The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 7, 1916, Page 4

R o i ,,,,,, { . MENT AFTER PHE MONEY 1S SPENT. But “that is just exactly toward absolutism in commerce, in finance, in all mdustmal afi"aus gfl | what Hanna has done, and then ke asks the people of the state to approve that as “business administration.” Steen that they had the manhood and the honesty to oppose this con- temptible political trick. Both of them know the facts about the state’s funds. and Steen told Hanna plainly in the state board’s meeting that this action meant a CERTAIN DEFICIT OF NOT LESS THAN HALF A MILLION in the first year of operation of the new state administration. The facts are that they understated it, because they did not wish to to gain control of all the avenues and instrumentalities of trade.” - discredit their own administration too much. . ‘The truth is that on the present scale of fixed state expenditures the deficit will be NEARER A MILLION THAN A HALF MILLION. The action of Hanna, Linde and Flint means PUTTING THE ’opinion on his choice of President Wilson in preference to Mr. Hughes. STATE A MILLION DOLLARS IN THE HOLE for the sole purpose of It may have been that choice or the former senator’s statement that if GRATIFYING A POLITICAL GRUDGE. What do the people of -the state think of this? their “business administration” ? 2 * * * HOW ‘A SERVILE PRESS WORKS More interesting than the facts concerning the cut in the assessed . valuations by the board of equalization is the way the newspapers (so- called) in the state handled it. What the Bismarck Tribune said about it is told elsewhere. No mention of the fact could be found in the Fargo How do they like Courier-News nor the Grand Forks Herald until several days had passed. Edison; it failed to stop Goethals. Then they printed “dispatches” in which this effort to scattle the ship - of state was praised as “economy.” No newspaper in the state attempted to find. out the real conditlon of the state’s funds. None exposed the facts regardmg thxs political frameup. None even .got a statement on the matter from Jorgenson ° the big grain and cotton terminals in New Orleans. and Steen, who opposed the reduction. Newspapers all over the state recently printed a story that the tax ~in wheat trading in the Dominion. It isn’t half as good as it was before commission had found farm lands under-assessed when compared to municipal ownership in a dozen progressive cities in the United States railroads and other classes of property. -This statement was given wide publicity. It was given that publicity for political purpeses. The story is absolutely untrue.” The tax commission made no such findmgs No. newspaper has printed the truth about it. The Old Gang still commands and’ controls: the news medlums, the. source of public sentiment. It is stilt deceiving the people of the state = want fhem owned and run privately. ; through the newspapers.- still swallowing the dope. - Yet some people don’t see the need of an independent daily news- paper in the state. They think it would “cost too much” to have a news- paper not controlled by the political gang or Big Busmess -The present plan is inexpensive. It only costs the ta.xpayers a few odd millions yearly. The price of it is corruption, political blindness, exploitation, graft, legalized robbery and plundermg by Bxg Business. Cheap, isn’t it? . Many people who ought to know better are - * k% HANSBROUGH’S PARAMOUNT ISSUE Former United States Senator H. C. Hansbrough wrote an article wrong way. - The cards were stacked- agamst them at the start. e, UM s e RS S SR tion of the world’s wealth by a small fraction of men who have managed et . _’ut about Senator Hansbrough believes this condition of affairs to be the i o{ggr_ .zt; “paramount issue” before the American people. In this conclusion the & ‘m taki Leader heartily agrees with him, without, however, expressing any T 1:;‘3 : 2 he were in North Dakota he would “have his coat off working for the | "fiz},;; Nonpartlsan League” that caused Froggy Smith to say that he “didn’t result ;’!f agree” with Hansbrough. At any rate, anybody who doesn’t agree - : mufm" with Froggy is likely to have something to say worth hearing / duction - * ok ok valaatio “IT CAN'T BE DONE” : : i‘;‘;‘r’”‘m The best argument the obstructionist has is: “It can’t be done; grea'tly nobody ever did it before,” That argument failed to stop Columbus;. s the Fr it failed to stop Pasteur; it failed to stop Stephenson; it failed to stép 4 fme JORGH Still, it’s considered very good when applied to state ownershlp of a A4 P’ROPI terminal elevator or anythmg else that might stop graft and redound to = -§ The the public benefit. the £l The argument isn’t nearly as good as it was before Louisiana built 8 :‘e“” It isn’t nearly as § I5A good as it was before the Canada gram act cut out some of the extortion . ¥ qér;lu ~Jorg: 0 T began to slash light and water and gas rates and give the people new lflefic conveniences at unheard-of prices. . s z‘é‘t The United States government built the Panama canal, a feat that - R stat staggered: the world; but.the government couldn’t build or run a rail- - '{ : Ste road: = Oh, of course not!. At least, not as long as the kings of finance i boE By the way, if you can divorce from your nnnd the blood and horror . .} ;ha: of the European carnage and consider it as a business proposition it's " the a pretty wonderful example of co-operative effort, isn’t it? Why .. § th:‘ doesn’t: Germany permit her leading generals to organize corporations S 1 and let a few private contracts to defend her borders? i e :; WITH THE CARDS STACKED e Y Part of the reason why the grain combine continues to hold its | e grip on Minnesota is shown in an article in this issue of the Leader. "j They have -tried to break the grip of the monopoly in Minnesota. 