor, there
are now several departments success
fully operating under this rule. Ap-
pointments and promotions should be
based on merit only, and l am willing
to submit my case to the people upon
the record made
Regulation of Public Service Corpora
tons.
That public service corporations
should be regulated so as to secure
reasonable rates and adequate service
for all is conceded. Nearly all the
states of the Union have adopted
regulation by the state instead of. by
the local communities. Senator LaFol-
lette, of Wisconsin, Justice Hughes, of
New York, and President Wilson, OF
New Jersey, succeeded while govern
ors in securing for their respective
states such law as l am trying to Sc
cure for Minnesota. If all these states
that have adopted state regulation
were in error, and if Senator LaFol-
lette, Justice Hughes and President
Wilson were the tools of public service
corporations in securing the enactment
Of these laws for their respective
states, l am willing to concede that
state regulation is wrong. With them
contend that state regulation is the
only kind of regulation which has been
found successful
Municipal ownership is not incon-
sistent with state regulation. and /
will not approve any law which does
not specifically authorize any munich
pality to purchase, own and operate
any public utility, and when so owned
and operated, the municipality should
be given absolute control thereof, sub
hitting only to a uniform system of
reports and accounting to the state so
that the real cost of the service may be
easily ascertained.
Protection of Labor.
The adequate protection of labor is
one of the important duties of the
state. Woman and child labor re-
quires special attention and the latter
should be reduced to minimum. No
state can be truly prosperous unless
those who work are not only protected
IL,