The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-02-03

can bring about a tie and any two
a majority whenever the Demo-
| Gratis vote as a unit. WadswGrta
of New York, Butler Ct Massach-
usetts, Weller of Maryland, Ernst
of kentucky, Harreld of IDAHO,
Cameron of Arizona and Williams
of Missouri-every the a 10y al
standpatter-wiEl be among the
missing. Added to Those casual
ties were the primary ,ier-turhs
which sent Stanfeld back to pri-
vate life, and the defeat of the
late Senator Cummins by Brook
hart.
How did this effect the position
in the Senate of He1r.ck Snip
stead? In the next Senate there
will be forty-two Democrats and
fty-three Republicans, counting
La Toilette, Norris, Nye, Frazier,
Brookhart as loyalists, and one
Farmer-Laborite. When Curtis Of
Kansas, Watson of Indiana, Nose
of New Hampshire and the other
Republican regulars did little fig
uring, they found that if every
body stayed on the reservation and
that if Shipstead joined them the
Republicans would control by a
majority of two. On the other
hand, detection of Shipstaad to the
Democratic side meant tie.
Then and there bagan the court
ing of Henrik Shipstead of Min
nesota. Overnight he became the
most-sought-after Senator on
Capitol Hill. President Coolidge
invited him to breakfast at the
White House. There were other
Senators, all Republicans, at the
breakfast, and Shipstead was
"Henry" to them all. The only
person present, it is said, who did
not call him Henry" was the
President.
AS to his course in the new
| Congress, will Shipstead continue
Independent of both Of the old
parties? Will he land in the Re-
publican camp, or to an extent
affiliate himself with the Demo
Gratis? When he can do so ne may
be expected to stand with the .Ad-
ministration, but on farm relief,
foreign affairs, foreign debts, rail
roads, Federal Reserve legislation
and taxation, the odds are about
100 to l that he will be found
running counter to the policies of
the Administration.
Ali things being equal, Ship
stead is essential in the balance of
power, and the Republicans are
going to land him if they can, no
matter how much bait or how
long the time required. Like old
Knute Nelson the blood of this
man from Minnesota is Norwe-
gian, although he is a native son.
He was born in the little town of
Burband, Kandiyohi County, Min
nesota. He stands six feet and is
built like a football guard. He is
married and is the father of IT.
year-old son. By profession the
Senator is dentist and one of the
few, if not the only member, of
that profession ever elected to the
Senate.
Shipstead was a poor boy. His
father, a native Norwegian, was a
farmer and a pioneer in the quaint
ly named county in which the Sen
ator was born.
Because of his "key" position in
the Senate branch of the new Con-
gress, it is worth while to note
what Senator Shipstead has to say
on some of the questions that are
likely to figure as major issues in
the Presidential campaign of 1928.
Practically every State in the
Union," said Senator Shipstead of
farm relief, '.has enacted laws
creating bureaus or commissions
whose duty under the law-and
that law is usually made manda-
tory-is to fix the prices of the var
ious necessities of life which the
people must buy, as, for instance,
telephone and telegraph service,
gas and electric lights and street
railway service.
"All of those corporations en-
joy the blessings and projections
of a price-fixing law enacted by
the various States of the nation.
This necessarily places a tremen-
dous handicap or an overhead ex-
pense on the country that must be
paid, an overhead expense that
taxes the income of the country to
meet. Every industry that has en-
joyed this price-fixing policy by the
national and State Governments
has, therefore, had removed the
hazards of business. They en-
joy stated income because they
have determined prices fixed by
law or by some commission Great
ed by law under either the Fed
eral or a State Government.
Principal of Fair Returns
$50 it is easy to understand that
every other industry which does
not enjoy the price-fxing policy
based upon the principle OF fair
return is suffering under a tremen-
dous handicap. Such an industry,
not enjoying the protection of the
price fixing policy Of he Govern
ment that has been in operation
for the past thirty years, must not
only carry its own burden, but it
must carry its share of the over
head expense-it must carry the
other industries upon its own
back.
Substantially, every American
industry or commercial enterprise,
except agriculture, rests upon this
principle backed by legislative en-