The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 18, 1916, Page 21

4 / : 1;_ * majority—1340, BEN flxe farmtars get men bf . their own choice into the state legislature one. of their first lcfs is likely to be the preparation 3 - 8. A. Olsness ‘and passage of a law putting into effect compulsory state hail insurance, under a plan which will greatly: Te- "duce the cost of protection and give every farm in the state adequate in- -surance against loss. In the preparation of this law and 3 in its admmlstratxon they will meed ..a man they can trust. A Brief Life Story of the Right Man for North Dakota Insurance Comlssmner * the help of a man who is familiar with the farmers’ needs and has made an ‘especial study of insurance in its re- lation to the farmer, and who is also Such a man is S. A. Olsness of Sheyenne, indorsed by the League for state insurance commissioner. Olsness, besides being a farmer, has had long experience as an officer of a mutual insurance com- Enny, doing business with North Da- ota farmeérs, whose affairs he has conducted in a way to make him known as an able and trustworthy " man all over the state and in many other states. Mr., Olsness is one of the state’s strongest advocates of compulsory hail_insurance and he has made a detailed and careful study of the ques- tion. He is:a man who doesn’t go into things half-way informed, and if the state of North Dakota elects him for insurance ‘commissioner and- fol- lows. lus adwce it wall not. go wrong. . HE HELPED JIM HILL A OISness was born in Norway, “‘the most democratic monarchy in the world,” he says, in 1866. He had a comn{(m school education and an ad- ‘ditiional ‘course m an advanced school.”” . ! He.came te America in 1886 and “went straight to"Sheyenne, North Da- kota, where he has resxded’ever since. Money for Farmers Those Who Had Grain on Storage in Failed Elevators Will Get Pay for _Their Tickets - Several hundred farmers of Dazey “and Walum, who stood to lose about $8000 through the failure of the.Da- " “kota Grain company, whose elevators at the two towns had shipped out the ~farmers’ stored grain, will 13se noth- ing. The Consolidated Elevator com- ¢ pany of Duluth, which purchased the : stored grain belonging to fhe farm- * ers, has handed the railroad commis- * sion a check for $8000. This company was liable under the law for, purchas- - ing grain from afother .company for " which the selling' company had not paid the farmers. It seems the courts -of ~"Minnesota have . deczded that . question. When the elevators falled they had - storage tickets against them for about : $25,000. They had $7000 worth of * grain on hand to meet this liability, - leaving a balance to make good to the : farmers .of $18,000. The bonding. - * company which put up the bond for the elevators was liable under the * bond for “only $10,000. There was therefore an expected loss of $8000 to : the farmers. The railroad commis- sion collected the bond and now has . * the $8000 from the other Duluth ele- vator to pay the farmers dolla.r for dollar. The successful outcome of the.farm- ers’ case does not, however, make it .any less necessary for some new laws governing elevators and the enforce- ment of present laws. The Dakota Grain company violated the law and the rules of the railroad commission when it shipped out grain belonging to the farmers in excess of the $10,009 - bond put up. The law requires a bond - to cover the shipment of all stored grain. The railroad commission ad- - mitted' that it had not enforced the law but claimed that it was unable to‘ do so because not provided with e vator inspectors by the Ieglslature, thus having no way of finding out that the law was violated. When an elevator accepts stored grain, for which it has not paid the farmers, it becomes an institution like a bank, which accepts deposits. “The storer of grain should be protected with all the sa.feguards that protect the depositor of money in a bank, and the shipping out of stored grain in excess of -the bond of the company should be made larceny by law, for that is what it amounts to. It is sending away-and .selling something not belonging to the elevator Farmers McQatllan Voted Agamst Terminal Elevator Bill Because He Wanted Plant Built Wzthm State Fta.nk P. Mch]lan, member of the . house. of represe'ntatives from Mor- " ton county in the last legxslature, has * written the Leader a letter in which fie says he is going to support the League’s candidates in his district for '~ election to the next legislature, Mr.~ - McQuillan voted for compulsory state " hail insurance and .~ measures but voted against the-fer- " minal elevator bill, which vote he ex- other farmers’ plains in the followmg statement: “The proposed amendment to the . constitution: of North.Dakota in 1912 . was to empower the legislature to. erect and mainfain terminal grain ele- “vators in. Minnesota, Wisconsin or both and the votein Morton county . 