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

HOW NORTM DAKOTA IS ATTACKING THE HOUSING PROBLEM The six houses, in various stages of construction, are among those being built at Fargo, N. D., by the State Home Building association. were unsalable and another halt was given the home building program. ] With the' unanimous decision of the supreme . _court of the United States, upholding the North Da- koi_:a program, work could be started again., It is going on now. In spite of the delays caused by -opposition of _ business interests who did not want to see the North Dakota program made successful, North Da- kota is still the only state in the Union that is do- ing anything to remedy the housing shortage. The first house built by the state was constructed in Bismarck over a year ago. At the present time there are 15 more houses under construction in Bis- marck, with application pending for as many more. In Mandan five houses are under construction and in Fargo 11, with contracts signed for six more. In Grand Forks actual construction work has not yet been started, but material is arriving daily and building may be started by the time this issue of the Leader reaches its readers. Most of the houses, finished throughout, w:ll cost in the neighborhood of $5,000. The actual value of the house will, however, be in the neighborhood of $6,500. The saving from ordinary prices are due to the fact that the state, by making purchases in large quantities, gets-the benefit of lower prices. By having construction work done by day labor contractors’ profits are saved. ; . B. €. Okert, secretary of the Home Building asso- ciation, says in a letter to the Leader: L “As to the material, we buy all we possibly can direct from the mills’ and manufacturers, thereby effecting a saving of from 20 to 35 per cent and in some cases 50 per cent. Furthermore our lumber is the finest that can be obtained and is usually a grade or two better than can be purchased locally. “We hire our masons and carpenters by the week and do no contracting for the construction of homes. The only contracting that is done is for the plumb- ing, heating and wifing. We expect next year to be in position to also eliminate this phase of the contract work and will hire our own plumbers, wire men, heating experts, painters, etec., and thereby ef- fect another saving.” How much are the monthly payments on a $5,000 home (really a $6,500 home, because the state does construction work more cheaply than a private con- .tractor possibly could) ? After the purchaser has paid down his $1,000 (20 per cent of the purchase price) he has the choice of four plans of payment. He may pay: $44.40 a month for 10 years. $40 a month for 11 years, 7 months. $38.76 a month for 15 years. $28.64 a month for 20 years. These payments include 6 per cent interest on the principal, so that the state loses no money. And the highest payment on the list is less than what similar houses rent for in North Dakota today. In the next issue of the Leader something will be told of the many other reforms that the Nonparti- san league has brought about in North Dakota. Montana Victory Becomes a Landshide ' League State Candidates Win by Pluralities of From 10,000 to 21,000— Getting Ready Now for November Election 3] FFICIAL returns from the Montana primary show that the victory of the Nonpartisan league and Labor league candidates was a veritable landslide. The vote for League state candidates was a solid one, ranging from 31,000 to 85,000. Their pluralities over their opponents ranged from 10,000 to 21,000, except in the case of Mrs. Margaret A. Hannah, League candidate for superintendent of instruction, who had no opposi- - tion whatever. Following are the official returns for League can- - didates for state and congressional offices, together with the vote of the next Democratic candidate for the office named: - Governor—B. K. Wheeler (League), 35,228; W. W. McDowell, 17,198.. Wheeler won: by 18,030. Lieutenant. Governor—R. C. Arnold (League), 82,511; F. H. Cooney, 10,838. Arnold won by 21,673. Attorney General—Louis S. Irvin (League), 32,676; A. H. McConnell, 20,796. Irvin won by 11,897. s . . Secretary of State—R. A. Haste (League), 33,- 016; H. M. Peet, 19,578. Haste won by 13,438, State Treasurer—Ella D. Lord (League), 31,739; R. . N. Hawkins, 21,724. Mrs. = Lord won by 10,015. State Auditor—Ole San- - vik (League), 31,391; A. G. Sathre, 20,811. Sanvik won Dby 10,580. Railway Commissioner — J. P. Meadors ' (League), 31,478; E. J. Johnson, 21, . 200. Meadors won by 10,~ 2178. : State Superintendent of Instruction — Margaret A, Hannah (League), 40,091, . Mrs. Hannah had no oppo- sition. Supreme Court— W. W. Palmer (League), 30,959; Harlow Pease (League), attorney general, "FOUR OF THE LEAGUE WINNERS IN Louis S. Irvin, winner for Ole Sanvik, nominated for 28,018; Frank Woody, 17,741; J. W. Stanton, 15,614. Palmer won by 13,218; Pease by 10,277. Congress, First District—M. McCusker (League), 18,873; J. T. Carroll, 11,764. McCusker won by 7,109. 5 : ] Congress, Second District — Burton Watson (League), 8,210; J. M. Evans, 7,687, Watson won by 623. = LEAGUERS ARE WINNERS IN S0 MAJORITY PARTY PRIMARIES . In the Democratic primaries, in which the League candidates contested, 57,000 votes were cast, as compared with 52,000 votes in the Republican. pri- maries. Leaguers have thus won the nomination of the majority party of Montana. Attempts to get Democratic party leaders to re- pudiate B. K. Wheeler and other Leaguers nomi- nated on the Democratic ticket have thus far failed. United States Senator Walsh, one of the first ap- proached, instead of repudiating Wheeler, came out with a strong indorsement of him, stating: “By perfectly lawful means and in the manner Harlow Pease, nominated for state auditor. the supreme court. . PAGE SEVEN MONTANA Burton Watson, ‘nominated preseribed by law he secured the nomination for governor and by a most decisive vote. No one can justify himself in his refusal to support the regular nominee on the ground that he is not the choice of - the Democrats.” Lieutenant Governor MecDowell, Wheeler, also has indorsed the ticket. As the election approaches, however, renewed ef- forts will be made to swing anti-League Democrats to the Republican state ticket, which will be sup- ported by the Anaconda Copper Mining company. The vote of every farmer and labor man and woman in the state will be needed to insure victory for the League candidates at the November election, but the Leaguers know the fight that is ahead of them and they are preparing for it. As a result of the primary election, the League and labor forces have a chance of controlling the lower house of the coming legislature, if they re- peat their victory at the November election. League and labor candidates for the house of representa- tives already nominated on the Democratic ticket comprise a majority of that house. In many counties S - they had no opposition, the anti-League ‘forces seeing the wuselessness of -any struggle and preferring to save their strength for November. Holdover oppo- . sition senators will prevent defeated by the upper house. In addition to nominating two women for state office returns from various coun- ties show that the League and labor forces nominated at least 20 women for vari- ous county offices. Included in this number are 10 candi- dates for county stperin- tendent of schecols, two for state representative and ~other candidates for almost every other county office ex- cept sheriff. for congress. the League from controlling -