The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 8, 1917, Page 5

s o T, 2 i s A ArD R T el e " PEOPLE BE DAMNED, " SAYS N. D. SENATE | House Bill 44, Providing for Submitting to the People a New Con- stitution for ISMARCK, Jan. 29.— Twenty-nine North Da- kota senators, most of ’ them hold-overs elected two years.ago, today set their will against that of the people of North Dakota and voted down the plan for submitting a new constitution, to carry out the farmers’ program, to the people of the state- at a special election next June. House Bill 44, taining the mnew constitution, passed by the house of represent- atives by a vote of 81 to 28, was indefinitely ' postponed by the senate by a vote of 29 to 20. It was probably as ruthless a repudiation of the people as any legislative body ever perpetrated. The people of North Dakota by an unprecedented political revo- lution last fall swept into private life practically - every - candidate who opposed the carrying out of the farmers’ program of political and economic reforms. They elect- ed by an overwhelming vote a gov- : ernor and house of representatives pledged to that program. = But the constitutional provision for hold-over senators left 24 men in the ‘present senate elected two _ Yyears ago. 18 of the 25 senators up for elec- tion last fall. To reach the hold-overs the pawple of North Dakota storm- ed the state house with a flood of petitions in favor of House Bill 44 the like of which had never been seen before. Thousands upon thousands of these- petitions, from. men of every walk of life and every part of the state, were stacked before the senate, with only a handful of petitions opposing the measure. NO DERATE IS ALLOWED Knowing thiese facts and facing this situation the anti-farmer ‘gang in the senate fired up the steamroller and completely flat- tened out-the minority of 20 that was attempting to carry out the people’s will. The farmers’ ma- jority in the house had given the opposition five days of debate in which to express themselves on House Bill 44. The gang major- ity in the senate railroaded the _bill to defeat after an hour of consideration in committee and a couple of hours only for debate on the floor. The farmers’ minor- ity in the senate pleaded in vain for the same courteous treatment that the farmers’ majority in the senate had granted the _‘opposi-' tion. . - The senate did not consider House Bill 44 on its merits. It did not -listen to argument. Blinded by prejudice against the farmers’ cause, Tesenting _the ‘farmers’ organization that had . brought ‘about the: political up- heaval in North Dakota, urged on by the special interests and their lackeys who have fought - the farmers’ cause from the start, drunk with' the power to defeat the people ‘that:their slight ma- jority in the senate gave them, the gang rode rough shod over the. farmers. Most of these senators who stood between the people and their political and economic aspi- con- - Program, Voted Down 29 to 20 rations have burnt their bridges behind them. They knew when they knifed this people’s measure that they were through, politie- ally, in North Dakota. They can never be elected to any public of- fice again, and they did not care what they did so long as it satis- fied their own personal resent- ment and bitterness that the farm- ers should demand anything and county, voted against the League on every rollcall, even casting a vote in favor of the motion to re- consider and that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, the customary ‘‘clincher’’ by which action is made irrevocable. The other event was the fact that two senators, not hitherto lined up with the League, voted on nearly every rolleall in favor of | - He Will Get a New Pair Yet! | GIVE ME A N PAIR OF PANTS — MNVE The farmers clected P+ inforce that demand by a poli- tical organization. : In the senate Tuesday, January 30, this bill had not had one moment of consideration. It reached the senate on Monday, was referred to the state affairs committee, known to be commit- ted to its death in the beginning, was considered by the committee for one hour Tuesday morning, and led to execution on the senate floor on the very day that the senate journal recorded 5025 sig- natures in favor of it, against 1104 opposed to it. The only consideration that House Bill 44 received in the senate, was the ex- planations and pleass made by League senators under various “motions by which they sought to hold-it