The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-01-09
Minnesota NeWs and
Comment
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BY r. w. HITCHCOCK

repeated paddlings which the Mime
sofa supreme court has given him, some
weeks ago delivered himself of the die
trm that throughout American his
tory" the danger to the Constitution
has come from the judiciary, which, the
Governor further affirms, has con-
stantly ursurped its authority
Historians do not agree with the
governor. They say that the history of
the world has not recorded many in
stances of judicial ursurpation and that
judicial urSurpation, when it has come,
has invariably come from judiciary
subservient to the executive. 1t is not
the Judiciary which seizes power and
plays the tyrant. MuSSolini, Hitler and
Stain did not throw off the ermine and
step down from the bench to become
dictators. 1t is not against the judic-
larry that eternal vigilance is the price
of liberty" but against the constant
aggresSionS of the executive.
There were tyrants before there were
Judges or lawmakers. ParliamensS and
courts were set up to keep within due
bounds that vaulting ambition to rule
which surges more or less, mostly more,
in every executive breast. The Brain
Trust today yields as grudgingly to
Magma Charta as did King John CEN
turies ago. The struggle of all time has
been between the executor of laws and
the maker of laws. Always the ad-
ministrator wants to be the lawgiver.
You ought to hear the pet names
which his Excellency calls the Mime
sofa legislature in private conversation
Faced with the necessity of I'M
snarling the knotty relief problem, Min
nesota senators and representatives in
special session assembled have shown
some irritation over the relief COM
mitmentS of the Executive Council
They should not fuss too much. The
executive Council is their own chicken
come home to roost. The Executive
Council was created by the Legislature
in 1919 as calamity board;;" through
legislative malfeaSance and nonfeaS-
anceance it is fast becoming major
calamity in Minnesota. The encroach-
ment of the executive upon the domain
of the legislature must constantly be
resisted, but more insidious is the un.
guarded surrender of the right to legis.
late. No green bay tree has such a RAM
growth as a delegation of Legislative
power.
The Executive Council, as Minnesota
knows it today, had its beginning il
the Hinckley holocaust of 1908, thu
Chisholm fire of 1908 and the destruc
zion of Cloquet and the awful loss O
life from forest fire at Moose Lake il
1918. Northern Minnesota clamored TO
protection from annually recurring
forest fires; instead of appropriatinI
funds to provide this protection, tn
legislature, in 1919, created a ''calamit
board" with power to issue certificate
of Indebtedness up to 100000 in an
\ one year to ward off or relieve tn
distress arising from any great natura
calamity, such as fire, flood or cyclone
1t was an evil surrender of legislativ
power as the event has proved.
This delegation of power was sparing
ly used for many years. But in 1913
came new administration which kne1
not Joseph and every mischance be
came an excuse to raid the state treas
ury and scatter largess among tn
people. Potato dry rot, rust in tn
wheat, every local hail storm, even
waShed-out bridge became a calamity
The single half-million delegation G
power made by the legislature became
\ by the Interpretation of the attorne
general, an infinite number of half
millions, one for each and every un
toward event which the calamity bear
in its free and unlimited judgmen
might determine to be Calamity"
The next stage in this degeneration G
government was the surrender by tn
legislature in 1888 and 1885 of still ad
ditional legislative powers and duties
The Executive Council was authorize
to do this and that and a good man
other things and it's law-making power
were considerably enlarged. Those VIII
had designs upon the eXchequer of tn
state, for purposes laudable ard other
wise, and had found the going toug
before the finance committee of Tia
Senate and the appropriations com
mittee of the House, suddenly diScovere
that the members of the Executiy
Council, elected for far other purpose.
were more vulnerable. The raider
thereupon quit the legislature and DIES
cended upon the Executive Council, an
the legislature, in one instance, actual
aided, abetted and encouraged this de
vious and descriptive procedure, by re
fusing to pass upon an appropriate
and referring the petitioners to tn
Executive Council. Chapter 233, Law
1885.
Unless the legislature withdraws tn
legislative powers it has surrendered t
the Calamity Board, now become tn
Executive Council, and quits burdenin
it with still further legislative dutie,
many fear it will in time become, alsc
Minnesota Frankenstein.
There is another consideration in
VOWED III the freak Executive Counc.
set-up in Minnesota. The members @
the executive Council are the Governor
the Attorney General, the Secretary Q
State, the State Auditor and the Stat
Treasurer. They were not chosen t
make laws for Minnesota, but to per
form certain important executive dutie.
The law-making powers and dutie
which have been thrust upon Their
seriously interfere with the duties 70
which they were elected Some nee
of justice is due them, also; they wer
not elected to be embarrassed by con
stiuents seeking a hand-out.
As the special session of the Mime
sofa legislature recessed for the holi
hn