The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1905-02-24
ELECTIONS
Reports of Committee on Rules With
Findings by Majority.
Also Minority Report by Warren
Young.

| formed a part of the lists OF names
which appear after pages l, 2 and 3
and the pages which precede the lists
of names in said purported petition.
and that these pages were attached
to these lists Of signers subsequent to
the affixing CT the signatures to said
lists. And while your committee is
unable to state by whom this attach
ment vas made, your committee does
find that it could only have been made
for one purpose. and that was to com
NIT 4 fraud upon this Legislature and
the people of South Dakota, and to
induce action by this legislature
which the signers of said lists may
never have contemplated or wen de-
sired.
The law provides (~section 81, Polit-
ical Code): "All measures proposed
to the legislature under the initiative
shall be presented by petition, which
petition shall be signed by Aot less
than 5 per cent of the qualified electors
Of the state" Again, the law pro-
vides (section &c, Political Code):
very petition to propose = meas
.e 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 sc entirely
defective, 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 eaction.
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 m each, and are divided
into four columns under the headings
of Name" Residence" Business"
"Postofice Address," The signatures
are numbered at the left, in red ink.
from / to 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 som time attached
to some other paper or document, the
character of which paper or document
it is impossible for your committee to
determine and from which they have
been unlawfully and f~raudulently 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 identifi-
cation OF the signers to an iniative pc
tition and Authorization of the petit
ton itself, the statute law Of this
state (section q, Political Code) 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 5 per cent of the qualified elect
Ors of the, state, and each elector
shall add to his signature his place of
residence, his business and his post
ONCE address," This requirement of
the statute can mean nothing but that
each elector shall with his own hand
sign, not only his W name. but also
his residence, his business and his
postofice 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
committee finds that a great majority
Of the signatures found in this pur-
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 upon a 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
pOstOff1ce address written in ink by
an entirely different hand, entire
pages being so filed in by some per-
son other than the persons who
signed their anne Without citing
unnumbered single cases, your COM
mittee finds most glazing forgeries in
this respect in the list of names num-
bered 410S to 4210, 4316 to 1884, 4482
to 1895, 1895 to 1850, ALP to 4751,
4772 to 4796. 1890 to 5181, $50 to 1921,
1914 to 5409. 5437 to $40, 1927 to 1869,
567O to 5777, SITS to 1892, 594s to 1897,
1882 to 6O83. 6OS4 to 6134, 625s to 6272,
6278 to 6427, 6446 to 65O4, 6436 to 6443,
6657 to GAS, 1880 to 754S, 1851 to 1922,
1855 to S605, 1868 to 8764. 1865 to 1884.
Your committee further finds that
these forgeries last mentioned con-
sisted in some person other than the
signer of the purported petition hav-
ing altered the same after the sigma
ture sheets had been signed by the
purDorted signers thereof, by adding
to the signatures of the signers their
residence. business and p~ostofRce ad-
dress. or one or more of the same;
i >1~~ $n tk4 - ~,~-!- O.