The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1933-02-02
LEGISLATIVE LETTER
By r. W. Hitchcock


founder on, it may sink if it must
but every stick of useless timber
shall remain in the hold.
Legislatures of the past have been
amused at the stories coming down
from northern Minnesota of the
damage done to settlers by deer and
wolves. Bills to pay for such dam
ages have been numerous in past
sessions but none of them have ever
been allowed. When a northern
Minneota settler wanted the state
to pay him 500 for damage done by
deer to his automobile and recited
to the claims committee how q
band of nine deer had suddenly
burst out on the highway as he
was driving along how he success
fully lodged eight of them but had
unfortunately hit the ninth there
by damaging his car $50 worth it
was to laugh. But this year bills
began to come in from southern
Minnesota for damages done by
| pheasants to growing crops and
when the appropriations committee
of the house announced that no
such claims would be allowed some
southern Minnesota members were
inclined to be quite peeved about
it.
All distinctions between liberals
and conservatives" went into the
discard when the house debated a
bill to repeal all Minnesota liquor
enforcement laws. Politics makes
strange bedfellows and creates
queer divisions. Representatives S.
A. Stockwell and Otto Nellemore
are both militant Liberals" and
come from the same Minneapolis
legislative district but Stockwell
argued eloquently for the drys
while Nellermoe wittily quoted
Scripture in the wet behalf, de-
clared that all productive nations
were tipplers and pointed to the
Japs, the Chinese and the Turks as
horrible dry examples. Whereupon
dry was unkind enough to remem-
Der that "even the devil can cite
Scripture for his purpose"
Liberals fought liberals and con-
servatives stood foot to foot and
gave blow for blow over a bill to
restore party designation for men,
bers Of the state in the Union which
elects members of the legislature
on non-party basis. When in 1913
it was proposed to elect county Of
ficers without party designation"
opponents of the bill tainted pro-
ponents, "Why don't you apply your
pet scheme to yourself?" The pro-
ponents of the bill took up the
members of the legislature, and
since that time the legislature of
Minnesota has not been divided
along party lines. Militant Repub-
licans militant Farmer-Laborites
have contended that the result is
bad, but the members for the most
part, despite a heavy and contin-
ued editorial barrage and the plead
ings of party leaders, cling to their
independence" and the other
states of the union will continue
to be out of step with Minnesota in
this respect for another two years
at least.
Senator A. J. Rockne has been
chairman Of the senate finance
committe for twenty years maybe
more. He is a resourceful states
man. Among noteworthy bills that
he has offered this year is one to
provide that purely agricultural
lands included in an independent
school district shall be taxed for
school purposes no more than the
average school rate of the county.
There is justice and real relief for
the farmer in this.
Albert Pfaender, new chairman of
the appropriations committee, is
smooth spoken but he has a hard
CLINT in his eye. He might as well
have mo" in letters of Neon light
over the door of the appropriations
room. Mr.. Pfaender is a lawyer in
New Ulm, Brown county, and was
a member of the house twenty years
ago,