The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-01-11

st. Paul, JAN 9L"There are three
good things about the legislature; first,
it meets only once in two years; sec
ond, it is compelled by law to ad-
journ in 80 days; third, if there is an
extra session, the members don't get
paid anything for it
This is the famous bon mot of w. l.
Nolan, three times speaker of the
house and now beginning his third
term as lieutenant governor and pre-
siding officer of the senate.
Open Season for Lsssmaking.
The forty-sixth sessida of the Min
nesota legislature began on Tuesday
of this week. The firs% legislature of
Minnesota was held in hotel on the
bank of the river but the forty-siXth
legislature meets in the marble pile
on Wabasha hill, the most beautiful
and most stately state capitol build
ing in the country.
Tremendous business of lawmaking
in these United States right now Con-
greSs is grinding away and the wheels
of the Legislature mill are turning in
most states. The fellow who says,
"We ought to have law" is going to
get his thousands and his ten thou
sands of them.
The Minnesota legislature with 1913
memberS-67 in the senate and 13L in
the house is one of the largest of the
state legislatures, but there are some
larger ones. New Hampshire, for in
stance, has a house of 425 members; it
tries to atone for this excess, however,
with senate or council of but Is
members.
The Legislatures Limitations
Lieutenant Governor Nolan has wit
tily set forth the essential limitations
of the legislature. In some of the
states the legislature meets every
year, but the people of Minnesota are
not compelled to bear this infection.
In Minnesota we give the people a
year in which to recuperate from one
orgy of lawmaking and to brace itself
against the next So the legislature
of Minnesota meets only in the odd
numbered years and this is the Legis-
lature of 1929
The Minnesota legislature is limit
ed to 90 legislative days A legislative
day is any day upon which the legis-
lature may legally sit. This excludes
Sundays and holidays so that the 80
Legislatures days are not exhausted un-
til nearly four calendar months have
expired. The present session will end
the latter part of April.
A member of the legislature is elect
ed for two year period but he does
all his damage and collects all his pay
during the first four months of that
YNQTind-I1nlncc of iy
extra session. Extra sessions are poor
political thunder for governor, SO he
does not call them if he can help it.
An extra session is not much sooner
begun than it is done for. Since the
members do not get paid anything for
1T, they drop it like a hot potato. The
last extra session of a Minnesota legis-
lature was in 1919 and it lasted four
days.
Cost of a Session.
The Minnesota legislature sits four
months at a cost of 100000 per month
100000. 1t could be done cheaper,
of course, but it won't be. Grumble
about it if you like, but it won't do you
a bit of good; you're lucky it doesn't
cost more.
There are 1913 members at $1,000
apiece-that's one half of the total
cost of the legislature If the member
leaves the missus and the Riddles at
home and is extremely economical he
can live in st. Paul on his wage-no-
body would call $500 4 year a salary
and pay himself a IL per cent divi-
dend on his election expenses. But he
will have to be as tight-fisted an old
hand at the grindstone as Scrooge him
self in order to do it.
The rest of the 100000 goes for
clerks and stenographers, sergeants-at
arms and doorkeeper,s printing. etc.
Now you can hire sergeant at-arms
for less than $40 per day and a steno-
grapher for less than Sc day IN the
open market. but please do remember
that your legislature has got to work
at high pressure to pass in 90 days
even a fifth Of the laws you propose
to them. and we've got to have good