Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, July 20, 1910, Page 1

e — " VOLUME 8. NUMBER 7. MR. STEENERSON'S RECORD A Brief Summary of Some of the Work of Our Representative in Congress. From the Frazee Free Press— Halvor Steenerson missed being a native of Minnesota by about a year. But at that he has been in the state much longer than most of us, being at the present time fifty-eight years old. His father came from Wiscon- sin and settled in Houston county nine years before the civil war, and our present Congressman’s earliest education consisted in learning to milk the cows, remove weeds from the garden and piloting a yoke of oxen back and forth across the farm. After having done these tasks «a sufficient number of times he con- cluded that the study of law would interest him and in 1878 he gradu- ated from the Union College of Law, in Chicago. Two years later he located in Crookston, and from that time until he was elected to Congress he was the most conspicuous figure around the court rooms of every county in the valley. Because of bis fondness for taking up the fights of those who had but little money to reward him with, he be- came known as “‘the poor man’s lawyer” and when the lumberjack, railroad employee or farmer of small means got into trouble their tracks usually led straight to Steenerson’s office, and he has the record of never turning down any one for lack of money to pay a fee, if the case had any merit. His reputation along this line became so great that some of the big companies offered settlement as soon as Steensrson had the case. He could have made a fortune as a corporation attorney, but he isa fighting - man prospect of becoming the hired man of some corporation and earning big money never appealed to him. The many people he had thus helped during his years of law prac- tice were the ones who secured him his first election to Congress. His fame as a lawyer and a champion of the people was first established in his conduct of the celebrated grain rate case, begun in 1893, and finally dis- posed of seven years later by the Supreme Court. It was the original instance where the rate-making power of a state over the railroads was judicially determined, and has been cited and used as a leading case and a guide in such matters, both in the federal courts and in Congress, as well a;in various states of the Union. But he bhas now been in Congress for eight years, and his record as a Congress man is becom- ing as well established, throughout the district as was his former record as an attorney, although the great mass of his constituents has not the facilities to keep a correct tab on those things. This has given some people—and it is a noticeable fact that most of them are new arrivals in the district—an opportunity to misrepresent him, and to make the voters believe things about him that are not so. The Free Press has taken the trouble to look up the main points in his Congressional rec- ord, and we will try to give them to the best of our ability. His most important committee ap- pointment during his first three terms was on the postoffice com- mittee. In this place he was the main fighter for the reduction of railway mail transportation rates and during the seven years of his service there the cost was decreased from 30 to 22)% per cent of the whole expense of the mail service, which difference makes a saving of $10,000,000 per year to the govern- ment. He spent much work in getting the free rural mail delivery system perfected, and it was through his move that the pay of rural mail carriers was raised from $600 to $1,000 per year. Now, you under- stand, Mr. Steenerson did not do these things all himself, but he took the lead in getting them done— —which is the most anyone can do. He took the lead in fighting the several railroad subsides until they finally disappeared from the annual appropriation. This commit- and any {ment of government tee appointment was taken from him the beginning of the last session, by the speaker, because he refused to be dictated to by the Cannon organ- ization and was a strong advocate of so reforming the rules of the house asto reduce the power of the speaker —which has been recently accom- plished. His work in other directions has also been counspicuous. As chair- man of the militia committee he se- cured the passage through the House of an act to increase the efficiency of this branch of the national de- fence, which act has met universal approval and was