The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1920-04-29
DIGEST OF PROBLEM
The Conditions Which Would Obvious.
ly Result From the Removal
of the County Seat.
Officials Would Be Scattered Over
Village of Milaca to Incon-
venience of Public.
CONTINUED from last weekly

viewpoints, let's suppose, for instance,
that the proposition to remove the
county seat carries If it does what
happens? Within ninety days after
the election the place so chosen shall
be the county seat, and the county
canvassing board can even shorten this
time to sixty days if they see fit to do
so. (Sec. 662, G. S. 1879 This
means after the expiration of this
short period of time any taxpayer
would have right to go to the county
seat and find the following named
county officers there, with their books,
records and full office equipment, to-
wit: County auditor, treasurer, regis
ter of deeds, clerk of district court,
sheriff, judge of probate and court
commissioner. (Sec. 1914, G. S. 1879
The law is silent as to where the coun-
ty attorney, superintendent of schools
and coroner shall have their offices, and
it is held in Minnesota that they can
maintain their offices at any place
within the county. This moving law
does not take into consideration the
fact that there may not be suitable
quarters and vault facilities for the
county officials at the new location.
All the law says is that within not
less than sixty (60) days and not more
than ninety (90) days after election
the county seat is the place chosen at
the election, and the whole outfit would
go to Milaca, even if they had to
quarter them in a tent or barn.
This removal would come some time
in August and right at the worst time
of year for all concerned-right in the
beginning Of the harvest and when
there will be crying need for every
available man to start getting in the
crops. Incidentally it is the year when
real estate is assessed and equalized,
and presidential year with its primary
and general elections to further cum
Der up the situation. Nineteen twenty
looks like the banner real estate year
of the bunch, and we want our plant
in shape to handle the vast amount of
business that is bound to come from
the busiest real estate year the coun-
ty ever saw. Better keep our
present plant and equipment where it
is so that we can handle our share of
this rich land business, instead of
breaking it up and scattering it all
over the village of Milaca, so that it
would take week to get a deed,
mortgage or abstract through the
mill, where now it usually goes
through in forty-eight hours.
If you were running grist mill
and working it night and day in order
to handle the rush of business, you
wouldn't tear down the whole plant
and move it up the river twelve miles
in order to better accommodate your
customers up there at the expense and
inconvenience Of all your other Gus
toners, would you? No. You would
naturally wait until business condi-
tons eased up a little, then do any
moving that you thought necessary.
Rumors and intimations are being
circulated around the county that it is
not the intention of Milaca to build
court house at this time on account
of the exceptionally high market and
scarcity of building material and labor.
Then why the big hurry over the coun-
ty seat removal? Certainly our pres
ent plant and equipment at Princeton
would be far better than any tenn
porary two or three year arrangement
that could be made at Milaca, where
even now it is almost impossible to
rent a room, house or office. Trading
our perfectly good outfit for such an
uncertain, inconvenient and tempo
rary makeshift would be downright
folly. And to pay money to boot on
such a jug-handled trade would be in
excusably foolish. Housing condi-
tons are bad all over the country and
many of our big cities have resorted
to old street cars, abandoned boats and
every conceivable form of temporary
quarters to ease off the strain. This
unfortunate condition is direct re-
suit of the war, which put a stop to
most of our home, office and public
building, and also put quietus on all
industrial building not absolutely es-
sential to carrying on the war. With
this crying need for actual roofs to
cover our heads, we agree with the
Milaca enthusiasts when they say it
is no time to build court house.
Looking at our problem from an
other angle, let's suppose that the re-
tanning side is victorious in the coming