Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-10-07
Fl ELEVATOR VETO
Gov. .Burke's Reasons for Vetoeing the
warehouse and Elevator
Bill" Explained.

inc False Accusations and Mis-State.
ments Of the Governors
Traducers Exposed.
Certain North Dakota newspapers
and demagogue politicians have been
attemptingto create prejudice against
Gov. Burke and capital for them
selves byharping upon the Governors
veto OF what was known as the
"Warehouse and Elevator Bill"
passed by the last Legislature. These
newspapers andpoliticians have made
no end of mis-statements regarding the
entire affair. The Governor has stood
their fire u%nfinchingly and performed
his duty to the state and the people
in an honorable and conscientious
manner, believing that the time would
come when his action in this case
would receive a vindication at the
hands of the people. Gov. Burke
owned and operated a farm in Cass
county for six years, and in consider
ing the justice of this warehouse and
elevator bill, and the needs and de-
mands of the farmers OF the state, he
believedhe was sufficiently experienced
and fully compelen to decide the
equity therein, because, as a farmer,
he had dealt with elevator and rail
road companies, and as treasurer for
six consecutive years OF Cass county,
he had large experience with the vicis-
STUDIES of the North Dakota wheat
raiser. However, it is no more than
justice to the Governor, and the peo-
pie as we'll, that theexact facts in con-
nection with this matter should be
given the widest publicity, that the
people may know that their interests
have been we'll cared for by him. and
that the threats OF these politicians
have had a tendency to make tho
Governor nor popular with the peo.
pie of the state than ever, and that
they may understand the entire bill,
its meaning and purpose, and the Gov
ernor's reasons for vetoing the same,
this occasion is taken to present all
the facts.
The Legislative Assembly of 1891,
passed a bill which provided
that every railroad company organ
lied under the laws of this state,
or doing business Hereunder, should,
upon application, permit any person,
company or corporation, for the SUM
of $l.OO annually, to construct, MAIN
tain and operate, contiguous to it's
side tracks, any elevator or ware
house at any OF it's regular stations,
to be used for the purpose ofreceiving,
storing and handling grain; and such
permission should be granted without
regard to the capacity of any such
elevator or warehouse, and without
discrimination as to persons, and in
their order of application; and such
railroad company was compelled to
provide side tracks for, or connections
between it's main tracks and said
elevators or warehouses, and said
railroad company vas also compelled
to maintain connections with its
main line from any OF these elevators
or warehouses regardless of their size
Or capacity, if they we're constructed
for the purpose OF receiving, storing
or handling grain; and there was no
appeal from this law except as to the
location OF such elevator or ware
house as compared with the location
of the stations Of any such railroad
company.
Now, the persons who have been at.
tempting to deceive the farmers Of the
State and prejudice them against Gov.
Burke, have harped upon only one
side of this bill. These individuals
have never yet said one word to the
farmers about the great advantages
this bill would afford the elevator
companies and other wheat buyers,
because if they had, they knew the
actual farmers of the State would
have seen the "nieger in the wood
pile" and their efforts to kill off an
honest and just executive would have
fallen fiat, and their plan to elect a
Governor they could run, and one
who would permit them to :.crack",
the safe in the t~reasurer's Office at
will, would have been a failure.
The provisions of this law are ex-
actly the same as those contained
in Section Is, Chapter 119, of the
General Laws OF 1885. of the State of
Minnesota. That section of the law
was declared invalid by the Supreme
Court of the State of Minnesota be-
cause it required railroad companies
to- give possession of their property
to individuals without just compen-
s~ation, being in direct conflict with
the constitution OF the United States.
This question a clearly outlined in
the decision of the Supreme Court of
that state, in the case Of the State of
Minnesota vs.. the Chicago, Milwau-
kee & St. Paul Railroad Company, as
found in volume 81, pages $685. of
The North Western Reporter" Chief
Justice Gilfllan delivered this opinion,
and was sustained in it by the entire
bench, and no appeal was ever taken
therefrom. a,
However, to be more explicit, this
elevator and warehouse bill which
Sow. Burke vetoed was one Of thelast
acts passed by the legislature OF 1891.
This bill together with q large number
Of others, reached the Governors Of
Gee about the hour of midnight, on
the day that the Second Legislative
Assembly Of the State Of North Dako-
ia adjourned sine die. 1t was, there
ore, impossible, as will bereadily seem