The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 18, 1917, Page 12

| { % e, Politics and Inspection of Grain An Account of How the Minnesota Railroad _Commission Has Built Up a Political Machine and Maintains Its Power (By Leader Staff Correspondent) T. PAUL, Minn.,, Jan. 12,—Three members of the 1915 Minnesota leg- islature, who distinguished them- selves by trying to take grain inspec- tion and elevator supervision from the control of the railroad and warehouse comission, will not be back at St. Paul this year to push their work. They were defeated for reelection by the political activities of the railroad and warehouse commission, which controls an army of over 600 employes, and does not wish to see its splendid poli- tical machine put in the scrap heap. Such a bill, however, is coming up in the present session, with the indorse- ment of the efficiency and economy commission, and the backing of the farmers of the state'and the entire Northwest. ‘Why should the railroad and ware- house commission of Minnesota fight so desperately against being relieved of this duty—the duty of supervising the marketing of the farmers’ biggest crop in the Northwest? It is not able to keep busy regulating the railroads? Does it dare argue that this intimate connection between railroad regulation and the grain marketing are essential? Loes it believe the farmers’ wheat gets a better deal by going through the hands of a commission that levies regular political assessments upon state employes, than if it did not? Or is there a subtle connection between the big business that is named rail- roads, and the big business that is named Chamber of Commerce? ALL ITS SYMPATHIES FOR “BIG BUSINESS” Through watching the trend of opin- ion of the railroad and warehouse ccmmission, many Minnesota and other Northwestern people have come to be- lieve that it is unable to see except through Chamber of Commerce eyes. The members have no sympathies with the problems of the farmers and the people. They may not be dishonest, but they are blind- So intimately sym- pathetic with the big grain interests has the Minnesota railroad and ware- house commission become, that many people regard it as a sort of voluntary counsel for the Chamber of Commerce in public hearings on grain and grades. Having in its membership one corpora- tion attorney, and one former judge who was always considered “safe’’ by big corporations who had cases to try (so that they would scramble to have their cases brought in his court) it is little wonder that it should see things as it apparently does; no wonder that it should make heroic efforts to keep ccntrol of the machinery that dispenses prosperity to the Chamber -of Com- merce as well as to the railroads. This is why the Minnesota railroad and warehouse commission is in poli- tics; its members see nothing wrong In . their own political activity nor in using the state’s employes whom they con- trol to help finance the campaigns.of big business, through levying political dues upon the men who hold:the jobs. The secret of the railroad and ware- house commission’s political power. is its authority to hand out jobs. If civil service were in operation, its “politics” would be greatly weakened. A close observer of the way these jobs are parceled out expressed it thus: - . “Tt looks as though every time there was a position of inspector or weigher or assistant inspector to be had, the railroad and warehouse commission telephones over to the Chamber of Ccmmerce and asks it to recommend a man.” Perhaps the commission would defend the actions that give this: ap- pearance by saying, “Why of course, we have to get our employes from the mills and elevators that have men trained to do that kind of work.” But let every reader ask himself whether the commission would offer such a po- sition to a single individual who had ever noticed grievances against the Chamber of Commerce, or who had ad- vocated shipping to some independent terminal market, or who had denounc- ed the practices of the wheat gamblers and the commission men who sell the farmers’ wheat to themselves at low prices. No such man would be a “safe” employe for the state of Minnesota to have under the present railroad and warehouse commission, It is at one on this point with the Chamber of Com- merce. ~HNSPECTORS ASSESSED BY POLITICAL LEADERS So there is a thread of common sym- pathy running through the grain haasd- ling business from the world renown- ed millers and commission houses, through the Minnesota railroad and warehouse commission, down to the foundation of the machine. This sympa- thy is a tremendous force which peo- ple too often do not correctly measure. + means a lot whether a man owes his job to the profiters from an iniquitous system, or to his own individual merit in handling grain. But this body of employes is held together in another and more definite way. It is regularly assessed political dues. This solicitation is done in the most polite and law-evading way that .the shrewd knowledge of experienced men can devise. No one is gruffly or- dered to pay up, or threatened if he doesn’'t with immediate loss of his job. At least that is not the usual way, and the usual way has up to date got the coin with great ease and grace. IEach appointee is asked to contribute what he can towards the political jack pot. This request may not even come from the railroad and warehouse commis- sion direct. But the finance committee of the friendly political party—some- how or other—gets the full list of names of the state employes who are hired by the commission, their address- es and salaries, and then the financial secretary calls upon them. Ten dol- lars is the common toll, and most any man is willing to pay this much to keep his job if he knows refusal to pay it will quickly develop into some technicality through which he can be dropped from the state’s service. In 1912 when L. C. Spooner of Mor- ris, Stevens county, was running in the primaries for governor, the Trailroad in former sessions these men stood in a fair way to complete their record in the 1917 session, where the bill for separation was to come prominently te the front. The “interim commis- sion” or “efficiency and economy com- mission” had framed 10 measures, which in brief intended to cut down the state’s useless.expenditures and in- crease the efficiency of its working force. The foremost of these was the bill to separate the railroad and ware- house commission from its controi over grain matters, put this control in the hands of a chief inspector to be: appointed by the governor, and a ccerps of workers who should be select- ed for their merit after the manner of Above, a partion of