Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-12-16

for the fifth district for term Of
four years. The tenure OF Office
Of the existing board of county
commissioners shall not be affected.
The district which each commits
>ipncr shall represent shall be dcs-
i.nu,cl by such board.
lie commissioner, acted within their
authority in rcdlstrlcting the county
within ten days after the canvass of
votes. Having created two new dis
,rct~, We presume 1t was their we"
tia, Vacancies existed and they were
flied hy appointment by the appointing
board prov drd by law. Have they cx-
rvrIvl ,'lrir authority i'll filling the va
canciv, at this time: That is the only
question invoked.
Section l1' OF the Revised Codes
seems t. be the only provision for fill
M vacancies III boards ui county com
nl,>,,lvr>. and ii wa, not framed to
nice, III emergency like the one i'll
question: |, provides that when va
c.1,;y occurs in the board Of county
commissioners it shall be the duty Oi
the remaining members Of the board
with the county judge and auditor M
mvdialry to- appoint some suitable per-
son to fill such vacancy from the dis
.rit, III which such vacancy occurred.
In tl, instance two new districts have
been created and the law says that the
commissioners for the two new districts
shall be elected Il, the NEXT general
election.
In the mcanlimr-thr intervening two
vcar>-lu vacancies exist: Sometimes
the courts are obliged to con>lruc law
SO blind and ambiguous that the court
practically makes the law. There may
and may not be prccc1>nl> for the &C
ton Of the county board in this instance.
Anyhow, it is a matter that the courts
will very likely have to settle and any
amount of personalities or newspaper
controversy will not atfcc, the result.
The matter is not especially affected
by the fact that Mr. Patterson is po-
litical 'bu>>' or that Mr. Byrne, the
governor secretary, sells insurance to
the state or draws 4 salary Of s. 600
from the state while at the same time
engaged in other private business. 1t
is too narrow a definition to call this
grating. and it is equally undignitcd
and Scnselcss to openly charge the men,
bcrs of the board with jobbcry and cor
rupllun in connection with this matter.
If the board has exceeded its authority,
this fact will be speedily found out
through judicial channels. The question
is whether. the voters Of the county
having declared for five commissioners,
there shall be five commissioners, or
whether two years shall clapsc between
luC uIStl IltllS vi tliC county llllO llNS
districts and the filling OF the fourth
and fifth districts with commissioners.
= - -
lager of the Walsh County Record
observes: North Dakota has popula-
ton Of 81 ,o5i, according to the census
fSnrr> made public last Friday This
is gain of 2jj77 $40 during the decade,
or S".S per cent. This percentage OF in
crease is only exceeded by four or five
states in the Union. Unless the basis
OF congressional apportonmcnt is in
creased to more than $50, 900, North
Dakota will have three members in con-
sres> under the new apportionmcnt. A
careful analysis of the census by corn-
ties, however, docs not give the people
of the eastern part of the state much
opportunity for jubilaion Pembina
county has actually lost 1920 people