The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1908-01-09
EDITORIAL COMMENT


sit up and take notice and realize for the first
time in fifty years that the Missouri river is
navigable clear from the overgroWn Missouri
village to Fl. Benton, Mont, q distance Of
2,285 miles. At the present time, the only boats
that regularly ply up and down the great river,
ton Packet Co., which run in the seasonable
months between Williston and Washburn, N.
D. distance Of $50 miles, carrying freight and
wheat and doing a very profitable business.
The boats are of the light draft quality but
have no trouble in Swimming across the COM
paratively shallow water OF the muddy stream.
Occasionally, boat from st. Louis makes It's
way. to Kansas City. distance of 391 miles,
and so unusual is this occurrence, that the ma.
tives of that burg herald it's coming with as
from the North Pole after making it's discovery.
The Missouri river is navigable, and when once
our somnambulant Missouri friends make
bid for the vast business OF the Northwest,
which it can obtain thru this medium, st. Louis
will throw off it's lethargic spell and will be
apolis and St. Paul, Minot and other live
Northwestern towns.
We read squib in some paper the other
day, which stated that after Jan. l, 100000
900 people OF the United States would be in the
"dry" belt as far as liquor was concerned Let
us see isn't North Dakota in the 'sdry belt?
Seems to us she is. This 'fdry" belt business is
a splendid thing. Makes it impossible to get a
drop. Eliminates the stuff all together. Makes
man tickled to death to get bottle of pop
or a glass of soda water. OF course there's a
little OF the 'swet goods used in Minot, but
not much. A drayman who hauls beer for one
wholesale house gets 25 cents a case and fifty
cents a barrel for delivering the same. Last
month his commission for hauling the stuff
amounted to $3.50. Now, we are not preach
ing against prohibition, but the above state
ment goes to show that no matter how strict a
ban you place on the manufacture for the sale
OF liquor, there will always be certain amount
sold. People will have headaches, bad colds,
and stomach trouble as long as distilIeries and
breweries continue to do business
Why did Senator Hansbrough introduce the
bill in the Senate recently providing for the
government to give title to a homestead, to
know the Senator best, realize that it was not
out OF sympathy for the girl that he introduced
the bill, but believe that the reason was to get
votes. Why Hans would walk across Ward
county and speak at a family reunion, in order
to get half a dozen votes. He's foxy old pol
ititiCn, but he's back number. His tactics
would have been splendid twenty years ago,
but the farmer knows what the average hand
shake OF the politician means They tell a
story about Hansbrough allowing his mother,
a poor old lady, to be sent to an asylum in Ore
gon in the fall of 1904 because she was danger
Gus to be at large" This has been printed in
many papers, and We have never heard of the
Senior Senator's denying it. If that was true,
why didn't he show a little sympathy at that
time?
333EGe
We herewith publish that part of the new
postal ruling which went into effect on Jan /,
and which concerns the Independent and it's
readers. The more we consider the new ruling,
the better pleased we are with it. We have not
heard one OF our subscribers say that they