The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 8, 1917, Page 8

b HL How Farmers Did Their Duty A Summary of the Fifteenth Assembly, Showing How League Members Fought for People’s Rights and Passed Good Laws HE Fifteenth legislative as- sembly of the state of North Dakota, the first legislature in which the organized farm- ers have had a voice, came to an end a few minutes before 3 o'clock Saturday morning, March 3. » The first part of the record of the stewardship of the farmers elected to office on the indorsement of the Non- partisan League has heen written. It is record of which no member of the League need be ashamed. It is a record in which to take pride. The men who went down to Bis- marck, sent there as senators and rep-, resentatives by the farmers of the state, were faithful to their trust and their duty. They djd their best, and did it with clear heads and good con- science. - They achieved the greatest of all results; they proved that the people of the state made no mistake in electing them to office. GOOD WORK DONE DESPITE SENATE OPPOSITION Throughout the entire session the efforts of the League members of the house and senate to write into law and to put into operation the pro- gram -of the Non- partisan League,” indorsed by an overwhelming proportion of the voters of the state, was balked by a stubborn and ma- licious majority in the state sen- ate. This consist- ed of the greater number of the hold-over senators elected the old - political> conditions the farmers were not united, of a few men who defeated League candidates in the election and were the League’s most bitter enemies, and of one or two men who, elected on the indorsement of the Nonpartisan League, chose to turn their. backs on their brother farmers, to repudiate the program and purposes of the League, and to assist the old gangsters to resist progress. No session in the history of the state of North Dakota has .written more sound and progressive legislation on the statute books and yet no session has witnessed as determined opposition and as relentless a slaughter of things demanded by the people. The result of the opposition of the senate majority was that no law was enacted which amounts to a fulfill- ment of any part of the League pro- gram. .The Old Guard stubbornly re- sisted the effort to revise the constitu- tion to permit bond issues by which state-owned industries might be built. They offered instead fake laws whose purpose was to prevent public owner- ship. The climax of their resistance was reached when they refused to pass laws offered to them by the house carrying out the direct mandate and order of the people that a way be provided by which the people themselves could pro- pose amendments to the constitution by the initiative process. SENATE REFUSED WHAT THE PEOPLE DEMANDED under The people in 1914 passed an amend=- . ment to the constitution providing that 25 per cent of the voters in half of the counties of the state were sufficient to petition for an amendment to the con- stitution and to have that amendment put upon the ballots at the general election to be adopted or rejected by the people. The old supreme court de- cided that this law did not mean what it said and declared that it was the legislature’s duty to prescribe the con- ditions under which such petitions could be circulated. ) Such laws were framed and passed by the house. They were defeated in the senate solely because the Old Guard had heard that the Nonpartisan League intended to circulate petitions for amendments to the constitution so that the people themselves could decide what changes they wish to make in their constitution. The Old Guard in the senate rules that the people shall not be given the chance to express their will. The final act of the legislature was ‘the passage of a bill framed by the Old Guard in the senate which pro- vides for the erection of a state-owned elevator and appropriates $300,000 for when . governor to appoint a commission to work out the provisions of the bill. This bill was entirely unsatisfactory to the members of the League. The sum of $300,000, 5 they know, is not 3 sufficient for the purpose and, be- sides the bil] pro- vides for saddling a tax burden on the people so as to make the proj- ect unsatisfac- tory. The bill ob- viously was fram- ed to cause fail- ure of the first state-owned in- dustry. Neverthe- less, it was ac- cepted by the League members HAMERLY of the house at the last minute in the belief that Governor Frazier might find it useful for the purpose of using the SOME OF THE ACCOMPLI LEGIS Resolution for constitutional ments from taxation. Compelling railroads to make Compelling railroads to perm needed. money in case of bank failures. pure food.commissioner. Providing a state trademark Dakota products. “Long and short haul” act w railroad rates. power thus given to him for a thorough investigation of the terminal elevator question. LEAGUE MEMBERS KEPT FAITH WITH PEOPLE League members in the -legislature showed their desire to do faithful setv- ice in a fair and honest spirit by ac= cepting some items in the budget ap- propriation bill not entirely. to their. liking. The senate, for instafice, cut down the amount provided for state aid for rural schools in the original budget - by nearly $250,000. = To ~have stood out for many changes in the budget bill would have made an extra session necessary. The Old Guard in the senate wished to- force an extra session ~ in order that the farmer members might get the blame. They were foiled in their purpose. A list of the accomplishments of the 1917 assembly shows what a great amount of valuable legislation the farmers put on the statute books in spite of the resistance of the Old Guard. A LIST OF THINGS 5 FARMERS ACCOMPLISHED Senator Hamilton (League) intro- duced, and was successful in putting through both houses, a bill for a con- stitutional amendment providing for the exemption of farm improvements : from taxation, which is part of the League - program now on its way to completion—in four years or more be- cause House Bill 44 was defeated which would have made: it possibla much ‘sooner. Another feature of the Nonpartisan League program actually accomplished at the 1917 session was a bill for North Dakota grades of grain. This was the outgrowth of Senate Bill 162 by Sena- tor Drown, later worked over and passed as Senate Bill 314 which pro- vides for a North Dakota state grain inspector, who shall establish and publish North Dakota grades, just as ‘Wisconsin and Minnesota now estab--. lish and publish their own grades. The law provides that deputy in- spectors shall be licensed, and penal- ties are provided for violations of the law. The anti-League senate did as much to handicap this measure as possible by cutting down the funds to-sustain it to $10,000 and by cutting the salary of state inspector from $2,000 to $1,000. But with this $11,000 and the returns from fees, it is believed by Senator that purpose. Power is given