Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1927-02-17
LETTER FROM PINE
COUNTY LEGISLATOR

| Saint Paul. Mimi, Feb. IA, 1927.
My Dear Friends:
/ This is the third installment OF my
continued story of the doings of the
State Legislature, and more espec-
tally of those matters that 1 believe
are of most interest to the people of
Pine county. In my past letters I
have requested your views on matters
that are now pending or may come up
during this session, and to date /
have received THREE letters in re-
| Spouse to this request. OF course l
interpret this to mean that you are
satisfied to leave these matters in my
hands for decision, which 1 will have
to do no matter how many letters /
receive, but / can assure you that 1
| would like your viewpoint no matter
what it is. OF the three letters l
did receive, two of them were on the
same question, and both of them held
opposite views. So you can see
that l am not receiving much assist
ance in ascertaining how the major
ity of my people would like to have
me vote on these important matters.
In my past two letters 1 promised
to tell you about matter I had in
mind which 1 thought would be of
| interest to you, and will tell you
about it now. For many years /
| have felt that we should have a re-
| organization of county government,
| and l have prepared a resolution
which l intend to introduce soon ask
ing for an interim committee consist
| ing of five members, to be known as
the Committee on Reorganization of
| County Government, the duties of
which shall be to investigate into the
| ACCESSIBILITY and practicability of re-
organizing such government for the
purpose of promoting economy and
efficiency in the administration there
of. This committee would make this
study during the next two years and
report to the next Legislature. I
know that you will agree with me
that If you were stakeholder in
corporation valued at better than
thirty million dollars, that you would
not wish to have it run as our
counties are run. In fact if a cor
poration should so run it's affairs it
would go broke in one year. 1 do
not wish to convey the idea that I
am criticising our county officials in
the way they conduct their affairs
not in the least They are compelled
to work under the laws as they find
them, but our system is out of date
and therefore costly. I would like
an opportunity to explain to you all
what l have in mind, and can assure
you that if you would like to have
me do so, l will be pleased to at
tend the meetings of your clubs any
Saturday night during the session,
and explain to you personally just
what 1 have in mind. So let me hear
from you.
Last Wednesday my bill to compel
the Rural Credits Bureau to pay
taxes on the lands which they have
come into possession of through for
| closure, came up in the committee on
Civil Administration, and we had a
| battle royal. 1 had the entire Rural
Credit. administration fighting me on
this bill, and while no action was
| taken at that meeting, I am positive
that the same will be voted out at
the next meeting. H. H. Flowers,
secretary of the Bureau, and former
speaker of the House led the fight
against me, and it is needless to tell
you that he knew the game and
played it to its finest point, but I feel
that have also learned a few things
in the past two sessions about this
game, and feel that 1 held my own
in the argument.
This week the bill to remodel the
delinquent tax laws will come up on
General Orders. AS l am the first
my duty to lead the fight on the floor
of the House. We succeeded in get
ting this bill out of the Tax COM
mittee without any trouble and /
feel very confident that we will get
it passed in the House without much
trouble How it will fare in the
Senate is another story. Hon. George
n. Oulll'dn VI OllllWd ISi, 10 Shdl
man of the committee on Taxes in the
Senate, and we understand that some
of the large owners of cut-over lands
are opposed to the bill, so it may get
some hard knocks in that body. This
bill is one of the most, in fact the
most important from the standpoint
of the counties having large area
of delinquent taxes, now before the
Legislature, and we members from
the north counties have formed our