The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-03-27
LEGISLATIVE LETTER
BY r. w. HITCHCOCK
Publisher of the Hibbng Daily Tribune and
member Of the legislature.

chairman and nothing more, for his
committee has had nothing to do. It
is different this year. Strange to say,
however, with plenty to do, the COM
mittees on reapportionment in senate
and house meet and meet and meet,
and do nothing.
Everybody is afraid of reapportion-
ment that is everybody except the
eighth congressional district in north
eastern Minnesota. It is afraid, too,
but not of reapportionment, but that
the state may not get reapportion-
ment. All schemes that have been
proposed thus far to reapportion Min
nesota's ten congressional districts into
nine, have left the eighth district prac-
tically intact. One scheme proposes to
add Pine county to it, another gives
it to Aitkin, and the latest offers it
Lake of the Woods county. Nobody
has proposed to take anything from
the eighth district So the eighth is
sitting pretty" except for the fear
that there will be no reapportionment
and that with the election of nine
congressman at large. northeastern
Minnesota may be euchered out of
congressman entirely.
A number of schemes to reduce the
state to nine districts have been pro-
posed Most of the districts except
the eighth, object to all these schemes.
The fifth, Hennepin, doesn't care
much, but it does NJ '~c,- with much
favor upon one proposal to make all
Hennepin, now constituting the fifth
district and a part c. the tenth, one
district. This proposal would give the
fifth district a pc.c,,,c,ttion out of all
balance with the ctlar districts of
the state and would give Hennepin
voter only half voice as compared
with other voters tli-G,Ighout the state.
Hennepin demands about one and
three-fourths districts, but none of
the surrounding counties want to be
tail to the Hennepin kite.
The third congressional district and
Congressman Andersen appear to be
in the most unenviable position. Most
of the schemes proposed eliminate the
third district. Probably by reason Of
the fact that it is the under dog, there
seems to be more sympathy for it than
for any other district. Besides it has
some powerful friends at court, such
aas Speaker SwenSon, Senator Nc
Kenzie, chairman of the republican
state central committee, and other
leaders in house and senate.
Alabama, like Minnesota, has ten
congressional districts which must re-
duceto nine Alabama like Mime
sofa, was deadloked over the problem
for long time, but one morning two
of the districts woke up to discover
that the other eight had combined
against them, remaped the state, and
had left the two unconsulted congress-
men to fight it out between themselves.
Perhaps the legislature of Minnesota
will solve the Minnesota problem be-
fore April %, but there is a general
fear on the Wabasha Hill that in
November 1882 Minnesota will elect
nine congressman at large.
Want to Conserve, but Can't.
The legislature is faced with another
problem which resembles reapportion-
ment in that everybody disagrees as
to how to get it. One faction wants
a seven man commission of conSer-
walton, another insists on a five man
commission, while third will have
nothing but a single commissioner.
On this rock the plan of 1929 for
comprehensive conservation system was
wrecked and we begin to fear that the
same old rock may bring disaster in
1881. Governor Olson, it is reported,
favorS a commission, but will sign
bill for a single commissioner. The
advocates of the commission of seven
are determined folk, however, and they
propose to fight it out on that line if
it takes decade of legislatures. They
don't care whether its Seven-man
commission or seven woman COM
mission, but nothing less than seven,
the perfect number will satisfy them.
Their enemies refer to them as the
"Oberholtzer crew. but they are not
to be sneezed at for they have the
backing of the Izaak Walton League,
and that is something to conjure with.
The single commissioner crowd are
full of fight; the Legion, they claim,
leans toward them; they're Growing
too, over the fact that they have
conservation bill providing for a single
commissioner out of the Public Do
main committee of the house by
unanimous vote.
This dispute recalls the fight in the
Legislature of 1921 which resulted in
making Charles NJ Babcock the Gear
Of the state trunk highway system.
The discussion went on for several
weeks in the hotels, the corridors and
the committee rooms and it ragged for
three days on the floor of the house
and senate before single commits
sioner was agreed on. Theodore
Christensen later to become governor,
was at that time a member of the
house, and strongly advocated COM
mission of three persons. Defeated
on the first day by fairly cloce vote,
he came back the second and third
days with modified commission
schemes which almost succeeded.
Parliamentary Law.
How does it happen that rules of
procedure for conventions and assemb-
lagos of the people are called "parli-
mentary law?" Congressman w. I.
Nolan, for many years a member of
the Minnesota Legislature three times
Speaker of the Minnesota house and
three times President of the Mime
sofa senate, in recent talks given in
both the senate and the house, ex-
planned how it came about. The rules
which govern the United States senate
and the United States house of repre-
sentatives are very different from each