2 They have fought for a free market. But they have fought it in the . : in: govsrnmental administration itself. ’1‘ “As it is the natural reaction from extreme and soulless methods on It is to the credit of State Auditor Jorgenson and State Treasurer the part of so-called ‘big business.’ “It is the inevitable expression of the popular mind against-the sue= cessful efforts of combined capital to enslave the producmg classes,’ They know that without any reduction the state’s funds would - binding them with the shackles of perpetual indebtedness in the form have been insufficient to meet the debts already contracted.” Jorgenson of a mountain of interest-bearing and dividend-producing securitie§= securities owned or controlled by the parasitic class or non-producers. - “It is the protest of honest industry against the crafty manipula- They ] that was printed in Public Opinion, Froggy Smith’s paper at Bismarck. have never realized the benefits of political co—operatlon, or. the need of & S Senator Hansbrough had been visiting old friends in the capital and, feeling in the mood to write something, he did so and handed it to Smith. It isn’t often we find anything worth reprinting in Public Opinion, but here is a passage that is worth the attention of thoughtful people: “Repeatedly have I been asked by my Repubhcan friends in North Dakota and elsewhere what it is that so. disturbs the voters of the country, causing them to make ‘strange alliances’ and approve radical or ‘socialistic’ platforms. The answer involves little difficulty. N RECENT years we have heard much of the desirability . of main- taining an independent judiciary and the arguments advanced in support 6f this desirable consummation have for the most part left. vague impressions as to the indentity. of the Modern Thought an ‘influence from which it was desirable " to maintain independence. + If by an independent judiciary is . meant one that will decide the suits of :individuals. and corporations according - to the law applicable without fear of . consequences or hope of reward by way _of political ‘preferment or otherwise all will agree that such independence is the ; first requisite of a court worthy of the [ respect and confidence of the people.who | love justice and pride themselves upon ; their ability to maintain a government of law. This standard or type of inde- pendence is universally accepted and * instances of departure from it when , known at once become notorious and_the _eourts are speedily rid of the ofienders. There is, however, another sense in . which the pleaders for an independent it. Big Business has ruled the organizations. Isn’t it funny to think of these simple farmers. BEGGING for justice and expecting to get it? Why don’t they get a club and DEMAND JUSTICE? -, Just wait. seen. what North Dakota has done by political organization . They’re going to do it. getting busy themselves. The next legislature will be controlled by Big Busmess, no doubt, 4 &2 “To my mmd it is to be found in the strong, persistent tendeney but two years after that there may be a different story. ~The Courts and the People Shall our Judges Be “Independent” of d Human Progress? BY LUTHER E. BIRDZELL Professor of Law in the Umversxty of North Dakota and candidate for the state supreme court indorsed by the ’Nonpartlsan League. judiciary wuse the term. Judicial deci- sions, while deciding and purperting to decide only the instant case before the court, frequently have a governmental and political signification which com- pletely overshadows the personal contro- versy of the sultors 3 Many instances of such cases rmght be cited but a few will suffice: The Dred Scott decisioin of the United States supreme court; which had such a far- reaching effect as to be accounted a factor in the Civil war. Lincoln opposed the rule of this case pelitically and<his political opposition. -~ was successful. The income tax decision of 1894 holding (four of the nine judges dissenting) that PAGE FOUR the federal government was powerless to levy an income tax to supplement its revenues. The rule of this case encoun- tered political opposition, but it required twenty years of ceaseless effort to amend the federal .constitution so as to make: legal that which many, including four of the nine judges of the United States supreme court, thought legal before. Similarly cases involving the consti- tutzonahty of workmen’s compensation acts, primary election laws, initiative and referendum provisions, guaranty of bank deposits acts, etc., are of such fre- quent occurrence that we scarcely regard the function of deciding them as out of the ordinary run of Jjudicial busmess. . GUARDING “VESTED RIGHTS” legislature and laughed at Farmers Give them time. They have They. are [x In as much as the; pol bearing, the propn ] solution by an ' ind e Judxclary which is a non-political .branch ' of the government is semmsly questioned. From this source springs the demand for the recall of judges, ‘and the recall of judicial ' decisions as measures. for the control of the exercise of such important political functions. RULE OF THUMB LOGIC’ At this point those who are styled con- ‘servative and the progressnve ‘minded generally disagree concerning the meas- ure and quality of inde ence desir- able in- the’ ]udiclary ‘Those - styled conservative w. ‘be found: .shck- S