especially com- mended in'the last Republican plat- form as one of the most important acts of Congress. He was one of the first members of Congress if not the very first, to advocate the creation of a tariff com- mission, with authority to keep the tariff so revised that the import duties should cover the difference in cost of production here and in for. e'gn countries, a tariff that would protect the American manufacturer, but not give him a chance to charge the American consumer an unjust margin of profit. He has always looked after the needs of the people of the district very thoroughly. Not many people, probably, have occasion to call for help in getting something settled in the government department at Washington, but those who do, appreciate such help as Mr. Stever- son has always been ready to give them. The old soldiers have found him a good friend and the sottlers on the governmont lande have always found lum to lend a helping hand. He has secured a drainage survey of fhe northern part of the district, and took a leading part in securing the pass- age of the present federal drainage law, which allows of the assess- lands for drainage, and by the help of which several hundred miles of ditches are being built in eastern Marshall county, and right here we wish to mention the fact that Prof. W. R. Hoag, engineer in charge of the big drainage work in eastern Mar- shall country has stated at differ- ent times, that without the prelim- inary survey which Mr. Stevenson secured.,this draiange work could never have been undertaken or successfully carried out. He has secured a survey of the headwaters of all the rivers emptying into the Red, with the object in view of securing, if possible, reservoirs to hold back the floodwaters in these rivers, and in the Red river, which are being caused by the construct- ion of so many new drainage ditches, During the last days of the last Congress Mr. Steenerson took the lead in opposition to the so-called ship-subsidy bill, which contemplates the appropriation from the postal receipts of between three and four million dollars per year for the es- tablishment of subsidized lines from the Pacific coast to the Orient and Australia, and from the Atlantic coast to South America, and it was defeated by a narrow margin, He thereby incurred the eamity of the Merchants Marine League, com- posed largely of iron and steel manufacturers, includiog two direct- ors of the U. S. steel trust and sev- eral ship builders, who apparently were directly interested in obtaining the subsidy, When the present ses- sion commenced the ship subsidy fight was renewed, and when these interests failed to pursuade Mr. Steenerson to abandon the fight, they sought to intimidate him and other members who opposed their bill. Mr. Steenerson demanded, and after a hard fight secured an investigation which is now univer- sally conceded can have no other result than the killing of the subsidy proposition ‘‘deader than a door nail.” The importance of this can hardly be realized by the public gen- WEATHER TODAY, Temperature Tuesday Wednesday A. M. 7 72 8 73 9 78 10 79 11 81 12 83 P. M. 1 80 2 77 3 83 81 4 84 5 79 6 79 7 81 8 79 9 71 10 68 Barometer—Fair. Maximum today—84. Minumum today—66. Maximum yesterday—83. Minumum yesterday—66. Forecast—Cooler and partly cloudy. City Drug Store readings. BANKRUPTGY FORGED ON BIG GROOKSTON FARM Petition Has Been Filed by Creditors Because of Scare Over the Bad Crop Reports. Crookston, July 20:—The filing of the petition in involuntary bank- ruptcy by one of the creditors of the Wright Carpenter company depart- ment store caused much surprise The failure is not a bad one although the assets and liabilities can only be estimated as no schedule has been filed as yet and will not be il afeor o wovtiug Uf - thu- vredibers which will be held some time this week. The concern has had good credit, because of the high standing here. of the members of the firm as men of the strictest business integrity, but it is supposed that some of the creditors became ner vous because of the crop reports from this section of the country. The assets, which will be about $50,000 in stock and the accounts, have not been compiled as yet, but with very few exceptions they are gilt edged as all credit business has been closely watched by the firm for some time past. The liabilities are about $60,000. It is expected that the store will reopened in about thirty days or as soon as the stock can be invoiced and the legal