to the., Drown and others that the law will Establishing North Dakota grain grading system. Protecting warehouse receipts and preventing frauds. Putting farmers’ institutes under department of agriculture, Three acts protécting the dairy industry. Guaranty of bank deposits, insuring that depositors shall get their: Creating highway commission, enabling state to use federal ajd,: taxing automobiles for road purposes and compelling proper care of roads. ! Putting inspection of «ils” and inspectio_n of hotels under the state, ————————————————————— ————— make a big stride towards the final goal of real North Dakota state grades. A bill, Senate 96, authorizing the is- suance of negotiable warehouse receipts against grain or other commodities, providing a penalty for returning any other kind or grade of goods than that specified in the ware- . house receipt, and surrounding the transaction with other safeguards, was passed by both houses and is re- garded as a boon to farmers, who under present financial conditions. can not procure such nego- tiable paper on their stored grain. MORTENSON ¢« In regard to warehouse and ele- vators, there were passed also two SHMENTS OF THE FARMER LATORS: amendment to exempt farm improve- fair allotments of cars to elevators. it construction of elevators where as a guarantee of. quality of North | hich compels railroads to grant fairer other bills of merit, railroads to allot cars in proportion to the handling capacity of the elevators calling for them and compelling them also to furnish cars’ without dis- crimination to farmers who ship sing- ly or privately. - The other is a bill authorizing any person, firm, or cor- poration, desirous-of erecting an ele- vator on a railroad rightsof way, to do SO0 upon tendering a reasonable com- pensation for the use of the land, and compelling the railroad to furnish to them the same kind of service it fur- nishes to line elevator companies and other corporations who have leased right of way sites. DAIRY INDUSTRY GETS ATTENTION A measure of great importance to farmers, is House Bill 174 which takes from the extension department of the Agricultural college the 50 annual farm- ers’ institutes and places them under control of the commission of agricul- -ture, with special instructions to deal with market conditions of farm prod- ucts. Dairy interests were given broad attention by the legislature in the passing of three bills designed to im- prove and safeguard the marketing of dairy products. The first of these, Senate Bill 233, makes it unlawful for anyone who has not passed a suitable examination after having made a study of dairying, to examine or grade Cream. The “other two of this series compel cream stations to make full and detailed reports to the dairy commis- sioner' annually, ‘and concerns dealing in dairy products to procure and keep posted lincenses to do business., An act granting $30,000 to compensate dairymen for the loss of tubercular cattle condemned by state authority, and another granting $500 a year to the North Dakota dairymen’s association, were other measures beneficial to the dairy industry passed by the 1917 leg- islature. A big step forward in railroad rate regulation was taken when the house passed Senate Bill 77, which puts the “long and short haul” principle into application within this state. an instance of how the house passed \ senate legislation that gave promise of getting good results, even while the senate killed many good house bills; Several measures sent over by the senate anti-League forces, which ex- pressly did what League nieasures killed by the senate proposed to do, were passed by the house. Senate Bill EIGHT one. compelling This is tion of all kinds of *and two appointees, 77 takes no authority from the railroad commissioners they now have, but adds to those powers, the authority of fixing rates so that no rate shall be more for a short haul than for a long haul over the same portion of track of a like kind and quantity of freight. This puts the freight hauling business on a mileage basis and abolishes discriminatory rates to favored cities. SENATE KILLS EFFORT TO ABOLISH PARTIES Two franchise bills which would have completed a reform of North Dakota election laws introduced by the League and killed by the senate, one, House Bill 71 abolishing party names on bal- lots, and a companion measure abolish« ing the present form for poll books.’ “The 1917 legislature also placed North Dakota on a high plane of good road activity by passing House Bill 168 accepting the federal government’s apportionment of.funds to states that will co-operate with the central gov- ernment for road building, and in creating a state highway commission to administer this fund. In his inaug- ural address, Governor Frazier strong- 1y urged that the legislature make the necessary appropriations in order to receive this federal aid, and it was his recommendation that resulted in the setting aside, by House Bill 228, of $75,165 for the present year, and $152,- 256 for the year 1918. By making these sums available, North Dakota will re- ceive a like sum from the federal treasury. The state highway commniission created by House Bill 168 will consist of the governor, the state engineer, commissioner of agriculture and labor and will meet within a month after the board is com- pleted. The state engineer is directed to prepare a comprehensive road sys- tem for the state, and to let contracts for road construction authorized by the act. Another road law was passed come " pelling citizens to drag the roads upon proper notification and providing com-= pensation, this to be done under town- ship supervisors in organized town- ships, and otherwise under the county commissioners. g FOR GOOD ROADS AND SAFE BANKS One of the big achievements of the session was Senator Drown’s bank de- Posit guaranty act, Senate Bill 217, which finally passed both houses with almost no opposition. This measure makes deposits in state banks absolutely safe, protecting them with a fund of ap- proximately $250,000 a year if enough banks should ever fail, to require that much. The law is similar to that' of South Dakota, which has been in success= : KING ful operation for several years. CHANGE BASIS OF TAX LEVY The basis of the tax levy on assesse ed valuation was changed in the ine" terest of fairness from 25 per cent of the assessed valua- property as it is now to 20 per cent upon livestock,. agri- cultural tools, thresh- ing outfits,” automo- biles, flour mills, warehouses and the like; and 30 per cent upon clty lots, rail- road property, bank stock, etc, . Barberry bushes HEMMINGSEN that harbor the wheat rust, were de=- clared a nuisance and their destruction decreed. : 5 SOME GOOD LABOR BILLS PASSED : The confidence the legislature ' had in Dr. Ladd, was shown by putting three new duties upon -‘the pure food department over which he presides, the inspection of oils, inspection of hotels, and ' the inspection of soda (Continued on page 23)