Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1927-01-13
THE
STATE LEGISLATURE
In Message to Legislature Gov
ernOr Christensen Fixes $780,
OOO,0OO as Limit Of ApprOpri-
atoms for Biennium.
John A. johnson Reelected
Speaker. Both Branches Or
ganized, With Many Big Ques-
tons Before Them.
By Martin w. Odland.

1
st. Paul, Mimi, Jan. II, 1927.-With
John A. Johnson of Preston again
occupying the speakers chair in the
House and Lieutenant Governor w. I.
Nolan of Minneapolis swinging the
gavel in the Senate, the forty-ffth
session of the Minnesota legislature
opened at high noon, January 4, 1927.
The organization of the House was
perfected in accordance with the de-
cision of the cauSus of the cOnserva-
tive members, held at st. Paul, Nov.
80. The Farmer-Labor members held
causus Jan. to agree upon course
of action, and decided to run up the
third-party flag by rallying back of
| Representative Frank T. Starkey, st.
Paul labor leader, as their candidate
for the speaker. A number of the
Farmer-Labor members did not ap-
prove of this procedure but felt that,
for political reasons, they had better
abide by the decision of the causus.
Only 81 votes were cast for Mr..
Starkey, so the vote stood six to one
in favor of John A. Johnson when the
House organized.
Former Representative John Levin
of st. Paul was unanimously elected
chief clerk of the house, to succeed
the late Oscar Arneson. In the Sem
ate George w. Peachey of Owatonna
was reelected chief clerk, after a
spirited fight, and Senator A. j.
Rockne of Zumbrota, the battle scar
red veteran who has served in the
legislature continuously since 1903.
was again chosen by his colleagues as
president protein.
Governor Theodore Christensen
was sworn in for his second term
Wednesday morning by Chief Justice
Wilson of the supreme court in the
presence of the Senators and Repre-
sentatives, and then delivered his
biennial message. 1t is strong state
paper and maintained the high stand
ard set by Mr.. Christensen in his
inaugural address two years ago. AS
was generally expected, he devoted
the major part of the message to his
economy program, holding that the
the way of efficiency and economy,
by the carrying into effect of the re-
organization of the state government
perfected two years ago, and will
profit still more in the future. He
urged few amendments to the reor-
ganization act, chief among which is
the transfer from the State Board of
Control the purchasing of supplies for
state institutions to the big Three.
He declared emphatically that the
appropriations must be kept down to
40,000,000; that there must be no
more bond issues for highway or any
other purposes; that economy must
state government, in the state insti-
tutions and in other public activities.
There was keen interest in the atti-
tude which the governor would as
sumo toward the demands of the
Board of University Regents and Pre-
sident Coffman for greatly increased
appropriations for the University in
order that it may keep step with other
leading state universities, and be able
to serve the people effectively.
Citing figures from Fillmore, Lin
coin, Stearns, Wilkin, Dodge, Brown,
Carver, Chisago, Sibley, Wadena, Nor
man, Pope and Clay counties, showing
that the taxes paid by farmers to-
ward state school aid and the Uni
versity exceed their local school tax,
Governor Christianson added signifl-
cantly:
Il would not countenance eXtrava-
gance in any educational activity.
should not be true to my duty if I
did not say that teachers, not build
ings, make a school. / leave with
you the question whether we have
not too often and too long bent knees
before the false. gods of clay and
stone, and other material things, and
whether we should not now take steps
to insure that money voted for men
should not be used for land and struc-
lures"
Few, if any, fail or will fail to read
into this declaration a thrust at the
elaborate building program of the
University regents.
Only a few bills have been intro
duced in either branch, as yet, and
only one of these is important-the
bill of Representative Brophey of Min
neapolis to put the legislature back
on party basis. The legislature was
partisan prior to 1915 and there has
been an increasing demand for the
old order Of things. Last summer,
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