The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 11, 1918, Page 14

N A . PR YO Sy ot - B B oRE 0.0 _;-fi;g‘g;‘.,.lu.zgugm-.’r:;n.n»n;y»mm v PRLU B P _The State Senate Must Be Reformed Too Much Sabotage at Special Session; Voters Will Punish Men Who “Strike on the Job” ERHAPS a few North Dakota farmers, during the past year, may have forgotten about the state senate. Perhaps they did not remember very distinctly the con- temptuous manner in which the sen- ate treated House Bill 44, the general disposition to beat every meritorious measure that came over from the house, the spirit of hostility toward Lynn J. Frazier, the farmer governor, who was elected by the most over- whelming vote in the history of the state. 1t is handy to say that North Da- kota has a ‘“farmer legislature,” and word has gone out all over the coun- try that it is a “farmer legislature.” But this isn’t exactly the case. If North Dakota farmers, forgetting their experience at the regular ses- sion of 1917, needed anything to show them that this wasn’t the case, the special session of 1918 supplied that need. It showed that the senate, with its majority of four against the Nonpartisan league farmers, still needs to be reformed. The senate was not quite so raw as it has been.- Some of the senators gseemed to have learned something from the results of the special con- gressional election in the First dis- trict, when John Baer was elected with a bigger vote than his old line Republican and Democratic opponents combined. But it was still the sen- ate, with a majority of its members having strings of some kind leading back, in one way and another, to the old political gang that has run North Dakota for Big Business for so many years. TWO GOOD WORDS ALL SENATE COULD FIND The senate was directly responsible for the delay in the session that made it hold over into the second week. It was unwilling to accept the kind of a seed and feed bonding bill that the farmers of the house wanted, a bill introduced by a farmer from the drouth stricken section. The senate was not content to make amendments ~in this bill to make it fit their ideas. The senate found no merit whatever in this bill. There were just two words in it that the senate could ap- prove. These were the words “A Bill.” For some reason or other the genate was willing to accept these ‘words. Everything else in the bill was stricken out and a new bill was gent back to the house. . There was not so much différence in the new bill. Because the senate “got its back up’ and refused flatly fair compromise agreements the farmers of -the house finally were forced to accept the new bill much ‘ag it came from the senate. In the ' view of most of the farmers it is not- ! ag- good a. bill as the house bill, it . does not put the credit of the state ! back of the seed and feed bonds.and ' it may prove more difficult to raise the money needed for the farmers. al Byt the bill probably will answer the purpose. 1 The senate was very anxious to punish the crime of sabotage. Al- . though agreement had been reached by both houses to consider only cer- tain matters at the special session, ;‘:‘a, the senate broke over this agreement - to-pass a bill to punish sabotage. The T punishment may run from a year to lite imprisonment. _Now sabotage is defined as “strik- lng on the job.” In other words, those who practice sabotase, believe'-v that instead of quitting their work in a factory or on a farm in a strike, they should h3ld onto their jobs but . do as little work as possible and as - POISON GAS much injury as possible by breaking machinery and the like. The anti-sabotage bill passed by the legislature is a good bill. It will —Drawn expressly for the Léader by W. C. Morris The organized mortgage loan brokers of the United States appropriated $25,000 to be used in an effort to prevent the expansion of rural credit banks. This money ‘was largely to be used in misleading publicity to poison the public mind against the farm banks and to maintain Iobbyists at Washington to influence congress. This is as deadly a form of poison gas as is used in the European war. But it didn’t work. The plans of the mortgage brokers were exposed and the farm banks recently got the help they asked from congress. EXTRY! EXTRY! EXTRY! Farmers Are “Inartistic,” says Tenneson A 1ot of things are “inartistic,” or have been said to be, but rather a new use of the word bobbed up in the special session of the North Da- kota legislature at Bismarck. A bill was introduced, backed by .League members, for a moratorium for soldiers during the war, so that their property rights will be protected while they are absent flghting for de- mocracy. Among the most strenuous objec- tors 'to the bill was Representative , Tenneson of Cass county, He said he approved of its purpose, but that it was all wrong. said, because it was unconstitutional and a lot of other things which Mr. Tenneson, who is a lawyer, said were the matter with it. More than that, Mr. Tenneson said the bill was “inartistically: drawn.” He used that expression in explaining why he voted against it. The mem-. bers laughed right out, and. passed the bill by a big vote. When the house journal a printed It wouldn’t work, he * PAGE FOURTEEN record of the proceedings, appeared the next day, something had happened to Mr. Tenneson’s remarks. He had been ‘‘joshed” a good deal in the meantime. “Inartistic’” had become a byword in the debates. The word ‘‘inartisically” wasn’t in the journal at all. In its place was the word ‘“‘unskilfully.” * Someone noticed the change, and the house gaily voted to have it changed back to ‘“inartistically.” = Before the people get through in North Dakota they may do many ‘things that lawyers will call “inar- tistic,” but which will help the com- mon man to make a living for himself and his family. A law doesn’t need to be ‘‘artistic’’ to be effective and the people of North Dakota and ‘the nation are tired of ‘the “artistic” way in which the poli- ticians have been putting it over on . them for so long. The old political gang in North Da- kota and other states will have to’ get used to a lot ot "lna.rtistic” stuff, ‘stop their “atrlkins on the job.” give a new remedy to punish men who' destroy food. The League members in the house voted for it unanimously and the League governor approved it. As some of the farmers in the house " said, it would have been well to have had a penalty just as severe for prof- iteers who hoard and destroy food for the purpose of putting prices up, but the senate didn’t see fit to make provision of this kind. " WHAT ABOUT SABOTAGE IN THE LEGLSLATURE? But while the senate was providing for the punishment of those who prac- tice sabotage, why didn’t they make some provision for punishing state senators who ‘‘strike on the job?” ‘What else, but, “striking on the job,” .is conduct such as striking out every- thing after the words “A Bill,” and writing a new bill? Throughout the session old gang senators took every occasion possible to play politics. The chief aim of many of the old gangsters seemed to be, not what they could do to help the farmers of North Dakota to win the war, but what they could do to win the war against the farmers. A - disgraceful fact was that in the last hours of the session the senate found time to play politics, by passing a resolution attempting to pick a fight with the house over the form in which the “bone dry law,” passed at the 1917 session, appears in the house and senate journals. The senators at- tempted to throw the blame for a clerical discrepancy upon the League farmers. If the house had taken the time to reply and give ‘its side of the case, the session might have been held over another day, with additional ex- pense to the state of North Dakota. What is this action of the senate’s but “striking on the job?” ATTACK REPUTATION OF MAN UNABLE TO REPLY Another instance of this kind was the introduction by Senator Allen of a resolution charging A. E. Bowen, chief clerk of the house at the 1917 session, with deliberate juggling of the legislative records. This action was made further contemptible by the fact that Mr. Bowen was not present to defend himself and- was not, in fact, in the state at the time. It of- fered another chance, it seemed to Senator Allen, to put the League “in the hole,” and, perhaps, to start a fight that would further delay the session. It was another case of “striking. on the job.” The one great lesson taught by the special session is that the sabotage law must be applied to the state sen- ate. The ‘state senate must be re- formed. It must be reformed by electing men who know what popular government is in the places of the old gangsters. ¢ The anti-sabotage law provides that men found guilty under this law may e sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in the penitentiary. This law does not reach old gang senators-who “strike on the job.”” = But the voters of North Dakota can provide a pun- ishment at the next election. By their votes the people of North Da- kota can sentence -these ‘senators guilty of sabotage to spend the rest - of their lives at home. That will‘ b 2