Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-02-09
FACTS ARE DIFFICULT
TO DISPUTE

fight on the election contest be-
tween LaBissoniere and Hilton of
ST. Paul The reactionaries. head
ed by w. |. Norton, veteran legis-
latOr of Minneapolis, staged a reg
ular field day in behalf of Hilton,
but lost with only SO out of 131
votes.
After the election of Nov. Sth
when LaBiSsoniere won with 33
votes a contest was started in
court after some delay and the
ballot boxes and ballots had been
tempered with. Court actions
were delayed and finally the con-
test landed in the Legislature.
that body having power over the
seating of its own members.
The sanctity of the ballot, the
rights of citizenship, travesty on
ing phrases were used by some of
the reactiOnary speakers in an
attempt to sway votes to Hilton,
but of no avail Ballots having
been tempered with in moving
from the old Ramsey county court
house to the new one, the big
majority of House members just
left it to the attorneys to have
their say and they said plenty.
After the House voted strong
majority to seat LaBissionere in
accordance with the original vote
of Nov. Sth, Mr.. Norton called it
day and said no more. He is
wise enough to know when he is
licked. But Mr.. Hitchcock who
likes to pose as guardian angel
squawk in the press. The Hib-
bling reactionary editor, however,
encounters a definite fact finding
reply from his fellow member of
the Goth Legislative district, Rep.
Chas. T. Wangensteen, the fight
ing progressive Norwegian of
Chisholm, who led the forces in
the seating of LaBissoniere.
The statement issued by Rep.
Wangensteen follows:
1.-The people be damned" and 'out
on his ear" is what Representative
r. w. Hitchcock of Hibbing. claims
the Legislature said to Ramsey county
concerning the contest of Roy Hilton
who contested the position CT DR.
Horace G. LaBissoniere who was elect
ed and declared elected by the judges
and clerks of election on Nov. 8, 1882
Mr.. Hitchcock's statements are high
sounding and may satisfy the political
spleen of those opposed to the liberal
group controlling the House of Rep
resentatives. However, it does not
conform to the facts.
He fails to state that in the cleo
tion and by the canvass. DR.. Labs
33 votes, and that the inspectors
count, subsequently made, whereby
Hilton was declared elected, was not
to be depended upon for the, reason
that it did not appear the ballots
were in the same condition when the
count was originally made. In order
to make this plain, it is only neces-
sary to quote from the report of the
inspectors for the 3Sth precinct of
Ramsey county. 1t shows as follows:
Hilton gained 80 votes. Labs
soniere gained As votes
Unless a ballot box had been tam
pered with, how could both parties
gain votes in this way?
Further quoting from the report of
the inspectors, we find:
mo blue ballots were found in the
blue ballot box. One string of los
blue ballots were found in the laven-
der ballot box. No seals were pasted
across the top of box. They were
placed on the side of said box Two
strings of blue ballots were found in
the white ballot box. One string of
ballots held 207 ballots. The other
string held 224 ballots. One seal on
the cover of white box was found
split The other seal was not pasted
ditor stated that moving of boxes
from old court house to new quarters
is the possible explanation of any
split seals found on ballot boxes"
When the election was held, the
blue ballots were placed in the blue
box and the lavender ballots in the
lavender box, and the boxes were
sealed, but when the recount was had
no blue ballots were found in the blue
box, but were in the lavender box
How in the name of common sense
could this happen unless the ballot
boxes had been opened?
Again, in the 41st precinct, the in
spectors reported as follows: Seals
were broken on the white box"
Again, one of the inspectors in his
summary states: Figures in some
precincts by the judges of election
differ greatly from the recount of the
ballots by inspectors, and in one pre-
cinct to the amount of 1O6. In the
47th precinct. we find the grand total
of 572 ballots differing from the
judges tally"
1t is, therefore, only fair to state
that the people should be Informed
of the facts in order that they might
know that it was the Hibbing news.
paper editor and not the Legislature
who said, perhaps for political pur-