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The Minnesota Legislature

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The Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature C. J. BUELL Author of "The Minnesota Legislature of 1913" "The Miinnesota Legislature of 1915" "The Minnesota Legislature of 1917" "The Minnesota Le,gis.lature of 1919" "The Currency Question" ('Monopolies and Trusts" . READ THE CHAPTER ON TAXATION ON PAGE 51 This Book is not Copyrighted Quote as Much as you Please But Give Credit. 15 This document is made available electronically by the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library as part of an ongoing digital archiving project. http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/lrl.asp W. I. 1;6)1,AN, Speaker of House. LOUIS I,. COLLINS, Lieutenant Governor. The City-Home Rule--Lo c.:LI Self Govc.rr~nie~~t............. 36 The Sullivan Street Rail \V.LJ . Bill ........................... 3 (i Mr . Lowry's Appeal fo~tllc Brooks Colc~~~;irlf.(ill ............ 38 The Daily News Eclitorial ................................. .39.40 Propagandma for Street 1I;iilw;~y Bill ........................ 43 Norton to the Rescue ....................................... 45-46 No Public Service Corpo1.atio.n~............................. 48 Municipal Lighting Growing Steadily ....................... 49 Advantages of Pub.licly Owned Street Siail\v.~>.s............. 50 CHAPTI4;R VI Taxation ................................................... 51 The Ability Theory ........................................ 51 The Measure of the Benefits of Government ................ 52 The First V.ictory Over the Tron 1, and O~\.ilers............. .5 3-56 The Fight for a "Tonnage Tax" ............................ 56 The Johnson Veto .......................................... 56 The Net Value Idea ........................................ 57 The Burnquist Veto ........................................ 58 Six Iron Ore Tax Bills.'. .................................... 59 The House Tax Committee ................................ .G 0-63 The Senate Tax Con~mittee ................................ 63 Carley's Great Speech ....................................... 64 Clamping the L.id on the Range Towhs ..................... .66-69 Warner's Constitutional Amendment ........................ 70 The Word "Occupational" and Its Effect .................... .il-73 T.he Royalty T3ax-Effects of Its Defeat .................... .73-76 Income Tax Amendment ................................... 77 CHi\I.Tl~~I:l'lj Election Laws ............................................. 79 The Benson Bill, S. F. 7 ..................................... 79 The Convention B.ill ....................................... 81 The Gjerset Party Bill ...................................... 85 i?HAl.'T L.: I2 T'IIt Prohibition Enforcement ................................... S7 Delly's 4 Per Cent Beer Amenc!rnent ........................ 88 The Real Remedy, Education . KnIightenmei~t ................ 89 CHAPTER IS Road Legislation ........................................... 91 The Haugl.and Jacobson X mendincnt ....................... 91 The Christi.anson Amc~~tl~nent.............................. 92 McGarry's Attempt to Amentl ................................ 92 (. .IL4 l-'Tli:lL S Guaranty of Bank Dcl)osits ................................. 94 The Voluntary Sj.s.tem ..................................... 95 The Compulsory Systetn .................................... 96 ('l-i.AL3TI~I~11 Some Suggestive Sitlcligl11s ................................ 97 Oil and the Civil Service .................................... 97 .Legislators. and Tlici I I'ii). .................................. 98 The Ximocks Free 1':~s~Hill ................................ 9S The Nimocks Pay T~~c.~.t.icsc13i1I .............................. 99 T.he Prize Fight Hill ....................................... 100 Hibbing, Chisholm . i .\I I .. 1<I~f't'1,1.111 ....................... 302 "Gro\ving. the Hootl111l1)"I:\II'II:~I>I~ .......... .......... .(I?1 h'imocks ~~11tlH.is Hcl~t ................................... -4mending the Eight 110111. 1,.i\2 ............................ 107 Roclenbe~~g'sSllcl.ilTs' I'.IJ. [{ill .............................. 