Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1927-03-10
Minnesota State
Legislative Letter
Continued from Page u

Minneapolis, Starkey of st. Paul,
Quinlivan of st. Cloud and others.
w. /. Norton of Minneapolis, floor
leader of the house and former attor-
ney for the Anti-Saloon League, made
the principal argument against the
referendum. He held that the Vol
stead act and the entire prohibition
which congress must deal. The pro-
posed referendum would be without
binding force upon anybody and, not
being recognized by law, there would
be no assurance of an honest vote or
an honest court.
The referendum bill was killed by
large majority.
New interest in the pending clash
between the legislature and the big
Three" was aroused by statement
issued by Senator A. j. Rockne, in
which he showed no enthusiasm for
the administrations policy with re-
spect to state aid to schools and in
which he intimated that the work of
the big Three" in. pairing down ap-
preparations had not been of such
great value, inasmuch as the appro-
priation committees of the legislature
of 1925, without aid from said big
Three, had kept the total down to
about the same as the budget recently
presented. The title of the Rockne
statement was significant-"E Economy
and Politics."
The Rockne statement appeared in
print Tuesday morning. Immediately
Governor christensen got busy with
a reply, locking himself up in his pri-
vate office and denying himself to all
callers. Early in the afternoon the
reporters got the result of his intel
lectual labors-a vigorous statement
in the form of direct reply to Rock
ne, whom he accused of "inaccura-.
cies" and Inconsistency. The governor
recited legislative history since 1923
to show that both in 1925 and 1923
as chairman of the senate finance
committee, Rockne opposed bills to
make up the deficiency in the state
aid to schools, while now he comes
out for payment in full of the claims
of the schools. So far, the senator
from Goodhue has not come forward
with an answer to the governor.
That there will be real fight be-
tween the big Three" and the legis-
lature over appropriations, is now GER
tain. The senate finance committee
has already boosted the allowances
for the state institutions of the big
Three by several hundred thousand
dollars, adopting the figures of the
state board of control instead of the
budget, and in the near future school
aid deficiency bills appropriating
some 100000 will be presented to
the legislature by senators and repre-
sentatives who take issue with the
administration policy with respect to
the schools.
The Brooks-Coleman law, placing
the control of street railways with
the state railroad and warehouse
commission, will not be repealed at
this session of the legislature. This
law was enacted fnrf921 and has been
a thorn in the side of many people,
not only in the three big cities but
also in the rural sections. Indeed,
this law has been a hotter political
issue in the farming districts than
in the cities, and many senators and
representatives who voted for the
Brooks Coleman act have been retired
to private life by irate farmers. Both
in 1923 and 1925 bills to repeal the
law were introduced and fought for,
only to be defeated. Last week a
similar bill was killed by an over
whelming vote in the state senate.