The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1915-02-05
LIST
IS VERY LARGE
Nearly 14O Persons on Legls'
Iative Payroll.
CENSUS BILL TO PREVAIL
James S. Arneson and Henry Rines
Spoken of in Connection With
Supervision of Work.

ST. Paul-(SpeciaD- -Whatever may
be said of the present legislature in
a sighting way it cannot be accused
of being parsimonious. True, there
are no jackknives this time and even
fountain penssat SIS per have been Ia
booed; still you must give the two
houses credit for one thing and that
is the creation of plenty of jobs for
the "jobless." The last payroll car
ried list of nearly 140 with salaries
for each ranging from S. to $40 day,
and the chances were excellent for
an addition that would swell the list
30 better than $50 names. When
this was written the rules committee
of both houses had under cOnsidera
ton the urgent" need of more stem
ographers and sergeant-at-arms. In
the house especially it was claimed
that the present clerical and steno
graphic force was simply being work
ed to death and that if the billmaking
propensities of the members was to
be taken care of more help would be
required. Getting jobs for the needy
and the persistent is one of the chief
tasks confronting every man fortunate
or unfortunate enough to land pub
lie office and the official who fails to
meet requirements in this respect is
not likely to survive the next election
But the list of employees of the pres
ent legislature has reached stage
that is very near limit lines. Figure
out 139 employees at IS per day, with
near a score receiving double that
amount, and I think you will come to
the same conclusion. The present
daily payroll for employees alone is
nearly $500 and the chances are excel
lent that it will be close to the $500
mark before another ten days. If the
increase keeps up there will soon be
an employee for every legislator.
j. !. !.
Senator Sullivan's bill for the TAX
ing and compilation of the next state
census has prevailed in committee
and will likely get by without any
trouble. A similar bill has been Of
fered in the house. The proposed act
places the collection of the census in
the hands of the secretary of state as
of old and carries an appropriation of
100000. Efforts have been made to
turn the work over to the state labor
department, but so far without sue
cess. With a 100000 fund to dip
into the attention of those with de-
sire to serve the state at so much per
has been attracted and Secretary of
State Schmahl is in for the time OF
his life. James S. Arneson and Henry
Rines Of Mora are spoken of in con.
nection with the supervising of the
census.
S. Y. Gordon of Browns Valley has
been under the weather for the past
two weeks and has been confined to
his bed in the Merchants hotel. He
is expected out shortly. Gordon is
one of the house floor leaders and his
absence is quite noticeable.
!. !. X
The Minette telephone bill, an act
which former Governor Eberhart We
lie hearing in the house last week
and the odd feature was the brotherly
feeling between representatives of
the Tri-State Telephone company,
which favored the bill two years ago,
and the Northwestern Telephone COM
pany, which, it is claimed, was largely
instrumental in influencing Governor
Eberhart's veto. The only difference
of opinion was on two minor sections.
This sudden getting together was re-
sponsible for some rather cutting
statements on the part of Senator
James Carley of Wabasha county, who
strongly intimated that the bill had
of all telephone companies under the
control of the state railway commits
sion and the compulsory making of
physical connections the new bill has
little in common with the old. What
hurts is the taking away of local con-
troll.
The prize committeeship in the two
houses this session is that of towns
and counties. Never before perhaps
in the history of the state has there
been offered SO many bills affecting
county officers as in this session and
the list is growing with the days.
There is hardly a county official or
an employe that Is not clamoring for
an increase in salary and their de-
mands are supplemented by hall
dozen other bills calling for four
year term of Office and the continu-
ance of those already in Office for
an extra two years. The three large
counties, Ramsey, Hennepin and st.
Louis, are particularly active in this
respect.
i. + X
Senator r. c. Dunn of Princeton,
always active whenever the improve
ment of the roads of the state are up
for consideration, has new scheme
for an increase in the revenue for
their upkeep. He would increase the
license fee for the registering of auto
mobiles and use the excess in road