The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-02-06
LEGISLATIVE LETTER
BY r. w. HITCHCOCK
Publisher of the Hibbing Daily Tribune and
member of the legislature.

Two things never fail In any legis-
lature Early in every session every
member is sure to declare that this is
the most important legislative session
in the history of the state He's right,
of course It's the session which con-
fronts us now, and that is the more
important to all of us right now than
any other.
Sooner or later also, some member
will rise to object that he has not
sufficient information to enable him to
vote intelligently upon a pending
question. Years ago Representative
Tom Girling would be lying in wait for
this very remark. Tom would rise and
impressively declare that he had
searched the constitutions of nation
and state as well as all the host of
laws made in conformity thereto, and
yet he had never been able to discover
any law which required a member Of
the legislature to vote intelligently.
We shall not declare that this is
the most important legislature, but it
is evident to all that "weighty matters
of grave import" are calling for solu-
ton at the hands of the forty-seventh
legislature of Minnesota. Problems OF
taxation, in these stressful times of
economic blues, are more acute than
for many years; the state is con-
fronted with the painful and difficult
necessity of operating to reduce its
representation in congress the clamor
for more and better highways rises
even above the roar of increasing
traffic representative government, the
rock upon which this country is
founded, is steadily giving ground tc
a pure democracy the vital principle
of local government is more and more
encroached upon by BrookS-Coleman
and percapita tax laws, and by uplift
laws for education AMI human welfare.
Over all issues hangs the black cloud
of unemployment. From 6 half dozen
different angles the forty seventh legis-
lature of Minnesota must deal with
matters which may make or break
prosperity, which may even help to
make or break this whole human
The Highway Patrol.
Before it this week the legislature
has in shape of committee bills in each
house the proposal to increase the new
highway patrol from 35 members to
100. Sentiment is running strong for
It,
A lot of us who voted against the
organization of the highway patrol
with 35 patrolmen on the highways
are going to vote enthusiastically for
100 patrolmen this year. Earle Brown,
he of the Elk River bank robbery in
cident; Earle Brown whom pretty
much everybody has heard of and
whom everybody would do well to
know; Earle Brown is the man who
has faced us to the right about.
Mr.. Brown is head of the highway
patrol. And how! Want to be a
highway patrolman with a shiny big
motorcycle and spiffy slick uniform?
Don't hurry Investigate first, then
think it over, think hard. If you de-
liver yourself into the hand of Earle
Brown, things are going to happen to
you. We can only hint at what
things, but they are something like
this. Mr.. Brown has farm and on
tht farm he has a big barn. When
Highway Commissioner Charles NJ
Babcock called upon Earle Brown to
head the highway patrol, MIR. Brown
picked out forty of the most physically
q L. Il f;x.l ,ol
them out to that barn, locked them in
for 80 days, and put them through a
course of sprouts the like of which