The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 11, 1917, Page 5

A T S S TSR ST 53 The picture shows the packed house chamber ma! g message sounding the keynote of the session. - FrazierSoundsSession Keynote Farmer Governor of North Dakota Delivers History-making i at Bismarck during the joint session of the house and senate at which Governor Frazier delivered his historye Message to the New Legislature at Bismarck ISMARCK, N. D. Jan. 6._The new governor of North Dakota, Lynn J. Frazier, elected as a re- sult of the farmers’ uprising that is sweeping the Northwest -message to the new legislature. : Declaring for a complete carrying out of the program of the Nonpartisan League as over- whelmingly approved by the people, recommending a reduction in the legal contract rate of interest from 10 to 8 per cent, proposing complete nonpartisan primaries and elections for all offices and state civil service and other advanced a ant new era in the state. , Wednesday delivered his first nd progressive ideas, thismessage marks the opening of an import- Never has a message been delivered to a North Dakota legislature more pregnant with mod- ern conceptions of government. Never have the people heard their ideas and aspirations in govern- ment more lucidly and forcefully put. Having every chance, as it has, to be enacted into law before GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE TO THE LEGISLATURE On account of the generally poor crops throughout !the state the ‘past: - season, and the-likelihood of poor con- ditions in some parts of the state every: year, I would :recommend that the time of paying taxes be changed . so. that one-half of each individual -tax becomes deliquent March 1 and that the other half becomes delinquent De- cember 1 of each,year, and that the penalty on the last half be made 8 per cent. e { It is almost impossible for a man. < i in any line of business to be suc- . ‘, cessful when he_has to pay 10 per L cent for the money he has invested { and | would recommend that the ', contract rate of interest be reduced 1 { 1 from 10 per cent to 8 per cent and that the taking of usurious rates shall be a misdemeanor. * Good roads are essential for the welfare of-the people of our state and North Dakota should be in line for her share of the national appropriation. We .cannot afford to lose this national aid and in order to obtain it you must create a highway commission and . provide as much money as you get from the national government. ' A MINIMUM WAGE FOR WORKING WOMEN I would recommend that you com- ply with the provision of the federal road bill and that our auto and motor- ~cycle license laws be amended to be more equitable and that the money be used to help meet the national appro- priation. p I would heartily recommend a law establishing a minimum wage for wo- men and children employed in fac- tories, department stores and other similar places and also regulating the hours of their employment. I believe that machinery should be safeguarded and that the working- men are entitled to a reasonable com- pensation act that will insure justice to them and their families and also be fair to the employers. I further recommend that there be & labor bureau established in conneo- tion with the office of the commissione er of agriculture and labor for the puf= pose of furnighing information in re- to employment and distribution of labor and to help solve other labor problems, WANTS CIVIL SERVICE FOR STATE EMPLOYES I would recommend that you con~ . sider the probation system now in vogue in Wisconsin with a view to itas ; adoption in North Dakota -if you find it practicable. I believe that civil service might be introduced in some of our ap- pointive offices to a good-advant- age:both in efficiency and economy, and | would recommend that you, at least, ‘make ‘a start towards a civil service reform. There is a general dissatisfaction in regard to our oil inspection law. It creates a lot of political appointive offices, but -the gasoline still freezes in the. carburetorr and the kerosene still smokes the.chimneys. . In order to get better results under this law, I would recommend that it be amend- ed so as to put the inspection of oils under the pure food department, which is in a position to tell us just what kind of oils we aré buying. I would also recommend that the hotel inspection law be amended so as to put the inspection of hotels under the pure food department. \ DEVELOP COAL BEDS, SAYS THE GOVERNOR If the state tax commission is to be of the best possible service to the state, I believe that it should be given more authority and by virtue of their experience and knowledge gained from their work and study of the problems of taxation, they should be in the very best position to know the relative value of property throughout the state and therefore, I recommend that the tax commission be included in the stafs board of equalization. Lignite coal 18 one of our great natural resources and through the un- tiring efforts of Dean Babcock of the school ‘of mining at the university, it - has been conclusively proven that the lignite briquets produced at the Heb- ron experimental briquetting plant, are among the best produced any- where or from any kind of coal. The byproducts are very valuable. The gas thus produced, if converted into elec- tricity, would make cheap power that could be used for