“They said the state never had any right to sell the land in the first place. The people’s ownership therein was inalienable and any pretended sale was void the same as the sale of the property of a minor for taxes, or the sale of a stolen horse. The real owner had a right to take his property wherever he could find it, without compensation to the pretended owner who happened to be in possession as a party to a fraudulent sale. So they held that the people could take possession of their land if they saw fit, but they agreed that it would be better policy, to leave the claimants in possession and merely take all the rents except a small percentage to be left in the hands of the claimants as compensation to them for collecting and paying over said rents to the state. These rents moreover were to be called taxes instead of rents. “The majority having without serious effort brought about a reconciliation between their logic and their interests, proceeded to put their conclusions into operation. The constitution of Minnesota was amended in due course and the new plan put into execution with much growling and protest on the part of the land owners, but without violence or serious trouble, all the rest of the country looking on with great curiosity. “The effects very soon began to show themselves. Nearly the whole tax being removed from shops and factories, profits and manufacturing became at once very considerably enhanced. This induced numbers of manufacturers to emigrate from other states and from Europe to Minnesota, and so the population and wealth of the cities increased with unexampled rapidity. By the year 1925, the population of Minneapolis had reached 1,780,000 and that of St. Paul, was over half as great.” “Then,” said I, “the cities must have grown solidly together and formed a continuous town.” “Not at all,” he replied, “University and Como avenues, became continuous streets, with good residences. But both cities became compactly built up with tall and substantial buildings for offices, dwellings and factories. Nearly everybody that paid rent lived in flats. These buildings were ten to 16 stories high, fire proof, furnished with elevators, electric heat and light. In connection with many of them, were cook shops, in which the tenants could get their provisions cooked at cheaper rates than they could do it themselves, and save their own time for other employment. A great many women who in your day, would have been kept at home all day to cook the meals for a small family were enabled to seek profitable employment in various kinds of shops factories and offices, or had their time for recreation or leisure. “Cooking became a regular profession and people no longer cooked for themselves to any greater extent than they doctored themselves. Kindergartens were likewise attached to these great co-operative dwellings, in which those too young to go to school, were looked after in the absence of their parents.