The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 15, 1917, Page 11

They Have a (By a Staff Correspondent) St. Paul, Minn., March 10.—The much condemned and ridiculed Teigen in- vestigation is on at last and if they do not do another thing they have already" done enough at this writing to warrant the gratitude of all lovers of democracy of this state for years to come. 3 The Teigen resolution calling for this investigation was introduced on the 25th of January; was laid over upon notice of debate given by Representa- tive Anton Anderson; .on February the the 1st, after a conference with Asher Howard, the chairman of the ‘rules committee, Representative W. I.-Nolan, had it referred to his guardianship where it reposed under his careful sur- veilance until February 23, when it was reported out with -a 'recommendation that the committee be given the assist- ance of an attorney, a court reporter, an accountant and the. necessary clerk assistance. = Their recommendations were turned dowm, however, by the combined forces of Big Biz and the so-called “economy"” farmer, ABLE ATTORNEY IN HOUSE VOLUNTEERS HIS SERVICES The committee, however, was not to be disheartened and was offered the services of one of the ablest attorneys of the house, Representative Tom Davis, of Marshall, and as a result the committee has finally got to. work. The results of the committees’ revelations have ‘already become the talk of the towm. , S The first one to cave ‘before the grueling cross-questioning of attorney Davis wa& P. P. Quist, the chief state weigh-masteér. Mr. Quist admitted it to have been a common practice as long as he Had/been in that position and thought thie’practice had been in vogue before his time to collect a political slush fund for the purpose of retain- ing in office the then railroad and warehouse commissioners, and to de- feat any and all new aspirants for their position. He admitted further that in his weighing department in Minneapolis alene there was collected around $1,690 during every cempaign, and that he and his secretary, Mr. Kellar, would do the collecting ‘and that they would in turn hand the money over to the trea- surer, Mr. Eva, or Mr. Emerson. This examination took place on Wednesday and the admissions so -affected Mr. Quist that while it had not been con- cluded, yet on Thursday Mr. Quist had to be excused on account of illness, which was very apparent to the spec- tators, and in his place Mr. O. E. Bakke, the issistant state weigh-master was called to the stand. FAITHFUL WEIGH-MASTER | A GOOD CAMPAIGNER Mr. Bakke testified that he had been assistant weigh-master at Minneapolis. for the past six years and that during that time na complaint had ever been made against him. Mr. Bakke testified that while in the employ of the state while in the campaign two years ago, he was sent to Polk county in the in- terests of the candidacy of Ira B. Mills by Mr. Quist’s secretary, Geo. W. Kel- lar, and that his expenses were be= tween fifty and sixty dollars, but spent even more than that; that he was paid for his. time by the state and that he was. afterwards given a vacation be- sides. | But, that during the last cam- paign, because of his faithful services, he was not required to make any con= tributions. . When asked if he was afraid of giv- ing evidence to this committee because of the danger of losing his job, he re- plied, “I have my suspicions to that. But you people are representing the people of this state and if you can do anything for the good of the depart- ment (weigh-master’s department) my job would be a secondary consideration with me.” HOW FARMERS LOSE IN CUPOLA WEIGHING | He testified that the weighing in cupola scales because of the fact that it is under and subject to conditions which tend to remove some of the grain before it reaches-the scale hoppers, 50 that regardless of how accurately "a scalé was operated there is a certain loss sustained by the shipper. At the bottom of the garner and at the bottom of the scale there is a valve operated by a lever (see illustration) end that the operation of these levers is not under control of or subject to the representative of the state, but wholely subject to the operation of the elevator management in which such scale or garner is located, and that it is possible and during his experience it has happened and that in his opinion it does happen that such valves leak. Look Out! Gather up a few donations to “keep the boys in office. That is the system in Minnesota, testify state officials at hearing. promote good public ' service, doesn’t it? ‘Which master should an official serve, the ' people or the boodlers? It tends to He’s Mad Now To Abolish Senate Ryder Citizens Send in Petition and Advise Others to Do the Same Ryder, Ward Co., N. D, Feb. 26, 1917. