The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 6, 1919, Page 3

B 46 b R 4 ) H S L1/ S } : O ¥ - tory- of the state, and ‘is. those of the Repub- . ed as they have not been’ “bad hole.” “ per. “It may not be pleas- ‘ant reading, but the fact . ‘southern Minnesota, es- " In the interest of a square deal . for the farmers lonartigin Teader Ofl'iclal Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League VOL. 9, NO. 14 A magazine that dares to print the truth ST. PAUL MINNESOTA, OCTOBER 6, 1919 WHOLE NUMBER 211 Making a Leglslature Change Its Mind Primary Repeal Measure Killed by Minnesota Lawmakers at Demand of * 100,000 Voters—Governor Vetoes Tonnage Tax >]0- THAT the people of the state of ‘Minnesota mlght not become tha Special session of the legis- lature, which he had called to defeat the people’s wishes, Gov- ernor-J. A. A. Burnquist, who was hoisted to power in the hysteria‘ of war times, did the : bxddmg of the steel trust and vetoed the tonnage tax on iron ore which was passed in the house by a vote of more than four to one, and in the senate by a majority of 10 votes. The veto, besides fulfilling wishes of the steel trust, was in a nature of a retaliation for the de- feat he suffered on the primary repeal bill, which the legislators refused to pass at his demand In an attempt to justify his position, the governor, in returning the tonnage tax bill without his ap- - proval, said that he believed that in view of the defeat of the measure at the Tegular session the legislators had not sufiimently considered their actions. Both the passage of the tonnage tax and the de- feat of the primary repeal bill were direct rebukes of the governor by the legislature and big victories for the Nonpartisan league. The governor escaped a defeat by a margin of one vote, when the senate voted to adjourn after the house had overwhelm- ingly decided to remain in session to reconsider the tonnage tax.and pass it over the veto. The ad- journment motion in- the senate passed on a re-: hearing after it had been defeated on an earlier vote by a single ballot. The governor, in his veto message, declared that the tonnage tax was a double tax on the steel trust and paved the way for similar “unfair” taxation of other monopolies. Not the least interesting feature is the unanimity of opinion of the press of Minnesota, both those who have been strong supporters of the governor as well as his opponents, that the governor had committed political sui- cide by his veto. The Pioneer Press, never a supporter of the tonnage tax and a bitter enemy of all state re- form, declared that’ the veto was the prize polit- ical “boner” in the his- T goes on to remark that all agree that the gov- ernor is “dead and down” and that “some are un- kind enough to add that he has been dead for quite 2 while. * *. * But the politicians—that lican party—are disturb- for many years, for they fear that the veto has placed the party in a . “One nught as well be frank in discussing the thing,” continues this pa- is that the Nonpartisan league has been making considerable headwa y among the farmers in William Johnson, F. V. pe'clally duriug the last _ Scherf, T. J. Fl h ‘ve too elated over the results ‘of ' Minnesota League legislators. six months, and one of its main talkmg points has ‘been the tonnage tax. “Members of the leglslature realize this and many were influenced in their votes for the Ben- . dixen bill at the special session by the political de- sirability of passing the tonnage tax. * * * The new house of representatives will be for it, as is the present house. The senate holds over for two more years, but will pass whatever tonnage tax bill comes from the house. And here is wher.e the smile comes in: Whatever bill is passed is apt to be a stiffer one than the bill vetoed by Governor VBumqulst 2 GOVERNOR DEFIES WILL OF PEOPLE, PAPER SAYS And the St. Paul :Daily News, a progressive newspaper, says: - “He (the governor) has abso- - lutely. defied the will of the people as expressed through the legislature. He has cast a heavier tax burden upon every individual and every legitimate business interest in the state. He has given the * steel trust a free hand in its rapid work of taking from Minnesota our greatest natural resource.” And the politicians are deserting Burnquist as' - "fast as they can. ‘When Governor Burnquist called the legis- lature to meet in speéial session on September 8, he had no intimation of the trouble he was piling up for himself. He had every reason to - believe that his plans and recommendations would be carried out, as ‘they were in the ' regular session last spring, and that the Nonpartisan league and the progressive elements in the state would be repulsed by a legislative barrage. " the lawmakers within proper bounds. " mary alone. Back row—V. Holmquist, H. O. Berve, J. B. Stepan, Walter E. Day, C. M. Gislason, J. A. Urness, J. Nett, Henry Hodapp, Louis Spelbrmk, J.. M. Nelson, C. W. Barnes (secretary. League caucus). Middle row—Magnus . Johnson, Theodore Thorkelson; Loms Enstrom, E. P. Skaiem, A. C Welch Burdorf, Frank Romberg, Herman' Schmechel, S. P. Anderson. Front row—H: G. Teigan, (general secretary, Natlonal Nonpartlsan league), O Be! La Olso Chnsten Ameson, Henry Arens. Indeed at the reoular sessmn, two bills for the repeal of the primary election law were passed but failed because the two houses could not agree for lack of time on which bill finally to accept. The governor_expected that it-would be possible to hold He believed the majority, which was opposed to the League, would do his bidding. Many of these legislators, too, were willing to repeal the primary bill. Several of them didn’t care to take their \chances against League candi- dates in their districts unless they could be pro- tected by a convention system. But the governor and the political machinery which had hoisted him into place were so certain of their victory that they neglected to get pledges from the men for the pro- gram the governor had mapped out. And then something happened. Everything was serene when the members tock their seats on the first day of the session. After that things broke loose. Petitions to save the di- nothing about began to, flood.in upon them. Sena- tors and representatives from every part of the state got them. The names on these petitions to- taled more than 100,000. The word petitions here is used only in its legal sense. Practically, the messages received by the legislators were not petitions, they were demands. In them the lawmakers were advised of the feeling of the people of the state against the plan to kfll the primary. The demand was made to let the pri- And the leglslators, seeing the light, obeyed, reversing their vote of six months earlier. When a bill to emasculate the primary came up for consideration in the house, it was promptly squelched. The vote was 88 to 38. Several of the representatives who favored the repeal of the primary at the regular session, flopped as grace- fully as they could when the bill came up. Among them was Hompe, co-author of one of the repeal bills last winter. vote was a rout to the reactionary politicians. Before this, however, the split in the machine had become apparent when a tonnage tax bill to 22. The same bill was killed at the regular ses- introduced by C. M. Ben- dixen.. Although the League members had a measure proposing a 10 per cent tax instead of _the 5 per cent tax pro- vided in the Bendixen bill, they supported the steel trust attornéeys of the bills against the ‘other .and -thus defeat both. : Of the 101 mem- . bers of the lower house who voted for the bill at the special session, 33 had pre- viously opposed the bill vigorously. The senate passed the bill by a . vote of 38 to .~A. Naplin, F. A. of the bitterest oppo-: (Continued on page 14 That - was passed in the lower .’ house by a vote of 101- i sion by two votes. It was, latter measure so that’ could not try to play one 98, Tn the senate one‘-.a’ © rect primary which many of the members knew - - | oo g i e e T e e e