The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1916-01-20
THE LEGISLATOR OF ONE IDEA,


THE LEGISLATOR OF ONE IDEA
The next legislature should he a Legislature
Eof business men instead Of brewers men,
minneapolis Journal. . ii ss 5ssss
The Journal has got hold Of goot
idea, but didn't let its vision wider
enough to take in more than half of it
This state needs alegislature Of bust
ness men--that is, Of men capable d
handling state business on big lines
but in order to get them it must do
away more or less not only with
brewers men," but with one idea mer
l.of all kinds.
The bane legislation in Mime.
sofa for a dozen years has been the
issue of sumptuary Legislation. The
demand for county option and prohibi.
ton has produced crop Of one-idea
men en- both sides. One side could see
nothing but the need Of putting over
anti-saloon laws; the other side could
see nothing but the need Of defending
the saloon. The result has been legis-
latures, of little men and, largely Of
little accomplishments.
The man who is in the Minnesota
Legislature for no other purpose than
to put over county option or @prohibi-
ton, and the man who is there for no
other purpose than to defeat at all
hazards any attempt whatever to- cir
cumscribe the saloon, are equally I'M
fitted for general legislative uses; The
legislature has been largely made up
Of such men, and so long as this was
so the character Of the legislature and
of legislation has steadily deterio-
rated.
Not even reasonable plans to regu-
late the liquor traffic can get consid-
cred. Even though county option or
prohibition were to come sooner or
later, or not come at all, surely com
mon sense would Indicate that in the
meantime liquor and saloons ought to
be regulated in the public interest. For
instance, the quality of alcoholic
drinks ought to be rigidly regulated,
because much physical and moral mis-
chief grows out Of fraudulent liquors.
Many things might be done reasonably
calculated to mitigate the harmfulness
of the saloon. Yet none of these things
could even get a hearing, because one
side was determined that there should
be- no tampering with the saloon, and
the other that nothing should be done
that might stand in the way of the
futile doctrine Of making men sober
by prohibitory laws
Almost nobody, in the Minnesota
legislature, examines legislation with
his own eyes. Almost everybody. .ex-
amines it either with the blue glasses
of brewery influence or the green
glasses Of prohibitory fanaticism. The
result is that there is nothing in the
state of Minnesota less representative
Of its character and needs than. the
legislature.
The saloon and anti-saloon issue has
been permitted, in Minnesota, to OBJ
scure all other issues. The result has
oeen legislature largely made up Of
men representing and thinking of lit
lie else than this issue Nothing but
1arrowness and inefficiency could re-
suit from such a condition. Nothing
Else has resulted from it.-Duluth |
Herald.
Every word and line Of the above
article is absolutely and literally true. |
N recent years men have been elected |
% the legislature without regard to
heir general fitness but solely with
reference to their position on county
option, and as result some mighty |
Door legislators have been chosen and |
7ery little remedial or beneficial leg
Station has been enacted.