almost any purpose It has also been demonstrated that our clay deposits are extremely valuable for making pottery, tiling and brick. I would recommend that a liberal appropriation be made to carry on this experimental work with a view to enlarging and expanding'it as soon as possible, and that steps be taken to seo that these great resources be con- served and not-wasted, BETTER RURAL SCHOOLS ARE DECLARED FOR Soms of our river valleys have sut- fered from periodical floods. The condition of the upper Red river valley during the past season was most deplorable. The state needs better drainage laws and I would recommend that you carefully consider the. pro- posed legislation of the committee, of the Tri-state Flood Control association. "~ The reports of the budget committee and of the different boards and of pub- lic institutions will soon. be available and’ I recommend them to your care- ful considération with the purpose ‘of putting the state institutions upon the - best possible basis. . ‘We are proud of our educational in- stitutions and want to still further im- prove them. I believe that greater progress can be made by more closely harmonizing the courses of.study at the various institutions and by making the superintendent of public instruc- tion a member of the board of regents and giving him more authority. But the most important educational insti- tution in the state today is the rural . school. During thé past few years much progress has been made inm increasing the efficiency of the-rural schools, but there is much more to db before they will be as efficient in their field as are the city schools in theirs. MORE STATE AID FOR RURAL SCHOOLS % To promote consolidation and stan- dardization we need more state aid and especially for consofidation and there is urgent need to increase the rural school inspection force suffi- ciently. At.least in both cases to deal Justly with the rural schofpls by giv- ing them an equality of t in these respects with the schools. In rural schools in state the enrollment is three times as great as that of the city schools and the rural schools have but one inspector as have the city schools, and the dcity schools ‘get more state aid whereas tho rural schools should get three times as much in order to get their proportienate and just sharee I em- dorse the state superintendent’s pro- gram of rural school improvement through comsolidation and standard- ization, for it will increase the -effi~ clency of the entire state school sys- tem. NONPARTISAN BALLOT FOR ALL THE OFFICES . Therefore, I earnestly recommend that you provids the necessary state aid and the laws to make possible the promotion of consolidation and stan- dardization of rural schools and thus give the country boys and girls a more equal opportunity with the city boys and girls to get an education, There are a number of orphan chil- - this historic session of ;t_he legislature is ended, the message is of utmost importance. Its text follows: dren at our state reform school for the reason that the state has no other place to send them. I would earnestly recommend that something be done to relieve this situation and make better provision for our orphan children. I would also recommend that the +office of fire marshal be abolished and that the work of that department be turned over to the commissioner of in- surance, thus giving the insurance commissioner more authority and sav- ing to the state the salary of the fire - marshal. Believing that national political party affiliations should not be considered in the election of coun- ty and state officers, and that the best interests of the greatest num- ber of people can be served by the use of a nonpartisan ballot, | recommend that our election laws be amended to provide a nonparti- san ballot for all county leglisla- tive and state offices. I trust that the committee on ap- propriations will study conditions carefully; that they will consider fair- ly and impartially all demands and’ recommendations for, appropriations and determine what is reasonable and necessary for the best interests of all concerned. I trust that under no-con- sideration will this assembly pass ap- propriations that will in the aggregate exceed the amount of money available and thus necessitate the use of the governor’s veto power. A FINE MOVEMENT Freeport, Minn. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I received my membership certificate in the League and fully realize that it is a fine movement to bring farmers to- gether that they may correct abuses to which they are subjected. The fight will be a hard one in Minnesota but we will win if we stick to it. We must not think that we have won by simply Jjoining this movement. Wa have to keep right on and do all we can- A look at the daily papers will convince the most skeptical that our advocacy of the farmer’s cause is the signal for the big interests to try to down us. _ But we do not care. It is-our turn. Surely they can not rule always. Or- ganization is what will win. We can win in no other way. Sending men to do our business and staying at home ourselves i3 absurd. It has been tried out long enough and we have to pay for it. We must do our own law mak- ing. The other fellow will frame laws fo his liking. The sooner we commence the better. They say we get 47 cents out of every $1 we earn. Surely something is wrong, z B. J. LOONAM.