107 FOREWORD- -1 few l)coplc have cl-iticizcltl tlic a tit lior for c\sl)l.cssillg his l~el-sonalviews 011 nia ttel*s of lcgisla tion, insisti~igtlla t the booli should be a colorless statciilelit of f;tcts o~tly. 011 the other hand perhaps Inore l,eople llavc? conlplailled that the author has too carefully 1-efisainecl froin expressing his personal opinion of men and nieasures. To both of these classes of critics the autlioi. has re- plied: "It is the intent of the author to give a fair ant1 ini- partia.1 analysis of impo;-tnnt bills, stating the a.rguments both for and against, so far as may be, in tlie 1aiigua.ge of those who favor or oppose. At the same time he inust re- serve to himself the right to express his opinion as regards the wisdom of measures proposed or enacted. The author is not willing to present a colorless array of facts, neither is it his intention to judge the motives of men; but he does intend to discuss the MERITS OF MEASURES and explain what seems to be the logical re- sults of the acts of members. THE AUTHOR'S POINT OF VIEW. ,411d the author desires to declare frankly that he ap- proaches this work from a definite point of view. That point of view was very clearly set forth at the beginning of Chapter I of "the Minnesota Legislature of 1919" i11 the following words: "This book is an earnest attempt to discuss public questions from the point of view of Dcnstocracy and Rmer- ictznism. Democracy and Americanisiu must follow the Declara- tion of Independence and the Bill of Rights. If they do not mean that a.11 inex, aiid women, too, are born fret+, and equd as to pcjlitical rights and inciusti~ialop- portunities, then they do not mean anything. If Democracy and Ai:~ericanisin do not meail the op- posite of Autocracy. privilege and favoritism, tyranny, militarism and repression, then they have no meaning. Deiuocracy and Aniei.icn!lisnl innst ineaii free thouglit, free speech, fi-eedonl to asscin1)le and discuss any ;~nda11 questio!is. Otherwise I li~y:II*P ilit1'~i)illgl(\ss i (li*lllS ;I 11(1 oiily a n1ockery on the lip:; of tllostl wllo p1.ollo11iicc\ tli~lil. Any pi'oposecl legislation tllat callnot square itself with these principles shoultl i)e ~*t>jectecl,uiilcss it cxil be sliown that it is a step jii tlie tlirectioli of greatel* cleliiocracy, tlioi~~l~not r~achilis t,hc co~illllcltcitleal. Thc Acid Test. The acid test of a11 proposed legislation should be: Does it lead away from injustice and toward greater justice? ' 1 **j 1)oes it rc~llovt:resiriclio~l ;illti lc<itl Lo\\ (1 I~ljciij ? Does it tend to establish a higher degree of political rights and industrial opportunities? Does it increase opportunities for open and honest ex- prcssion on all questions, or does it close the door and limit freedom of thought and speech? Does it tend to preserve and extend the principle of home rule and local self-government, or does it destroy that principle? Does it more equally distribute the comnlon burdens in proportion to benefits received, or does it place burdens upon those who can and will shift the'm onto other and weaker shoulders-onto shoulders already bowed with too great a load? Does it tend to remove the cause of dissatisfaction and unrest, or does it propose to crush and suppress the symp- toms that arise from injustice?" Preveintion Better Than Punishment. You can't make men good by hanging them. You can't stop crime by locking criminals up. Stistory is full of the failure of mere punishment to prevent crime. Picking pockets was once punishable by death; and the historians tell us how the thugs plied their trade in the very crowds that were witnessing the hanging of pick pockets. On the other hand when Edward 111 wished to get rid of highway robbers, he had the underbrush cleared away for 100 feet on each side of the road. Brilliantly lighted city streets are far more effective than hordes of policemen. The Iowa law which makes it practically impossible for the automobile thief to sell the machine, goes farther to prevent that sort of thieving than all the penal statutes that could be ,passed, and if all the states were to adopt that law, there would be very little inducement to steal automobiles; for they couldn't be sold. \Are you curious to know what the Iowa law is? It is very simple. based on the principle of the traveler's check. Every automobile is required to carry a small card, 'properlTr protected, cont&ining the number of the license, the engine number, make, model, year, factory number, style, times registered, fee paid, new or second hand, date of registration, license number, name of owner and P. 0. address, counter- signed by Secretary of State and County Officer. The above should give to all readers a fairly clear idea as to the AUTHOR'S POINT OF VIEW. Let us then proceed to a consideration of what was ~1.oposedand what was done in the legislative session of 1921. The Minnesota Legislature of A GENERAL SURVEY. The legislature of 1921 was a great disappointlllc~lt and a great satisfaction,-a disappointment to both ex- tremes,--the extreme radical and the extreme reactionary, -and a satisfaction to reasonable people who do not ex- pect to reform all evils at one session, but are thankful for even small progress; for on the stepping stones of today's progress we can rise to greater things tomorrow. Many progressives are frankly disappointed at the small progress toward reforming our infernally bad sys- tem of taxation, while a bunch of reactionaries are declar- ing that the legislature ripped out the very
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