long enough to get a fair debate. Contrary to the -dction of the house majority, which did not restrict debate and gave all the time that was wanted, the - senate succeeded in stopping de- bate by several motions and put the bill up to its final vote—the - acceptance--of the committee re- port to indefinitely postpone. " Two notable events marked the defeat of House Bill 44. Sena- tor Albert Stenmo, elected by the Nonpartisan League from = the. Seventh district, Grand Forks the bill. They were Senator Mar- tin Thoreson of District 38, part of Barnes county, and Senator W. E: Martin of District 30, part of Morton county. Senators Hamil- ton and Sikes, hold-overs, also voted for the bill. The final vote on the bill was 29 against it and -20 for it. In order to get the twentieth vote, it had been neces- sary for the senate to recess half an hour while Senator Hamilton brought Senator Drown of Cass county up to the capitol to cast his vote, Senator Drown arising from a sickbed to come to’ the senate chamber. Senators Hamilton of McHenry county, District 34, and Cahill of ° . Morton county, Distriet 47, led the-fight for the bill, and were. helped by Senators Walter Wel- ford of Cavalier county, King of Burleigh, MecCarten of Sargent county, Pendray of Stutsman, Le- vang of Walsh, Ettested of Me- Henry county, District 45, and ‘Wenstrom of Wells. All of thege senators spoke one or more times upon the measure, Hamilton and - Cahill taking a leading part. Instantly upon the conclusion of the rollcall, Senator McGray moved the ‘‘clincher’’ motion, which would make it impossible for the vote to be reconsidered v FIVER North Dakota, Carrying Out the Farmers’ and further opportunity be given to the bill. On tHis rolleall the lineup was nearly the same, the changes being that Senator Hamerly voted against the clinch- er; and Senator Lindstrom voted against it. On the other hand, for some reason, Zieman, who had voted. with the League on every rolleall, voted for the clincher, which gave a net result of 28 for it, and 21 against. There were several other roll- calls, with practically the same lineup, only one or two changes oceurring here and there, as an individual now and then was ap- pealed to or not by the particular - motion. The entire progress of the bill is summed up in these, and the motions to which they at- tach, which, if reviewed briefly, will show the desperate fight that the peoples’ senators put up to save the League program. The first motion on House Bill 44 was that by Senator Hyland, chairman of the committee on state affairs, which brought in the majority report to indefinite- ly postpone House Bill 44. The members of the committee who signed the majority report were: Hyland, Ployhar, Paulson, Thore- son, Allen, - Nelson of Grand Forks, Gibbons, Stenmo, Sand- strom, Jacobson, Lindstrom, Kretschmar and Heckle. Those who signed the minority report, that House Bill 44 do pass, were _King, Hamerly, Morkrid, Morten- son. HYLAND MOVES TO ADOPT REPORT Hyland moved the adoption of the majority report. King moved the substitution of the minority Teport. Hamilton moved that the report be laid over until 3 p. m. Wednesday, February 7, and re- ferred to special-orders for dis- cussion. The vote came first on Hamilton’s-motion, and it lost by a rollcall of 28 to 20, with Sena- tor Drown, sick in' bed, absent and not voting. Then there were a series of motions to refer the bill back to committees, McGar- ten moving it be referred to the judiciary committee, which ‘lost by the same vote; Hamilton mov- ing that it be referred to the com- mittee on counties (on the ground that every county is interested in the measure), which lost by a rollcall of 20 to 28, one absent and not voting; Cahill moving that it be referred to the committee of the whole, which was lost without a rollcall, and Hamilton then moved that it be referred to the committee on temperance. ' This motion lost by 18 to 30, one not voting. During all this time discussion of the bill was being held as mem- bers seized each opportunity to speak upon the various motions, explaining why they wished more time, gnd would like to- have it referred to some committee for further consideration. But these were all voted down, as was Sena- " tor Morkrid’s motion to adjourn, after the discussion had grown warm, and there was no change in the votes. Morkrid’s motion lost 33 to 15, with one not voting. As a final effort, Senatoz Wel- ——————— e . | ——— el — e ————