details complied with. erally. The present subsidy propo- sition contemplates only three or four millions expenditures annually, but its advocates do not conceal the fact that itis only an opening wedge for an expenditure which to be effective to supply and maintain a merchant marine capable of carrying the bulk of our foreign commerce will require from fifty to a hundred million dollars annually, and this without the slightest pros- pects of reducing transportation rates upon the sea. The deficit in the postal receipts has already compelled a postpone- ment of service on many new rural routes. Mr. Steenerson contends, rightfully, that to further increase the postal deficit by ship subsidy, would be hostile: to the extention of the rural free delivery service to the newer sections, who are now anx- iously awaiting early installation, and with this out}of the way the work of extending this service can begin with the next fiscal vear. The interests ;antagonized by Mr. Steenerson in h‘ia ship subsidy fight, are the most p‘o%verful, both finan. ciaily and politically, in the country, and it may be expected that their assaults will be repeated throughout the remainder of the campaign, but we hope the people will readily nn- derstand the sources.:froin which these assaults come, and will rally the the more strongly to Mr. Steen- erson’s support as the fearless cham- pion of honest laws and the right| of the people. BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA, GOVERNOR AND PARTY WILL VISIT BEMIDJI Due to Arrive Saturday at 3:30 and Expect to Stay Until 4:30 a. m. Sunday. Governor Eberhart and party will be in Bemidji from 3:30 Saturday afternoon until 4:30 Sunday morning while on their way to inspect the new drainage ditches in the northern part of Beltrami and Roseau count- ies. The party will come here from Duluth, Business men of the city are ar- ranging for areception and big time for the party. Those coming with the governor are State Auditor Iver- son, Secretary of State Schmahl, Immigration Commissioner Welsh, Judge Quinn, of Fairmont, State Drainage Engineer Ralph, and offi- cals of the Northern Pacific railway. It is the purpose of tne party to travel through the swamp country in the northern part of the border counties and see the work accom- plished in the new ditches by the state engineers. The country is new and is unknown' to the majority of the party. It is not thickly settled and guides-will be taken from the Indians and lumbermen familiar with the land. Most of the trip will be made in small boats. Launches will be used from Warroad up the Rainy river until it becomes too shallow. Canoes will be used in the ditches and where no water is found, the party will pack food and bedding across country. One of the ditches to be inspected is over ten miles long. The visit of the governor and his party will probably have some poli- tical significance as the fall elections are now so close. SAMARITANS TO MEET THURSDAY EVENING A meeting of the Modern Samari! tans will be held in the L O. O. F. hall Thursday evening. It will be the most important meeting of the year as much business comes up for this meeting. W. B. Henderson of Duluth will be present at the meeting and it is the desire of the local lodge to have ever member present. The meeting will open promptly at eight o’clock and a most interesting program has been arranged. Beltrami vs. Clearwater. The alternative writ of mandamus in the case of Beltrami county vs Clearwater county came up for hearing before Judge Stanton, at chambers on the 18th. Messrs. Spooner and Brown and Oscar Sten- vick, county attorney of Clearwater county, appeared for the re- spondents and Chester McKusick, county attorney of Beltrami county appeared for the relator. The respondents interposed a de- murrer and made a motion to quash the writ. The matter was argued and taken under advisement by the Court. POSTMASTERS OF NINTH DISTRICT MEET TUESDAY Crookston to Entertain Meeting of Mail Distributors—Good Program. Postmaster Erickson; of Bemidji, and O. J. 