Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-01-25
Republicans in the Legislature to Keep
All Promises Made in the Plat.
form Of Their Party.
INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
It Will be Given, Together With Prl.
mary Election Law-senator J.
D. Waite Visits Lewistown.

AoAAAO AAoA AACiCud rlludy evening, DE-
ing called here to attend to some ur-
gent business matters, and left again
for the capital Monday morning Sen
ator Waite, who is one of the Repub-
lican leaders in the assembly, says
that after the election of the United
States senator, the legislature got
right down to business, and is now
making rapid progress with the work,
although the number of bills introduce
ed resembles a food, and more meas
ures are coming in daily. This means
an immense amount of work for the
committees, as no bill Will be reported
back without the most careful consid-
Grafton.
Will Redeem All Pledges.
All the pledges made by the Re-
publican party in it's platform will be
carried out" said Mr.. Waite before
leaving for Helena. THE initiative
and referendum and the primary cleo
ton law will be given to the people,
but action on these matters will be
carefully considered and the new leg
islatlon will be safeguarded.
New bills are coming in from all
directions. Already there are two
railway commission bills in the SEN
ate, with notice of another, and six or
seven in the house. 1t is my opin-
ion that the committee will look ovci
all of them with the greatest care. AMI
selecting the best features from lch.
report the result back as a commit.
tee measure.
"A measure in which the people of
Lewistown are vitality interested is the
one introduced by Representative
Wiedeman providing for bonding this
school district. 1t was prepared with
great care by Judge Cheadle, and
seems to meet the exigency. The
school debt of the district is now ia
the neighborhood of $4,000, and no
relief can be found in taxation. The
money can only be raised by bonding
and the Wiedeman bill provides for
this. l feel certain that it will go
through and be signed by the COVER
nor. The situation has been explain.
ed to the members of the assembly
and to Governor Toole, and there is
no sign of opposition to it,"
Asked about his own bill for d.
rect primary law, of which he gave
notice last week, Senator Waite said:
Direct Primary Law.
"The published summaries of the
measure that l shall introduce are not
exactly accurate. The bill will take
the primary election principle as far
as county officials and go no further. 1t
will not apply to state officials. In
other respects the bill will conform
cosely to the Minnesota law. Condi.
tons are different in Montana from
those in Minnesota, and l believe we
shall go far enough if we carry this
law to the election of delegates to
county conventions. The great OBJ.
lection to applying it to state conven.
lions IN Montana is that two or three
OF the larger counties could dictate
the entire ticket with impunity. do
not mean to infer that they would, but
such things have been done, and it
is better not to put up such prizes in
the way of temptations.
Il am In favor of letting the pri.
mary election law apply solely to del
egates to county conventions. These
in turn will elect delegates to state
conventions, and in this manner will
secure the desideratum, although in
an indirect manner. | do not think
the demands of the municipalities are
as yet of sufficient proportions to war
rant the change. There is not so far as
know or has there ever been any
great amount of the evil at municipal
conventions which the primary law is
intended to remedy.
Prevent the stuffing of the pri-
maries held TO elect delegates to coun-
ty conventions, and our aim will have
been achieved. 1t is in accordance
with these views that | have framed
the bill"
Whippies Tax Bill.
In regard to the bill introduced by
Senator Whipple, providing for the
payment of taxes semi-annually, Sen
ator Waite says it has some strong
features, and stands good chance
of passing. A similar measure was
introduced two years ago and went
through the senate. but was killed in
the house. The bill would apply to
all whose taxes exceed $40. and the
intention is to prevent lot of tax
money from being tied up in the
banks.