The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 7, 1920, Page 4

N PAST issues the Leader has told, in'detail, what has been hap- pening in North ‘Dakota since Governor Frazier and other farm- er officials took office. On request of many readers we’are attempt- ing now to include, in one article, a brief sum-* mary of the most important 'actions of the League administrdtion, brought up to date.. y " It will be noted that nearly all of the actual ' operating progress has been made in'the last year. ~While the League elected state officials and a majority of members of the lower house in 1916, holdover senators in the 1917 legisla- "' ture prevented League bills from passing in . the upper house. In 1919 the League program was written into law and ‘the laws were put into effect following the referendum:election of June, 1919, when the people of the state, for the seventh time; declared for them at the polis.. BANK OF NORTH DAKOTA ; o The Bank of North Dakota, which Has been operating less than one. year had up to May 15,1920 Accumulated resources totaling - $28,842,~ 776.73. ; Distributed these Yesources among more than 800 local banks, so that all legitimate needs of ‘local communities for credit are satisfied: Made 622 farm ‘loans, in total ‘amount of $2.507,450, and approved approximately 1,000 addl- ‘tional loans, aggregating nearly $4,000000 All these loans were made at 6:per cent interest, with 1 per cent addltlonal for amortization, whick will | _enable the loan to be retired at "the end of 30 years, whereas according to the United States ‘average rate for private farm “loans' in North Dakota has " amortization; ~Lioaned money to countles to drouth-stricken farmers. Home = Building asseciation, enabling them to. carry out their programs prehmmary to sale of bonds. Made net earnings over ex- penses, at the rate of more than 5 per cent per an- num during mne months of operatlon. | STATE GRAIN INSPEGTION‘ ; 2 Doctor E. F. Ladd, president of North Dakota Frank Millhollan, rail- road and . warchouse commissioner of North Dakota, . in- dorsed for re-elecfion. Agricultural college, estimates that the state grain. ““inspection- law, in 1918, saved farmers of North Dakota approxlmately $12,000,000 on then' crop. . The law, first enacted in 1917 and amended ; in 1919, has many provisions for the pro- spass tection of the farmer, among the most im- portant of which’ are: e 7 A Tlicénsing system for grain buyers,' licenses being revokable for any crooked ¢ praetmes or failure to observe the rules of RUSER the grain inspection department.’ i Provision for state grading and require- Lol “ment that buyers ‘must purchase grain af ' % grade ‘determined upon by deparfment. = . | Requxrement that grain buyers pay for all dockage, minus. cost of cleanmg, or re-» ‘turn dockage to farmer.: | ; e ) Recently a suit, engineered by the Mm-' s -néapolis Chamber of Commeree, was brought in the federal court in North Da- = kota against: this law. Before the suit = could be tried upon its merits the interests: = .7 attacking the-law took before three federal = judges at St. Paul an application for a tem- | porary injunction,to set the law aside while the case ‘was beimg heard. This petition for’ an ‘injunction was. granted, largely owing to the weak showing on behalf of the state made by Attorney General Langer. The law has not been declared unconstitutional but it has been made in-. -'operatlve durmg the pendene'y of | the smt . T X Jol\n N. Hagan, eommlsalonu' of department of agriculture the been 8.7 .per cent,: thhcut : § - being heavier than during the average year, and & purchase seed and feed for oaned money to: the Mill_. and Elevator association 'and: A Brlef Summary of the Accomphshments of the League Admlnlstration in Restormg Government to the Pe0ple T . William Lem League can- uticultuu and labor.. - -udm tox' afkt:'mcy ‘eneul. With the goverpor, ‘the. eommissioner'of agnculture nndrv.