7 at that election was 1960 for and 1207 against, making a majority of 753. g“The’ proposgd amendment to the - constitution t0 empower the legisla- “ture’ to erect and maintain terminal . grain elevators within ‘North Dakota, , submitted to the voters at the general election held November, 1914, was in Morton county: WOI, no—-861£ ~~placed one'third more 5 - ers of this state than- ol . previous to the session of 1916. I '} am at present an auxiliary’ member of * your havmg ‘been an active ™ m the vote cast. ~at both eleotlons I was convinced that a larger majority': of - the voters wanted the terminal elevator located in their own state and as I was elected . upon a majority vote, I concluded that I should represent that majority vote, by endeavoring at-least to.keep the terminal elevator, lf built anywhere, ; in our own state. ; ““I am a firm believer in the ter- minal elevator proposition and if my record is carefully looked up during that sessmn, I will be found voting for. the farmers’ mterests from start to finish. ~ 5 “My bill, No. 458, has ‘certainly. r cent money within the control of in any time farmer my life until the last five iears ‘and my sympathies and support ave always been with the men that till the soil; and your candidates for the legisl atureinmydmtrictwflln- - ceive my earnest sup; e farm- He worked all of the summer of 1887 at railroading; when Jim Hill extend- ed his Great Northern from Minot, N. D, to Great PFalls, Montana. He took up a llomestead in 1903 - four miles west of the town, where he now farms 440 acres. - Together with about a dozen other foreigners he hired a teacher for a term of three months during the win- ter of 1890-91, that he might better learn the lan guage. He served as school clerk of his district about ten years ago and was given a clerkship in the legislature of 1897 and again in 1907. When the Greenfield Mutual Fire & Lightning Insurance company was organized in 1903 Mr. Olsness was . chosén secretary, in which capacity he has_‘served almost continuously since. He has also been town clerk in his township (Grandfield) since its organization in 1906. In company with his uncle, A. Hacts About Olsness Aslakson, he built the first hardware store in Sheyenne in 1897 and in 1900 - erected the first hall in town. He also ran a small implement business. This he sold in 1902 owing to poor health, He has visited the old country twice . and traveled quite extensively through Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, England, Scotland and Ireland in 1908. -~ AN EQUITY MAN Mr. Olsness was one of the charter members of .the Farmers’ elevator and was_instrumental in converting 1t into an Equity elevator later, serving as eresxdent of the board at present, r. Olsness claims the distinction of starting the first Equity club in North Dakota by getting fifteen subscribers to “Up-to-Date Farming,” published by E. A, Everett at Indianapolis 18 or 20 years ago. ‘He went to Indianap- olis as-state delegate to the national convention of the American Society of Equity in 1909 and has attended nearly every other convention of that society, always at his own expense. Mr. Olsness is an ardent advocate of compulsory state hail insurance and believes in state regulation of in= surance rates of line companies. EQUITABLE AUDIT CO., Inc. "2 2 Farmers Elevator Companies’ Home of Auditing and Systems for Accounting. Write for References. Gentlcman H cars to start from Dunn Center next w J. R. Kirk Commlssmn Co. Inc. SOUTH ST. PAUL, MINN. SALES AGENCY AND AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE American Society of Equity CONSIGN YOUR LIVE STOCK TO US AND GET A SQUARE DEAL ANOTHER ASSOCIATION SEES BENEFIT IN SHIPPING LIVE STOCK TO THEIR OWN SELLING AGENCY J. R. Kirk Commission Co.,” So. St. Paul, Minn. Drafts received for car of hogs shippe@ you Jan. 21st. through Dunn County Equity Shipping Association. All members that had hogs in the shipment are nwfully well pleased with the good returns and the way you have handled the goods. . With such good returns as you secured us, will mean more coopmtion among the farmers at this end. Yours for more cooperative business, Manning, N. D., Feb. 3, 1916 Will have several more AJ. BRL‘L‘LLAFI‘ Shipping Manager, Your Termlnal Elevator Now Being Bullt ’Whén the above elevator is completed the Equlty Co-operative Exchange will -be in position to STORE GRAIN, CLIP OATS, CLEAN GRAIN, SEPARATE GRAIN ‘LOAN MONEY ON STORED GRAIN Plan your trip east this winter, so that you will be in St. Paul December 5, 6, 7, and help dedioabe the-new elevator. i ‘For shlppmg mstmctxons or other»mforma- % . “tion, address Eqmty Co-operative Exchange ST. PAUL MINNESOTA v