'Pagley, of Nymore, will leave Monday afternoon for Crooks- ton to attend the meeting of the postmasters of the Ninth district in the Crookston Commercial club rooms. W. S. Bartholomew, presi- dent of the state league and post- master at Avon, has given the meet- ing much boosting and will be there himself. The program is as follows: Meeting called to order at 10 o'clock a, m, Address of welcome by Mayor Al- lan McKinnon, of Crookston. Address by Hon. Halyor Steener- -som.” . - s R i ESDAY EVENiNG, .JULYZO,IQIO. Appointment of committee. Afternoon Session, 1:30. The Postmaster and Rural Carrier —S. P. Lundin, Stephens. A Model Postmaster—Mrs, E. F. Marshall, Red Lake Falls. District Organization—0O. A. Thoreson, East Grand Forks. Compensation of Postmasters of Fourth Class—H. T. Gendron, Gentilly. Postal Savings. Lohn, Fosston. Parcels Post—D. T. McGrath, Barnesville, The League and its Objects— W. S. Bartholomew, Avon. Good Advice to Postmasters— C. Egge, Inspector. Reports of Committees. Question Box, Election of Officers. BAND CONGERT FRIDAY Banks—John Regular Program Without Any Solo, to be Played. No solo .will be sung at the band concert Friday night. Professor Masten has given out the program that will be played. 1. March—"Caesar’s Triumphal” —G. F. Mitchell. 2. Selection—"The Time, the Place and the Girl”’—Joe Howard. 3. March—"Silver Bell”—Percy Wenrich. 4. Overture—"Poet and Peas- ant”—Suppe. 5. March “Kerry* Milles Nan- tucket”’—Kerry Mills. 6. <Seraph Concert Waltzes” —J."W. Lafferty. 7. Serenade Charles Rockwell. 8. Selection ¢Broken Idol”— J. B. Lampe, 9. ‘March “I'm Bringing up the Family”—W, E. Mackie, “Dreamland”’— Secretary Wilson at the U. At a gathering of educators, re- presenting educational institutions of Minnesota, North Dakota, Sonth Dakota, Iowa and Wiscon- sin, to be held at the Minnesota State University July 29-30, Secre- tary of Agriculture Wilson will deliver an address and a plan will be formulated for a practical system of agriculture education, The gathering is the result of a plan offered by Dean F. Woods of the Agricultural College. Invitat- ions will be sent to all educational institutions, including the state university, normal schools and agricultural colleges, Flag on Postoffice Ever since the morning of the Fourth, a large flag has been seen floating over the postoffice. This was placed there by Postmaster Erickson and he has kept it up be- cause he says, a flag should always floatover a government building. The flag staff is high enough so the flag may be seen from any down town corner and visitors easily di- rected to the postoffice. ) EASTERN ROADS TO SUSPEND INGREASE Adjustment of Freight Rate Sit- uation Likely. ‘Washington, July ;20.—An adjust- ment of the Eastern (Jt@lght rate situa- tion probably will bé made within a few hours. 7The settlement, it is said, will be satisfactory glike to the inter- state commerce comrmission, the rail- ways and shippers. , The plan involves a voluntary suspension for several months by the-raflroads of the ad- vanced rates. f Chairman Knap; commerce commiss had a confer- ence with a comniittee representing the Eastern trunk lres and the roads’ of the Central Traffic association con- cerning the suspension of the rates which are effective Aug. 1. The con- ference will be continued, it was an- nounced. Child Dies of Hydrophobia. f the interstate Joplin, Mo., July 20.—Homer Wake- field, the three-year-old son of H. C. Wakefield, died here of hydrophobia. The child was bitten while playing " with a small spaniel last March. The wound healed and little attention was | pald todt. - SPORTING NOTES BASEBALL AND HORSE RAGING NEXT SUNDAY Driving Club and Company K Team Combine for a Double Bill—Band to be Present. Baseball and horse racing will be combined at the Fair grounds Sun- day afternoon when the Driving club will put on a matinee and the Com- pany K baseball team will play the the fast Cass Lake team. The Be- midji band has been engaged for the afternoon and will be on the grounds at 2:30, Last week, the owners of several St. Cloud horses wrote that they would like to come up and race the local ones. Their offer has been taken up and it is probable that they will appear on the track Sunday. The local horses have competed with each other so often that the results of their races are almost known before they run. The St. Cloud horses will add an element of uncer- tainty. Cass Lake has a fast team this year and defeated Bemidji by a large score when the local boys played them at home. Company K has a team that is improving as the season goes on and should be able to put up a good game Sunday. A single admission will be charged for the two events. American Assoclation Minnoopol St. Paul . - 83 38 @5R .. 54 389 .581 . 52 39 .574 Toledo. .. Kansas City. 44 45 494 Columbus .40 47 .460 Milwaukee .39 50 .438 Indianapolis .87 55 .402 Louisville.... .35 56 .383 National League Won Lost Pet Chicago . .. 