the working office, state grain inspection departincnt, Minneapolis, Minn. Below, a portion of the inspection room of the state grading department in the board of trade building, Duluth. and warehouse commission sent some of its employes out into the territory where Spooner was strongest, and they worked openly against him. Not only tkat, but the commission jackpot was turned over to the support of W. E. Lee, an opponent, among half a dozen others, of Spooner, and the fight went merrily on until Spooner was defeated. A. O. Eberhardt got the nomination, and the railroad and warehouse com- mission’s support was then turned to him. THEY DEF"EATED ALL COMBINE OPPONENTS The reason the railroad and ware- house commission was against Spoon- er for governor in 1912 was because\he had already become branded as one of the strongest opponents of the Cham- ber of Commerce. And that is also the reason why the same commission. in the election of 1915 defeated him for reelection to the Minnesota house of representatives, and why it defeated Knud Wefald of Clay county, and Gun- ner Bjornson of Lyon county. These men in the 1915 session of the legisla- ture had stood strongly for the mea- sures which had been introduced to curb the dominating power of the grain trust in Minnesota legislation. There had been Tiegen's bill to make dealing in futures illegal, the Rockne and Bonneville bill to tax sales on fu- tures, the “efficiency and economy” bill to separate the railroad and ware- house commission from its beloved employment of dealing out jobs to 600 or more state employes, and soothing the nerves of the grain’'combine. These measures had been sufficient to show where these three men stood, and every one of them was considered a strong man with influence among his fellows. Moreover, in addition to their record civil service. A similar measure had failed in the 1915 session, but with the immense sentiment -that had become aroused in favor of such a move, and the indorsement of the ‘“interim com- mission,” there was strong chance of its becoming law in 1917—unless some of the strongest supporters of it were defeated at the polls. The railroad and warehouse eommis- sion counted one, two, three, and waded into the campaign. Knud We- fald, who in two sessions had become a leading member and was prominently talked of for speaker, was marked for defeat. For a man of his attitude to- wards the grain combine, and being a strong advocate of the Nonpartisan League, to become speaker of the Min- nesota house of representatives, with power to name the committee on grain and warehouse was unthinkable by the grain manipulators and their sec- onds. This committee in 1915 had for chairman L. A. Lydiard of Minneapo- lis, and three other Minneapolis mem- bers, and it is a notorious fact in Min- nesota politics that no one can be elect- ed to the legislature from Hennepin county who is opposed to the Chamber of Commerce. With these four trusty members and some others to support tkem, the grain combine had weather- ed the storms of 1915 with steady nerves and a smile. It didn’t intend to let Knud Wefald get back into* the house to vote on any grain measures, nor to take any chances on his becom- ing speaker. So he was defeated, and S0 quietly was it done that up to elec- tion Wefald’s friends thought he was an easy winner. i THEIR WORK DONE BY GREAT STEALTH Bjornson was handled in the same effective manner. Bjornson is & land- TWELVE . worker of mark in the Minnesota legislature. By scme he was rated as a radical. By none was he rated as a friend of big tusiness in politics. He, Spooner and Wefald had all worked for the grain bills that aimed at reform of some of the worst abuses, and it was well un- derstood there was a tacit if not an actual agreement among them to get together in support of a measure for. loosening the grip of the corporation- eved railroad and warehouse commis- sion, upon the grain business of the Northwest. With such a measure com- ing up from the “interim commission” ¢t which Bjornson was a member, it was necessary to strip Bjornson of as much power as possible, and he wasg defeated for reelection. He will now kave no turther—strength than goes with his recommendation of the mea- sure. Thessiealth and neatness with which their work was done, was well illus- trated in Spooner’'s case. Like Wefald, there was no thought of his being de- feated. For 10 years he had been con- tinuously in the house, the last two times being forced into the fight against his will. He was down at Minneapolis the last week of the cam- paign and went home only the Satur- day before election. to hire an automobile, but could not get one. Every auto for hire in the county had been engaged at $25 a day from Saturday to the close of election to carry workers against = Spooner, whom the railroad and warehouse-com- mission did not want returned to the Louse. They were so employed, and on election day they carried voters who were known to be willing to vote “right” to the polls. Workers even violated the law by working within 100 feet of polling places, and in one instance a district judge noted that a the grain combine group handed out a sticker with the name of Spooner's opponent upon it, inside a polling place. The judge called this to the attention of the county attorney, telling him the law was being violated, but up to date there has been no prose= cution. WET AND DRY ISSUE WAS NOT AT STAKE Some people have ascribed this fight to the liquor interests, for Spooner had once voted for local option, although he was never rated as a dry ana did not in the last house line up with the dries on the speakership fight. How far wrong is such a conclusion is shown in the exact words of his opponent, A. A. Stone. 23 On Monday night before election a little gathering was held presided over Ly a man sent up from Minneapolis to bring light to the people of Stevens county in behalf of the railroad and warehouse commission and its friends. It was for the purpose of organizing the sticker workers in opposition to Spooner. The Chamber of Commeérce chairman of the meeting opened it with a statement that there would be dis- cussion of the candidates for represen- tative from forty-eighth district. A friend of Spooner arose to say a good word for Spooner, but was cut short by the imported chairman who forbade any such sentiments in his own pri- vately arranged meting. Mr. Stone, a . Young beginner in politics, selected by the grain ring to defeat its known ene- my, was called upon for a speech. He is not accustomed to making speeches, but he responded by rising and remark- “Well, we are here, the wets and the (Continued on*page 23) Sunday he tried -