In 1914 Carl J. Buell published a 112 page study of the 1913 Minnesota Legislature. It was the third in a series of muckraking books on the state legislature. The first two were written by Lynn Haines and covered -- or uncovered -- the 1909 and 1911 legislatures. They were sensations.
In November 1912, the voters elected a large majority of reformers to the Minnesota House of Representatives and, as a consequence, the legislature that met in January 1913 enacted more progressive legislation than the legislatures studied by Haines. Buell discusses bills on women's suffrage, the initiative and recall and the county option, and tallies the votes in the House and Senate on these bills as they are amended, emerge from conference and reach a final vote. Like Haines, Buell concludes his book with a brief sketch of each legislator. They are informative and colorful besides.
View Article