The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 16, 1916, Page 7

Hanna Knew About A . - tial. campaign, and marck politician, active in the Person- THE NONPARTISAN LEADER SEVEN ppointments He Thought He Was Observing “Spirit of the Law” When He Appointed Men Illegally to State Office By Leader Staff Correspondent Bismarck, ‘March 14.— Governor Hanna, who is again holding forth a the executive offices here after his sojourn in Europe with the Ford Eeace junket, cheerfully admits that is appointment of Senator Overson to the board of control was unconsti- tutional and that he knew it at the time he gave him the job. Overson was ousted after the governor left for Europe by an opinion of A the attorney general holding that the consti- tution forbids senators being apgointed by the governor during ‘the term for which they were elec- ted to the legislature. The governor has not filled the vacancy left by Overson being ruled out after he had taken” the oath of office, nor the other vacancy on the board of control left by the death of Brewster. He says he has many ap- plicants for the positions and wants to go over the matter carefu l{, select- ing “the very best men in the state who can be persuaded to serve the public.” Governor Hanna re- ceived the Leader repre- sentative smilingly and talked to him over a pile of correspondence which had piled up' while the chief executive was try- ing to put salt on the tail of the.dove of peace. “Yes, I see that Over- son has been ruled out of office since I have been gone,” said the governor, “and it is too bad. Mr. - Overson is a big man and the kind of a man the: state needéd. He had to be persuaded to enter the public service I offered him and it will be hard to get another man as good for the job. “I knew of the consti- tutional provision under which it is held Mr. Overson is inelig- ible, but it had not been observed in the past and I did not expect any ques- tion to be raised in this case. “I approve of the constitutional pro- vision and appreciate the reason which placed it in the constitution. But here’s the point, in Overson’s case: he-had served in the two legislatures More Light Bismarck, March 18.—The attack on J. A. Little, rate expert of the state railroad commission, has taken a new turn. Those who have deter- _ mined to get the scalp of this public official, whose recent work has divulg- ed more or less sensational facts in the interests of the shippers and con- sumers of the state, have changed their tactics. ; After a conference with Chairman Stutsman of the railroad commission, Attorney General :Linde, through whom the effort to oust Little is being worked, agreed to withdraw his opin- ~ ion to State Auditor Jorgenson hold- - ing that Little was drawing pay il- legally. It was on this opinion that Little’s pay warrant was held up last week. R ; SUIT TO STOP SALARY The attorney general was then to give his opinion to Theodore Koffel, manager of the Estabrook presiden- al Liberty league, the two who the attorney general said had framed the attack on Little, These ‘men were then to initiate a suit through the at- torney general to enjoin' the state auditor from paying: the warrant. This suit has already been started, although the attorney general has not yet withdrawn his opinien from the auditor, as agreed, - Little was 'employed in good faith . 'under a two-year implied contract last summer and last week was placed in the : position- of having to go into court by mandamus proceedings to get his- salary and uphold “his right to office. . By the new arrangement the Tom Poole, Bis- - attorney general will go into. court: for which he was elected, although his term had not expired under the law. He could serve in'no other ses- sion, unless it was a special session called before January, next year, of which there was little likelihood, and I thought that inasmuch as this was the case the spirit of the constitution- al provision was being observed. “Governors in the past have made BUSY SCENE IN YOUR LEAGUE OFFICE AT FARGO such appointments and have not been questioned. The provision covers also the election to any civil office in the state of senators and representatives, which is prohibited, and that has not been observed. City Commissioner Blakemore was elected at Fargo be- fore his-term as a member of the legislature had expired and nobody said anything, and there have been other cases. If the constitution is’ going to be enforced it ought to be enforced uniformly.” The_ governor was then questioned regarding the appointment of State Representative Purcell as secretary of the state game and fish board, also in violation of the constitution. The attorney general is already on record with the statement that Purcell is The accompanying cut shows a portion of the Nonpartisan League general offices in Fargo, where all official reports from speakers and organizers are received, where the routing of speakers is done, where the book keeping is handled, and the increasing roll of the membership is classified by alphabet and locality. Filing cabinets, typewriters and adding machines are shown. drawing pay unconstitutionally from the state, but the secretary still holds office and nobody has formally raised the question of his eligibility. The governor; however, denies responsibil- ity for Purcell’s case, “I appointed Purcell as a member of the game and fish board, an honorary position which calls for no salary and which only pays expenses of the in- Shed on Little’s Case Attorney General Linde, Who Wants Rate Expert’s Pay Stopped, Attorney for Telephone Company at Hearing against the railroad commission and the latter can defend the case. This places the burden of uphold- ing Little’s right to office on the state, instead of on an employe employed in good faith and not responsible for the more or less anonymous attac! being made. OTHER MOTIVES IN