The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 6, 1919, Page 9

X X =3 b 1 o4 v \ * @ [~ ot = [ Ao, yef 1 W TR Y S 4w \ Ty & 2 & Al b Ay ~ - I u Lo ", STATE-OWNED 000 must be secured by real es- Amendments Assure N. D. Program Constitutional Changes and Full Control by Peo le After Six Years of Struggle / . Clears Ground for Needed Reforms—State Will Set Pace - [X years iTa long, time for any system of government to hold up the expressed will of the peo- ple—too long to be safe for democracy. Six years is a very . large part of a man’s working lifetime. Yet it has taken that many years of consistent fight- ing at great cost in'time and money for thQ people of North Dakota to get where they could enact into law a prmcxple which they" adopted by a four to one vote in 1912. The people there have at last cleared out all the special privi- lege nests and tricks designed to thwart the will of the people. They have successfully amended the constitution. - They have kicked special privilege out of the legislature, the state offices,'and the su- preme court,_ Over six years ago the people of North Da- kota voted for state-owned terminal elevators by a four to one vote. The law- yers declared this measure conflicted with the consti- tution. Two years later the voters amended the constitution to allow state- owned elevators by a four to one vote, and the boss- . ridden legislature refused te carry out the mandate of the people. Out of the glaring in- justice thus done the Non- partisan league was born, and in the first trial of strength the Eeague farm- ers captured the state of- fices and most of the legis- lative seats. Again they were thwarted by holdover senators who took their orders from Minneapolis rather than from the vot- ers. Now the League farmers have cleaned out the holdover senators. The last buzzard’s nest is gone. North Dakota is ready to shew the farmers and - other common people of her sister states the way to industrial freedom. ELEVATORS AND MILLS Probably the most important _ of the.amendments recently™ passed to pave the way for the enactment of the League pro- . gram, is the one allowing-the state, any county or any.city to- make internal improve- ments by direct labor.and -to engage, in business. Another amendment makes this meas- ure .workable by raising the absurdly low state debt limit of $200,000. to allow sufficient capital to start state-owned elevators and mills. The state credit is adequately safeguard- ed by the provision that all state bonds in excess of $2,000,- tate and the limit of bonds is- sued on state-owned utilities is placed 'conservatively at® $10,- 000,000. v These two amendments, in addition to opening the way for state-owned elevators and other utili- ties to draw the teeth of marketing monopolies, al- lows the state to do much to reduce the interest burden which farmers and small home owners now carry. -The state can sell its bonds for as low as 5 or 6 pér cent. "It can then loan this money out on real estate mortgages at cost. The state can also set up banks and loan de- - Pposits direct: to- the people at cost, thus’carry- ing out that well-known League plank, “State - rural credit banks operated at cost.” = Such " banks would specialize probably in short-time - . loans which. the Federal Farm Loan bank can - not handle. ‘the state could help him out. back in North Dakota. _ ments, Only a few such state banks would be needed, for the possibility of establishing them where the pri- vate banks were not giving good service would bring the whole banking business of North Dakota into'line. The bankers would find ways of lowering their margins between interest on money received on deposit and interest- on money loaned. More than this, the artificial foreclosure by which some _astute bankers maneuver farmers into such a posi- tion that they. have to sacrifice their property to pay obligations would be rc;moved Whenever a farmer deserving credit falls'into one of these traps Consequently the traps would not be set. ! HAIL INSURANCE ' ON CANADIAN PLAN 5 E: > : Two other amendments make possible a real state hail insurance system, with an acreage tax to cover o TS — = 7~ ;;;?—* /9 Gfififyf = PECIA ?NTERE'ST The speclal interests thought'tl\ey had the Nonpartisan league program efiechvely dammed part, at least, of the cost as is done in Canada. The acreage tax falling on the idle land of the specula- tor as well as on the cultivated land will do much to make speculation in land less profitable. surance on the ground that hail insurance makes . farming more profitable and thus adds to the value of all farm land whether it is in use or not, and that it is entirely fair that the speculators should bear part of its cost. A fifth change in the basic law of the state al- lows the legislature to. exempt personal property and improvements from taxation. = League farmers have advocated this measure as a means.of shifting part of the burden of maintaining organized society from the 'products of labor to those ‘holding* land- S E PAGE NINE © ~ of co-operative organizations. n “:’North Dakota co-operatives are now free to adopt In the heyday of their power they fixed the constitution so that the people could not get an amendment through easily. Consequelftly if the reformers captured the govemment they would not be able to do anything to strike at special privilege for years. They counted ‘on the voters’ wearying of the fight. q fooled the politicians, There has been no let up.in the fight they began six years ago when they voted for state-owned terminal elevators by a four to one vote. They matched every special interest trick with increased effort. Now they have passed the 10 amend- The . state “government is theirs. The old dam is broken, But the voters.of North Dakota have The . Canadians justify their flat land tax for hail in-. “ ment of North' Dakota." idle in the hope of being able to profit by social im- provements and increase in populatlon. They believe that the way fo get more im- provements and to_build up their state is to re- move some of the drawbacks to improvements and at the same time to put more of the burden on those holding up prosperity by keeping land out of use.’ The exemption of their improve- ments will help all land-owning and operating farmers and check somewhat the prospen’ty of landlords renting to tenants or ownmg slacker acres. : Another of the 10 amendments removes consti- tutional limit4tions on the voting power of members For the first time in the best methods of electing officers and deciding on policies. The failure of the politicians to give ; the farmers this advantage be- fore is a striking commentary on the professed interest the old gang had for the welfare of the farmers and a striking “proof of the fact that farmers must be organized politically to protect their co-operative as As in the old days in North Dakota, every other state is using the law-making power and the law- enforcing power to check and ruin farmers’ co-operation. PROVIDES REAL DEMOCRACY The remaining four amend- ments give éxpression to new ideas of direct and speedy popular control of the ma- _chinery of government. Four of the five judges of the su- preme court must now agree to declare an act of the legis- lature unconstitutional. The initiative and referendum pro- visions are made much more liberal. Ten thousand voters may propose a measure by ini- tiative petition. Seven thou- sand voters only may suspend the operation of .any act of the ‘legislature except an emergen- cy measure by referendum petition. Emergency acts are legislature and being signed by the governor, but no act grant- or interest £xcept to the state itself, can-be declared an emergency measure. methods of amending the con- stitution are made much easier. The new initiative and refer- endum provisions are a splen- did testimonial to the thorough democracy of the common peo- ple of North Dakota and es- pecially ~the League: farmers. They now have control of things, and having that they do not need these provisions. On the other hand, the anti- farmer interests wxll be able to make use of them to delay acts of the leglslature and to keep 7,000 signers, for instance, are needed to demand a referendum on an act of the legislature, and the old gang can easily get this number together at any. time. But these farmers insisted on full democracy, even if at times it may turn out to be inconvenient in causing delays. The -amendments also give the lie to the big press-‘f ' stories, of . the recklessness of the farmer gove ?- The really overcautious safeguards to the state debt, which demand security for all' bonds over $2,000,000, sufficient to warm ‘the heart of a Wall street money lender, show: their conservatism. The referendum provmlons will' m'e- vent the enactment of any. law not meeting the ap- /proval of property owmng farmers and cxt; people. well as their private business. . special privilege in -~ to take effect after passing the™ ing a franchise or vested right.’ 2 The “their side before the public in future elections. Only .- i sm s ‘wfi.',m\ o e £ e =