The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1919-03-21
LEGISLATIVE Letter
St. Paul, March 10.
By R. w. HITCHCOCK.
Representative 60th District.


The end of the forty-frst session
of the Minnesota legislature is in
sight. The legislature will adjourn,
sine die, some time between April Is
and "a. The attorney general rules
that April "a is the last day, accord
ing to the constitution, that the legis-
lature can meet. Good Friday is
April Is and the legislature may quit
then rather than return for three
day session after Easter. March 81
is the last day for the introduction of
bills, but, under the rules, no bills can
be introduced after today except by
two thirds vote in consent thereto.
Lieutenant Governor Mike.
st. Patrick's Day in the morning
Senator Michael Boylan of Virginia,
Minnesota, was called to the chair
and presided over the deliberations
of the senate for an hour. In the
house Speaker Nolan relinquished the
gavel to that soulful son of the ould
sod, Tommy Greene. It was a great
day for the Irish. g
Tonnage Tax.
The tonnage tax issue will come to
vote in few days. Monday after
a session both morning and afternoon
the tax committee reported both the
Bendixen and the Wilkinson bills for
indefinite postponement and recon-
mended the WEIGH bill (Nonpartisan
league) for passage. The nonparti-
san leaguers are in great feather and
for some mysterious reason every
body from Northeastern Minnesota
is smiling. Anthony WEIGH gave
notice Tuesday that he would move
later to have his bill made a special
order, and there will probobly be a
vote on the measure this week.
General Orders
General Orders" is heaped high
with bills in both senate and house.
What is General Orders?" Gen
eral Orders is the hopper into which
all bills go when they are reported
out of committee. Each bill as it is
reported out of committee goes to the
foot of General Orders" which is
simply a list of bills, constantly in
creasing in length as committee re-
ports come in. The bills on "Gen-
eral Orders" are taken up in their
turn as listed by the house sitting
as a committee of the whole. Amend
ments may be offered and debated.
Debate cannot be limited in the COM
mittee of the whole. If ten members
demand it, roll call can be had up
on any amendment or on any bill,
and members are then put on record,
but the usual procedure is simply
to vote vive voca, a majority of
those voting deciding the issue. Those
bills which get a favorable vote in
the committee of the whole are taken
from General Orders and placed on
the Calendar" in order. When the
house takes up the Calendar each bill
may again be debated, but no amend
ments can be made except by unani-
nous consent; the final vote is al
ways by roll call and it takes Sc votes
in the house and so votes in the SEN
ate to pass every bill.
During the past week the house
did not once get to consider General
Orders, so the list has been length
ening day by day. Many bills will
die on this list when the session ends.
Special Orders.
Any bill by a majority vote can be
made a special order for a certain
time. There were two of these in the
house in the past week, and in each
case the special order consumed the
whole day shutting out all other bust
ness. Thursday. Of last week the
house had special order for a num-
Der of highway bills. Friday the
Moen and Putnam prohibition en-
forcement bill was a special order,
precipitating big fight, lasting from
ten in the morning until four in the
afternoon. The main fight was upon
the attempts Of the vets to declare
two per cent beer mountaineering.
The bill says that any liquor having
in excess Of one-half Of one per cent
Of alcohol by volume shall be con-.