Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-09-02
State Capitol News
BY A. /. HARRIS

Reactionaries who control the Min
nesota Senate and who defeated a
large share of Governor Benson's lib
eral program are finding their chick
ems coming home to roost.
Governor Benson asked the legis-
lature to enact bill setting up
housing authority, so that the state
would benefit from federal low-cost
housing funds. The liberal house
complied with the Governors request
and passed bills creating housing
authority in both the regular and the
special session.
The reactionary-controlled senate,
however, refused. The housing bill
in the regular session was referred
by the senate to the committee on pub
lie welfare, where it was permitted
to die a natural death. The senators
plainly were not interested in the
housing conditions of the poor.
In the special sssion they had the
opportunity to redeem themselves.
Again, a housing bill was presented
and the governor in his special mes
sage pleaded for the enactment of this
legislation. But these reactionaries
said: Social legislation shall not pass
and social legislation did not pass.
And now comes word from How
ard A. Gray, director of the Public
Works Administration housing pro-
gram in Washington, that Mime
sofa is one of the l8 backward states
of the nation which will not share
in the new federal 526 million dollar
low cost housing program. This
means that the senate reactlOnarleS
have cost the people of this state
80 million dollars, and the poor In
our large cities will continue to live
in novels unfit for human habitation.
The senate reactionaries, without
the benefit of a survey, Intelligent or
otherwise, arbitrarily cut down the
administrations S17,OOO,000 relief bill
to Sl1,2OO,0O0. They did this, not
to save taxes for the home owners
and farmers, but to save taxes for
the Steel Trust.
home to rooSt!
Welfare authorities in Minneapo-
lis and ST. Paul and in other sections
of the state are already faced with a
very embarrassing situation, due to
insufficient relief funds. They have
attempted to meet the situation by
drastically cutting down relief allow
ances and further pauperizing those
out of work, but this has proven in
adequate. They now have to go to
the citizens for more funds, and adj
ditional burdens will now be added
to those who pay local real estete
taxes.
A boon to farmers with piled up
feed and seed loans was the de-
cision of the Farm Credit Admin
istration to release enough of the
crop to establish at least minimum
living conditions for the winter. 1t
had been announced previously that
collections would be made to the let
ter of the law, policy which farm
ers maintained would serve only to
decision to exempt crops on an in
dividual basis came after a flood
of letters and resolutions reached the
FCA office from individual farm
ers and farm organizations.
Farmers of Minnesota should watch
with great deal of interest the in
vestigation of farm wood patches re-
Gently authorized by Congress, accord
ing to DR.. Raphael Zon, director of
the Lake States Forest Experiment
Station in st. Paul. He sees good
possibilities of increasing farm rev.
enue from the sale of wood lot pro-
ducts. The wood lot may develop
into a permanent producer of cash
crops, he says. The study aims to
determine, among other things, the
practicability of cooperative market
ing of wood patch products.
Tribute to the memory of the late
Governor Floyd B. Olson was paid
by the people of Minnesota and the
President of the United States at me-
mortal services in Minneapolis on
the first anniversary of his death,
August %.
A telegram from President Roose-
welt, read by Governor Benson at
services on the University campus,
said: 81 would consider it real
privilege to take part in the memorial
service to be held on the anniversary
of the death of Floyd B. Olson. I'm