Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1941-05-01
The Legislature
AS | See 1t
BY Rep. Chas. L. Halsted.

0sA oAASS co ~ Aidy SCCIll, i dill VIII
ing this regular weekly report to you
on Saturday morning, April &c, &C
cording to your calendar, but down
here it is still Wednesday, April %!
can safely say that spring is here
the days are certainly getting
longer!
I wish it were possible to give you
in this column the final outcome of
this Sind session but in order to get
this material typed and ready for
mailing with the help of the House
stenographers, 1 cannot wait until
it is all over. You will read in your
daily press and through the news
columns of this paper, however, the
main points of the outcome. Since
l last reported there has been a great
amount of sound and fury, with very
few results. There has been COM
plete deadlock and lack of action on
the major tax bills affecting iron ore.
This reminds us of the session of
1887, but then it was to be expected,
with the majority of the House and
the Governor of one political COM
plexion and the dominant forces of
the Senate with different economic
and political views. Now, however,
we would expect that the work of
the session could have been taken
care of as we went along so as to
avoid this final jam.
Unemployment Compensation.
Last Monday afternoon, April 81,
saw heated battle on the floor of
the House on bill before us to
drastically change the present I'M
employment compensation law. Rep.
Lindstrom, Liberal of Minneapolis,
challenged the House Civil Admin
stration committee which had acted
on this bill to name one single con-
sideration that was given to the
rights of labor in this SeSsion.-HiS
challenge was unanswered! Rep
French, Conservative of Minneapolis,
declared that labor spokesman had
been consulted, stating that Starkey
Crank Starkey, Research Director
of the State Federation of Labor
former director of the Unemployment
Compensation Division) twas there
several times. Reps. Lindstrom of
Minneapolis, and Prifrel of st. Paul,
both jumped to their feet and shouted
that he chad been there only once!
know they were right because no
one dared contradict them, and Mr..
Starkey himself told me he had
been notified of only one meeting,
when he was asked to discuss three
bills affecting labor for total period
of 20 minutes! Rep. Prifrel, labor
spokesman on this and other bills,
named Mr.. Hoffman of the Mime
apolis Chamber of Commerce as the
real author of the bill, remark
that was not contradicted. His fight
to amend the bill so it would some
what meet the approval of Federal
and State unemployment compensa-
ton experts was defeated by a vote
of SO to So!
Cigarette Tax Defeated.
Every single bonafide liberal in
the House voted against passage of
the Governors sales tax on cigar
cites and cigars, with one exception
Rep. Swindells of Hubbard county,
only minister in the House, voted for
it. He is definitely opposed to sales
tax, but held that it was justified
when applied to this one product,
which he feels does no one any par
ticular good. This bill and three
others had been put on special orders
the day before in spite of objections
from our group that none of the
proposals were beneficial to the COM
mon man.. Under a special rule
from the Rules committee requiring
only sc votes instead of SO, they were
put on special orders in such hurry
that itS chairman Ron DI,pp of Offor