49 29 .628 New York 45 32 .584 Pittsburg. .41 33 .554 Cincinnati 41 38 .518 Philadelphia 36 40 .474 St. Louis. 44 450 Brooklyn . 45 .430 Bosten ... 51 .378 American League Won Lost Pet Philadelphia 692 Boston . .. 805 New York .595 Detroit. .534 Cleveland 459 Chicago. .. .397 ‘Washington .388 St. Louis. . 316 | Yesterday’s Results. National League Boston 4—Pittsburg 5. New York 4—Cincinnati4. (in ninth) Brooklyn 4—Chicago 3. Philadelphia 0—St. Louis 2. American League St. Louis 1—New York 5. Detroit 1-1—Boston 2-2. Chicago 0-—Philadelphia 4. Cleveland 0-5—Washington 7-2. American Association St. Paul 5—Columbus 7. Minneapolis 4—Toledo 1. Milwaukee 1—Indianapolis 2. Kansas City 6-4—Louisville 3-3. TELEGRAPHIG SPEGIALS, Chicago, Ill. July 20, 1910, —(Special telegram to the Pioneer.) 1. G. Rawn, president of the Monon railroad and one of the best known railway men in the United States, was shot and instantly killed by a burglar at Winnetka, Illirois, early today. The assassin ‘escaped and no clue has yet been gained as to his identity. ADDITIONAL WANTS GIRLS—Learn photo-finishing. In big cities it costs $35 and six months time, or more; help scarcer here. We pay at start; rapid ad- vance and guarantee $10 per week after six months. Mrs. Richard- - 910 Beltrami. Won Lost Pet|ed will of the TEN CENTS PER WEEK. STANTON SAYS GOUNTY OPTION IS DEMOGRATIC Comes Down To Question Not of Probibition But of Control of Qurselves. Akeley, July 18—Akeley’s chaut- auqua closed Saturday with speeches by Mary McFadden, of the Duluth News-Tribune, and Judge Stanton, of Bemidji. Mr. Andrew Rood, of Bemidji, sang several barytone solos that were enjoyable. The chaut- auqua opened Tuesday with a meet- ing of the Upper Mississippi Medi- cal association which discussed tuberculosis particularly. Wednes- day was fraternal day. Friday, the program was given to the women and Mrs. Higbee, presi- dent of the State Federation of Women’s clubs was the principal speaker. Friday was Lindberg day, and the congressman from the Sixth district entertained his hearers with a stereoptican lecture on the Panama canal. Judge Stanton and Miss McFad- den drew the largest crowd of the assembly. The Judge is a Democrat and has often been mentioned as the party’s candidate for governor. He made plain the stand he took on county option and warned his hearers that the voice of the people cannot be disregarded. The part of his speech refering to county option is as follows: “‘County option is not a partizan question, so I feel assured I am L violating no properity by discuss- sta“de M “w muhs l ingit. Itis the proud boast of the American people that every citizen is a sovereign and that the express- majonty of the people constitutes the law. Then why, let me ask, should we hesitate to submit to our sovereign power, the people, a question of such mo- mentous importance as the traffic in intoxicating liquors? THEATRICAL COMMENT. Armory Opera House The Yankee Doodle Stock com- pany played toa good house last night and put on two good perform- ances in spite of a serious handicap. Miss Esther Evans was in the hos- pital yesterday afternoon for an op- eration and was under the influence of chloroform for three hours. She did not leave the hospital until fifteen minutes before the first curt- went up. She was sick all evening, but in spite of it took her part as usual. The company did excellent work in “Whose Baby are You?” and as the light number tonight will present “Charlie’s Aunt”. Thisis said to be the funniest comedy on the Am- erican stage, although it has been cut down to one act, its delicious bhumor has been retained. The other play tonight is “The Moon- shiner’s Daughter”. LEATHER MEDAL FOR BEST BARREL BUSTER" Gun Club to Hold Shoot Friday and Will Toss Large Targets for the Amateurs In order that a]l of the members will turn out to the shoot Friday afternoon, the Rod and Gun club has arranged a contrivance on the traps which will allow every mem- ber to get a good score. The usual apparatus which throws the pigeons has been changed and will throw barrels instead. A large supply of barrels has been purchased so that there will be plenty of targets. Brandborg, Woodward and Kin- ney will shoot in a three round con- test and the high man will be treated by the crowd. The low man will be “red-owled.” George Kinney holds the high mark now with- a score of 100 per cent. The winner Friday will be givena leather medal. The shoot will start at 3:30,