The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-01-06
!{d1!933!(1
l1$|||!E|'|g
Edited This Week BY
VICTOR A, JOHNSTON

sion OF the legislature came up again
this week when Governor Benson
stated, "It looks like it might be neces-
sary" to have a special legislative
session for appropriation of additional
relief money. This session, if it comes,
will probably be shortly after the first
of February when the governor returns
from a thirty day vacation trip in
California.
Just how another special session of
the legislature will be received in the
rural sections remains to be seen, but
many observers feel that people in
these districts are strongly opposed to
the additional expense of a special
session, not only because of the actual
cost of the session itself, but because it
is unheard of for a legislature to meet
without appropriating more tax money
for one thing or another. In the
present case, of course, the demands"
which the governor says are being made
on him for the special session are al
most entirely prompted by relief and
relief is far from being popular sub
JSCG III rural COlIluluIllUlSS.
Relief Figures
The states direct relief problem is
becoming almost entirely concentrated
in the three large counties: Ramsey
Hennepin, and st. Louis. According to
the figures of the State Relief Admin
istration, these three counties had 81 ,433
of the total 28398 direct relief cases,
and these counties received 1858 ,637 as
compared to Sal ,491 for the rest of the
state, about three fourthS of the total.
It should also be remembered that such
cities as st. Cloud, Rochester, Winona,
Fergus Falls and Mankato get the bulk
of the remaining Sal ,491. Thus it ap-
pears that the rural sections get very
little of the direct relief money and
it is doubtful if they will look with
favor to increasing the tax load in
order to take care of relief problems in
the cities.
The need for careful consideration of
the states financial situation is
brought clearly to the front on the
finance and tax survey OF Harry Filter
man. Farmer-Labor leaders claim this
report is favorable to them, but this
question is much debated by their
critics. One paragraph of the con-
illusions in the report, however, points
warning to the people of Minnesota
when it says:
''The people of Minnesota should re-
alize that the economic development
of the state has now reached a point
of stagnation and that no further ex-
pansion of growth is possible unless
every effort is made to (a) reduce
freight rates; Cd, stabilize taxes, and
Co minimize labor difficulties. Re
sponsible leadership in government, in
duStry and labor can achieve a great
deal by agreeing to program to CO.
operate in all three directions"
A. F. of L. Organ Scores
Administration.
Indications that labor is far from
agreeing with itself was seen in last
weeks issue of the Minnesota Union
Advocate, official organ of the st. Paul
Trades and Labor Assembly. 1t was
charged that Joe Van Nordstrand, re-
Gently elected head of the Minnesota
izer whose name at one time was "Joe
Morland." The charge maintained that
ivan NordStrand" or "Joe Morland" was
a district organizer of the communist
party in Duluth and the Range country
for number of years and that he was
"notoriously" known as communist.
The Advocate article also scored
Farmer Labor administration leaders
who have been riding the fence on the
A. F. Lie. I. o. controversy and in
some cases have been openly friendly to
the G. I. o. This friendliness to the
G. I. o. has been plainly shown by
Governor Benson who appeared on the
same platform with Harry Bridges, c..
o. I. organizer, on the West Coast re-
Gently and was intensified when Cover
nor Benson delivered the principal adj
dress at the state convention of C. L.
o. in Minneapolis this fall.
A threat that the Governor must
soon show which horse he is riding is
seen in the following quotation from the
Advocate article:
ut is known that the Minnesota State
Federation of Labor which endorsed
the entire state and congressional tic
kets of the Farmer Labor party in 1886
is not disposed to remain sympathetic
toward a political party which for
political expediency prefers to remain
| neutral in the A. F. Lie. I. o. contro-