Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1911-02-23

5 fishing referred laws and constitutional
amendments to 5000 for each paper
/ The legislature swallowed the Curtiss
! bill with all its uncertainties and imper-
fections and expenses, and limits with
out gasp. Its open-mouthed reform
ers closed their eyes and swallowed the
bait whole. OF course, 1.-THE big stick"
of the administration was used Mr..
Curtiss used his position as chairman
of the judiciary committee to bulldoze
and intimidate members and by keep
ing before the uniformed members
the great and inexcusable cost of the
publication of 1910, passed the bill with
a whirl. The fact of the ma liter is,
however, that the legislature does not
know nor can't tell anything about the
the cost of the Curtiss bill 1t is likely
to prove more expensive many times
over than the measure proposed by the
newspaper men. 1t will be less effect
i've, but there is consolation in the fact
that the city policeman of years agone,
of Aberdeen, now posing as full
f1edged statesman, has satisfied his
revenge by infiicting punishment upon
the newspaper men of the state whom
he pretends to despise, and whom he
characterizes as public leeches, petty
grafters and nincompoops.
While Whiting was out of the house,
his criminal practice act, was by Knight
sent to the live stock committee. Whit
ing was wroth and prepared motion
to get his bill out of that committee.
But the house had adjourned before he
got in his motion and accompanying
speech. AT the morning session the
committee "beat him to it," and
reported the bill back to the house with
out recommendation which under the
rule placed it back on the calendar.
That was just what Whiting was asking
for in his motion, but he did not intend
that all his efforts and grey matter
should have been wasted, and he sprung
his motion just the same, and with it
his speech roasting the rest Of the law
yers of the house for fighting the mea-
sure by any means to keep it from COM
ing to vote, calling them "assassins
in the dark. -" That started all the law
yers to telling what an honorable pro-
fession they represent, and what an
honorable body of men they are and
every one asserted that he was willing
to back that statement if anyone want
ed to know. Then the laymen opened
up, and told what they thought about
lawyers in general, and the house law
yers in particular, and it took over an
hour to work off the surplus steam,
with a calendar of nearly a hundred
bills waiting for action and when the
row was all settled, no one had any,
thing to offer as settlement, as the
whole proposition was settled before
the row was started at ALL
The seate took another fall out of the
newspapers Friday in overturning the
Senate bill lat, a bill providing that
the attorneys affidavit, ex-rel, attached
to the printers affidavit on legal notices
shall be omitted. The committee
reported unanimously against the pass
age of the bill and Wyman, lawyer
senator from Yankton county, moved
to amend by striking out the words,
''do not pass and substituting in lieu
thereof the words do pass and sue
ceeded in securing the amendment and
the adoption of the report as amended.
This was victory for the attorneys
who have fattened at the expense of
the newspapers before the ex-rel affida-
Wit prevented the division of fees. In
the mortgage-foreclosure days it was
the custom Of certain class of attor-
neys to go to the printer with pro-
posal that he publish the foreclosure
notices for anywhere from So to $40,
and then charge the full legal rate for
the publication fee when he made bill
of expense to his client. In this way
he would make from ten to fifteen dol
lars at the expense of the publisher and
by deception. So the Legislature in its
wisdom provided for the ex-rel affidavit
which put a stop to this kind of profess
sional piracy. After fifteen years of
successful operation the lawyers of the
senate propose to repeal the law and
took long step IN that direction Fri
day. Senator Cone very ably refuted
the arguments of Senator Wyman and
the press of the state, and honest law
yers as WELL owe him vote of thanks.
Numerous requests have been made
by publishers of newspapers in the
larger cities for interviews with Mr.
Richards relative to his letter written
to certain senators at Washington COM
menting on Senator Crawford's speech
in the Lorimer matter His letter has
attracted national attention. Mr..
Richards stated that he did not have
time at present to be interviewed. but