CASE? Besides the activity of Tom Poole, Bismarck politician and Personal Lib- erty league booster, other motives are now suggested as being back of the effort to eliminate Little. Poole’s hand was shown when the at- torney general and state auditor nam- ed him as one of those who have stir- red the ' attorney . general to render his unasked opihion to the auditor, "which attacked Little’s right to office on technical grounds. Attorney General Linde is the legal counsel of the railroad commission under the law. Yet at a hearing last December at Minot, in a telephone case, he appeared as counsel .for a telephone company seeking a fayor- ble decision in a case pending before * the commission. Rate Expert Little at this hearing, in his efforts fo get “at the facts in the case; is said to have provoked the attorney general. LINDE A TELEPHONE ATTORNEY _At this hearing Linde, instead of representing the railroad commission, whose legal advisor he is, was counsel "for the KFort Berthold Telephone ‘com-- This company wanted to put pany. : ? 5 in a telephone exchange at Makota, on the Soo branch. The Queen City Telephone company of Ryder already was doing business at Makota, where it intended to put in an_exchange, and it complained k. When the other company threatened to get in. Under the law a duplication of telephone service is not allowed except on permission of the railroad commission. Linde attempted to get this permission for the Fort Berthold company. The case is not yet settled. In the meantime Linde brings an attack against Little to oust him. KEEP PURPOSE IN VIEW Members of the Nonpartisan Lea- gue can draw a valuable conclusion as to the use they can make of their - organization from a brief paragraph from the address of President A. G. Crane of the Minot Normal school, before the Equity: Society’s convention at Minot late in February. He said: “The greatest obstacles to your suc- cess are not as much the opposition of big business as the difficulty of getting cooperation and holding it to true and proper émrposes and practical attainments. hort-sighted ignor- ance that cannot comprehend big principles and will not remain true to far reaching programs but clamors for immediate sensational results will be . your greatest foe. With good : leadership and anintelligent well in- . ‘ formed constituency, your other prob- lems__ ‘become ,shnple! R £y cumbent while he is doing state work. - The board, however, made Purcell its secretary and he is drawing pay as secretary under the board’s act and not mine. Like Mr. Overson, Mr. Pur- cell has served the last time in the legislature it was possible for him to serve, unless a special session was called.” The attorney general holds Purcell’s case is especially ag- gravated and that he is doubly barred under the constitution, for Pur- cell voted in the legisla- ture for the creation of the position he holds and for the provision fixing the salary of the job. Purcell would be separated from the state pay roll in double quick time if someone got the case into court, lawyers say. The attorney general has made no effort to volunteer an opinion to the auditor advising that Purcell’s pay be held up, although he has volunteered such an opinion in the case of Rate Expert Little of the railroad commission, whose services are sore- ly needed by the state, but who, the attorney general holds, is illegal- ly drawing salary be- cause the emergency which first necessitated his employment has ex- pired. Little gets it in the neck under a technical construction of the law; Purecell, it is being point- ed out, still draws pay in flagrant violation of a constitutional provision made to prohibit mem- bers of legislatures pul- ling the wires to get jobs created and then filling those jobs them- selves. The - debate in the constitutional convention A shows why the pro- visions regarding the appointment of senators and representatives to civil offices were incorporated in the docu- ments. It was desired to prevent leg- islators trading their votes to the gov- ernor for jobs to be given them later and to prevent legislators creating a lot of positions in the hope they would land one after adjournment. The governor says he approves of these constitutional provisions, but he appointed Overson; and Purcell, drawing salary by reason of an act of a board under the governor’s con- trol, still holds office. MITTEN KEY TO DISCOVERY Out of the needs of the North Da- kota farmers as these were observed by Albert Hoiland while he was still raising wheat and oats on his farm at Nome, N. D., originated the Hoiland wild oats separator, which is now com- ing into use in North Dakota, Mon- tana, Idaho, Washington and Iowa. Years ago, while still farming, Mr. Hoiland bought a pair of mittens, but found when he came to use them that they were both for the same hand As he had to have them and it was then chore time he turned one wrong side out and went about his work. He pitched down the hay, cleaned the stable, and fed the horses their oats. When he had finished, he discovered that the mitten turned inside out was lined with flannel, and that it was studded with wild oats, although there was not a kernel of tame oats. This discovery set him to thinking, and resulted finally in putting to com- mercial and practical use, this quality’ of flannel, its affinity for the bristly beards of wild oats and aversion to the smooth husked tame.oats. The oat separator as it is now being manufac- tured in a plant owned and superin- tended by Mr. Hoiland in Fargo, N.’ D. is a sheet steel drum three feet in diameter and three feet long, slung in two belts and lined with a special flannel, which catches all the wild -oats as the grain pours into the drum from a hopper at one end. Mr. Hoiland now employs seven men in his'own factory in Fargo and sells. his machines- directly to . the farmers. N =~ seniieses 1 ! { i