The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1914-11-06

were sixty or seventy OF them. Each
time 1t was thought new function
had to be added to the state govern.
ment, or attended to separately, q
new board was added. Each board
had q way of getting all II could out
OF the state legislature and then
turning and spending the money.
Mr.. Lee said the state should have
Just one administration and then II
would be doing business. He saw no
reason why the business OF the state
should not be carried ON just as ELI.
lcfently and economically as the bust
ness of any other concern. He hoped
the legislature would pass the law to
Ireorganize the state government.
Mr.. Lee went on to say that IL this
was not done, he would, II elected,
do the very best he could with the
existing machinery. He would not
turn any member of the state ad-
ministration out except for the good
of the service.
| Served In Departments.
The speaker said he had served in
many of the different departments OF
the state administration and he was
acquainted with them all. He said
he would not appoint a man and then
forget him. He would be responsible
for every man and the conduct of
every man whom he had appointed to
office.
Mr. Lee declared that one OF the
most pernicious things the state had
today was the lobbyist. One OF the
most culpable of the lobbyists was
the administration official. II any Of.
ficial under his administration was
found lobbying, the speaker said, he
would without delay ask him for his
resignation.
The nominee declared that the Min
nesota Brewers association had for
its main object the defeat of every
legislative measure that aided in the
cause of good government. The
business of this interest thrived best
when legislation was bad. Its bust
ness was good when the government
of the state was bad. Just as soon
as the government OF city or vii
lage became clean, this interest lost
its grip.
Lobby Will Be On Hand.
Mr.. Lee declared that lobby would
be on hand at the next session OF
the LEGISLATURE on behalf of the Min
nesota Brewers association to defeat
good legislation. The brewers must
be driven out of the politics OF the
state of Minnesota. The brewers
were a most powerful factor in the
politics Of the state of Minnesota.
The speaker told i'm detail some OF
the methods by which the brewers
accomplished their purposes I'm work
ing on the legislature A new man
Is elected to the legislature. lie goes
there pledged to get a certain law
passed in the interest Of his constit'
uents. He, introduced his bill. II
goes into the hands of a committee,
where Il Is pigeon-holed. There Is
delay after delay. He tries to get II
hurried through. Mr.. Smooth comes
along. and says he would himself be
glad to get the same bill passed. Mr.
Smooth says he can muster thirty
FIVE votes for that bill. He says his
friends would like to have another
bill. which prohibits gambling In sa'
looms, killed. So the new legislator
gets his pet measure passed, but In
order to do so he must vote against
the anti.gambling bill. This method
was called that OF log-rolling. Mr.
Lee said cases we're very common OF
la man trading off his vote on ques
; tions affecting the entire state in or
der to get some measure for his own
particular section. But occasionally
the burglar alarm was sounded. and
then the brewing interests stepped
back and let the people run things
for a while.
Another Method.
Mr.. Lee mentioned another method
; that the liquor interests had Of con
trolling legislation. This method he
said was worse than that OF log-roll
ing. The agents of this concern
would check up a man. II they found
. skeleton I'm the mans closet, they
would learn oil about 1t. II there was
. any such skeleton they would FIND
out about Ii. The man was ther
brought upon the carpet and told just
what he had to do.
The remedy before the people now
and the only effective one was
county option. The speaker now wen'
on to tell what county option was
!, II consisted in letting the people o
. any county vote the saloons out o.
that county If they so wished.
The people who objected to county
oItion argued that the people living
, out through the country had no righ
} to vote on the question how a city OF
, village should be run. This was abou
} the only argument that had been pre-
: sented against county option, ant
when It was analysed 1t did not seen
: to amount to much.
> Farmer Is Interested.
J Mr.. Lee remarked that the farme
: was necessarily interested In the kin,
OF town where he came to do hi
; trading In them to vote out the sa
: were interested. The speaker dc
i clared that he knew of two village
4 which were asked by the farmer
I trading in them to vote out the sa
r looms. One of them did so and tn
other did not. Two hundred farmer
had signed an agreement not to trad
Q / I'm the second town until II had vote
s out its saloons. and Mr.. Lee said h
9 understood that the agreement wa
9 being kept. ..-
0 Mr.. Lee said that inasmuch as liQ
!, uor made paupers and criminals
n and tended to increase the burdens o
:. the taxpayers of every county affect
1 ed. IL was not at all unreasonable 4
9 give tile county the right to sa.
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