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: The following petition was taken up which speaks for itself. Hundreds, yes thousands will sign such a petition, but the legislative session was nearing its close, so we sent it in to Rep. J. E. Erb, from this district. Had we taken it up earlier, we could have gotten thousands of signers instead of a few. Let ‘the readers of the 'Leader take up petitions all over the state and do away with this unnecessary fifth wheel ‘of the legislative wagon: the state- Senate. Farmers, fire in your petitions to.the secretary of state and keep this up by the thousands, and by the next gover- nor -election, the legislature will know where we stand. A Yours respectfully, A, HONG. Following is the petition: To the State Legislature of North Dakota: 3 Sirs:— ‘We, the undersigned legal voters and citizens of the state of North Dakota and of the United States, respectfully petition the state legislature to include an amendment in the constitution of the State of North Dakota to abolish the state senate. ‘We believe that one legislative body, the house of representatives, and the governor, is sufficient, and we regard the functions of the state senate as un- necessary and as harmful as the Eng- lish House of Lords. By abolishing the state senate, laws could ,be enacted ° promptly, and at a great saving to the people. ‘We are informed that a movement is - also on foot to create a permanent law making body, known as the cOommis- gion form of government. We are firm- NINE 1y opposed to the commission form of government, as it will have a tendency to give the commission autocratic and despotié powers. R. N. Haugen, A. S. Anderson, Olaf Anderson, Jacob Fiel, Harry Hanlon, A Hong, James A. Shea, V. S. Grover, E. L. Evans, £. E. Evans, A. W. Evans, Geo. Morris, John Ahlgran, R. R. Slo- cum, Joseph Mueller, F. J. Schilling, O. L. Hjelmstad, G. J. Tigh, Just Mol- naa, Ed McGourty, A. J. Granum, Fred Hacanson, T. W. Hungate, Erick W. Larson, Syver Olsen, Andrew Lodieu, Fred Bussmann, F. S.” Ranney, Henry Hove, Morey Kuelmu, Kongsberg, N. D., A. Joinson, Marlin Flannery, P. F. Erb, Bernt Fines. CHARTS SHOW BIG STEAL Howard, S. D., Feb. 19, 1917. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: ‘We are going to give you an outline - of a most successful meeting held in Howard in the interest of the farmers, ‘Wednesday, February 14, 1917. There were about 250 present to hear Mr. W. H. Talmage, speaker on ‘“Why, and When and Should: the Farmers Or- ganize.” He was received with a warm wel- come and great applause. Mr. Talmage kept his audience interested for fully two hours. Mr. Talmage gave an elegant address on the big steal of the Chamber of Commerce relating to the.illegal grading of grain and their big gambling scheme illustrated by charts, He also spoke on how Wall street controlled the western states and how because we are not organized, we can not protect our interests. There were a few new members taken in at the close of the meeting and all agreed it was a suecess. ) A RASMUS M. BANKS. R. F. BROWN. -~ GrainScalesandCampaign Cash | e e M s 2 e Bey HoPPER VALVE So that small quantities of grain would be lost to the “shipper amounting to probably five to ten bushels per car. He further testified that if the ele- vator men wished to, they might open the valve on the scale hopper and let some grain run out of it, and that such action could not be detected by the state weigh-master, and that the ele- vator management could close the valve in the garner before all the grain in it had run out into the scale hopper. So that some grain would be retained in the garner without being weighed, and that by opening the valve of the garner at the time or after opening the valve of the scale hopper such grain would escape being weighed, and that such action could not be detected by the state weigh-master. = He added, “I am a farmer and if I were to ship a carload of grain I should demand that it be weighed on track scales.” 2 He stated further that the integrity of the state weights to the shippers was determined largely and dependent upon the honesty of elevator manage- ment wherein such grain was weighed. GRAIN “BRIGHTENED” BY USE OF SULPHUR Another significant fact was brought to light-by Mr. Bakke when he testi- fied that he knew the location of three different sulphurizing plants, one at the Delmar, one at the Interstate and one at the Dickinson elevators, and that at these sulphur plants they take: damaged oats, barley and wild oats and treat them with sulphur fumes so that they become white and bright, and that as a result of employment he had become sick and was compelled to con- sult a doctor who instructed him that his health and happiness depended upon him discontinuing such work. He considered such treatment an injustice to the farmers because such treated grains, or purified grains as spoken of in the grain trade, were sold on the market on the same basis and in com- petition with the natural grain coming direct from the country. A resolution was introduced to give the committee the court reporter de- nled them some time ago. z The above are, however, not the only things that have come to light the past week. The state treasurer, Henry Rines, has called attention to the fact that certain favorite banks have been given the benefit of the- state’s funds, and that as a result the state has lost sev- eral thousand dollars of interest every year. There are also a number of other things which other committees are un- covering which promise to be very ine teresting in the near future. COTEAU MEETING. Coteau, N. D. Editor Nonpartisan League: We have had a very good Nonpartisan meeting in Ward school house No. 15, There were fifteen men and four wom=- en present, and they were addressed by Mr. Jensen, a League organizer, PETER F. SCHALL. | | 13 3