\‘ labor and the attorney general comprise the industrial commission of North Dakota, which has control of all £h: mdnstnal enterprisea in w!nch the state 3 engaged. i La tnck actmn to enable the Minneapohs Chamber. ‘of ‘Commerce to “handle” this year's grain crop " without the safeguards Whlch, in’ tWO premous years, saved the farmers $12,500,000. STATE HAIL INSURANCE State hall insurance provided insurance of 87 per. . acre for 12,467,180 acres of North Dakota farm land'in 1919 at a cost of 28 cents per.acre.. Private hail insurance rates, for $7 per acre, ranged from 70 ‘to 84 cents per acre. Losses totaled 12,852,‘ * still ‘each farmer insured saved from 42 to 56 cents _per: acre, the total amount saved by this one law being more than $5,000,000. The expense of con- ducting the department, including ecollections, ad- - justments and payments, was only 2.17 per cent of ' the total money handled, the lowest cost: ‘percentage . in Amenca, either in pnvate or state i msurance. S - STATE HOME BUILDING ‘ The\ Home Building assoclatxon is now bmldmg3 52 homes for North ? : Dakota . ‘citizens. ““Each honje ' owner ‘pays 20 per cent down ($1,000 on a’ SR $5,000 home) amd = Va3 oney trymg 1o eontrol the state ‘of North Dakota. 5 "= the period from August 20 to December 31, ; 'for deprematlon and overhead expenses. P ed in May, 1920, on 2 1,600,000- * ‘& 3,000-barrel (daily capacity) ‘%our mill at Grand Forks, N. i flour: mill and power plant be~ :ing contracted“for separately. by the appeal taken to the su- “States from the decision of the -upheld the North Dakota ‘program. Beeause offlxe ‘ ~ern bond buyers, who had contracted to buy state » “bonds, canceled their contract. _enabling work to be started without further delay. __ern construction, equipped with every device to im- ~ facilities allow the handling of from 12 to 15 car- ~‘loads of grain an hour so that during the shipping A Season. the elevator will be able to handle 1ts total K.fi : -.,—-Drawn.expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morns. ,The Fanper—-—Yes, and we’ve seen certain interests spending too, mnch pays the balance in from 10 to 20 years, as he i . *chooses. Followu:g are monthly payments’ on . a $6,000 home under four. different, plans . $44.40 per month for 10 yearsi - s |- $40 per month for 11 years, seyen months. . $38.76 per month for 15 years. . 5 ::$28.65 per month for 20 years. ~Under.an amendment to the home bmldxng -1 law, effective July 1, bonds can be issued which ~ will enable the state to build many more houses. _Hundreds . apphcahons are now on file. s STATE-OWNED MILL AT DRAKE . 0 b A privately owned flour mill-at. Drake, N; D 3% | was purchased by the state August 20, 1919, | for $20,000, citizens ‘of Drake purchasmg suf- ~ ficient bonds to pay the cost and provide work- 7’ .ing eapital. Since that time the. rmll has been buying ‘wheat from farmers at an average = . .price of 12 cents above pnces m-enously paid by private grain buyers in the same location, = has been selling flour at prices ranging from the market to 50 cents below th; market for 1 competmg ‘patent flours.in thesame Fito: -and has been selling mill feeds at xmces aver- “aging $7.50 per ton below the prices charged “in the same territory by trust mills, In addi- ¥ ~’tion to these' sawngsfonthefamersa : rt g - ‘made by mdependmtmuntants shows. that in 1919, the mill ‘made an . operating profit | f $2,748.23 and in addition éarned $3,555 55 in: ad- vanced prices on.wheat and sacking held in storage. i This profit was made after mgking all allowances TERMINAL ELEVATOR Constmchonworkfivas start- bushel terminal: elevator - and The construction contract - § provides a guaranteed price of o $922,850, machinery for the | Construction of the mill and elevator was delayed somewhat = ¢~ g nmic rgil- road . preme court of the United g’g{*"‘“" “ ~i4 dnrsetl fnr n—elgctim. & federal distriet court, which suit in the supreme court of the United States east- Citizens of Grand Forks came to the rescue, agreeing to purchase $1,000,000 of state mill and elevator bonds,” thus Both the mill and elevator are-of the most mod- prove the grade of all grain handled. Trackage capacxty many times over. ] BONDING OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS " State’ ‘bonding of publm ofilexals during - the two years ending’ Becem er. 3: . resulted as follows‘ : 4 " Collections ... Expenses L Losses s Savmgs AR ....362,90&94 ' The state is now chargmg ; s charged by the private bonding cmnpan;es. .« As'soon as a sufficient surplus is secured, 43 )" rates can be radically reduced, pmbably to. Sy o ‘one-half or less ofithe', : g Statefire and /r‘nadomsurance, d " the first five months of “its operatic to December: 31, 1919, resulted in. _ncome ‘of $41,562.55 in’ premiv apprommately five-twelfths, were eamed premmms.