The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1905-02-24
PRIMARY ELECTIONS
Reports of Committee on Rules With
Findings by Majority
Also minority Report by Warren
Young.

formed part of the lists OF names
WHICH appear after pages /. and
and the pages which precede the lists
OF names in said purported petition
anu That these pages were attached
10 lheSe listS OF slsners subsequent to
the afhxlng OF the signatures to said
lists. And while your committee is
unable to state by whom this attach
meat was made. your committee does
nnd that 1T could only have been made
LOT one purpose, and that was to com
INIT fraud upon this legislature aud
the people of South Dakota. and to
induce action by this legislature
which tae signers OF said lists may
never have contemplated or eyea de-
sired
The law provides (section 81, Polit-
lcai Code>: All measures proposed
to the legislature under the initiative
shall be presented by petition, which
petition shall be signed by not less
than per cent of the qualified electors
OF the state. Again, the law pro
Vides (seetion 26, Political Codel
Every petition to propose meas
ure must contain the substance of the
initiative law desired" Your commit
tee believes the provisions quoted to
be absolutely mandatory and that the
| purported petition. being so entirely
detective as specifically set forth in
the foregoing four findings. is an alb
solute nullity and constitutes no basis
or foundation for any affirmative leg.
islativ eactton
Your committee further reports that
it has carefully examined the lists of
signatures which follow the foregoing
pages herein before specifically re-
ferred to. These signatures appear
upon sheets OF paper containing about
thirty names each and are divided
into fout columns under the headings
oil Name Residence" Business. -
"Postoffice Address The signatures
are numbered at the left. in red ink.
froml 10 1854 by an unknown hand
and evidently after circulation OF the
sheets. In this regard your commit
tee finds;
First that a large number OF the
pages containing purported names
were not and could not have been at
tached TO any petition, copy of the
! law, or to any other paper or docu-
ment whatever. Others of them have
| apparently been at some time attached
I to some other paper or document the
| character of which paper or document
il is impossible for your committee to
| determine and from which they have
/ been uniawfully and frauduleutiy torn
asunder by some person or persons to
| your committee unknown
! Your committee finds second that
| for the purpose OF preventing the per
! petration Of frauds upon the people
and the legislature, and at the same
| time to furnish means for full identif
| cation OF the signerS to an iniatiye pc
| tition and authorization of the petit
ton itself. the statute law of this
| state (sectiou 81. Political Codey pro-
| vides that all measures proposed to
| the legislature under the initiative
shall! be presented by petition, which
| petition shall be signed by not less
| than ) per cent OF the qualified elect
ors OF the state ana each electq
| shall add to his signature his place OF
| residence, his business aud his post
Office address This requirement of
| the statute can mean nothing but that
each elector shall with his own hand
sign. not only his own name, but also
| his residence his business and his
| postoffice address,
| The language OF the statute is that
! the elector shall add To his signature,
and does not provide that anyone
else can do this for him Yet your
| of the signatures found in this p,,r-
| ported petition absolutely and entire
/ ly fail to comply with this plain, man
! datory and imperative provision of
| the statute. AS demonstrating this
! finding OF your committee attention is
| called to the fact that uDon large
number of these sheets which purport
| to contain signatures of signers the
| signatures are written in pencil. fol-
lowed by the residence. business and
| postoftice address written in ink by
an entirely different hand. entire
| pages being so filled in by some per-
| son other than the persons who
! signed their names Without citing
unnumbered single cases, your com
mittee finds most glazing forgeries in
this respect in the list of names mum
bered 4l0S to 4210 4316 to 4334, 4482
| to 4595, 1896 to 1850, 47l2 to 4751
4772 to 1895, 1890 to 51Sl, 5l90 to 1921
1914 to 5409. 5437 to $40. 5527 to 1869.
| $3.50 to 5777, SITS to 1892, 594S to 59S7,
1882 to 60s3. 6Os4 to 6134, 625S to 6272,
627S to 6427. GAG to 6504, 6436 to 6443,
6657 to GAS. 1880 to 754S, 1861 to 1922,
1855 to S605. 1868 to 1854, .s765 to 1884
Your committee further finds that
these forgeries last mentioned con
sisted in some person other chan the
signer of the purported petition hav-
| ing altered the same after the sigma,
ture sheets had been signed by the
purported signers thereof, by adding
to the signatures of the signers their
residence. business and postofice ad
dress, or one or more of the same;
also in the names of various of the
purported signers being written in by
some one other than the purported
sig1er himself.