Grand Forks daily herald and the evening times., 1914-07-15
GOVERNORS TERN
NOT LONG ENOUGH
So Declares Justice A. A.
Bruce in Address at Mer-
chants Convention.
NOT TIME TO GET
THE BEST RESULTS
Legislators Ought to Have
More Time to Solve
Economic Problems.

That the terms Of governor and leg
islatorS are too short to permit Of ac-
comprising the best results for the
benefit of the state, is The opinion Of
Justice A. A. Bruce Of the North Da-
kota supreme court, who spoke at this
mornings session of the North Dako-
ia Retail Merchants convention.
knowledge is the one thing needed in
making state laws n running state
affairs, he said.
Justice Bruce also expressed the
opinion that the people of the pres
ent day are in the midst of a great So
cial and industrial revolution .
An Age of REIMBURSEMENT.
Among other things, Justice Bruce
said:
I'VE are in an s of readjustment
n I believe in n of the most i'm
portant in the history of the world.
We are in fact in the mid of a great
social and industrial revolution. The
battle for self-governmcnt has been
fought and won. Religious liberty is
now taken as a matter of course. We
have in a large measure solved the
problem of production. When there
is any need the inventive spirit of the
age steps into the chasm and the in
vention Or the discovery is made.
The problem of today is the econ
omic problem of distribution and
equality of opportunity. We need to
distribute the knowledge which the
few have. We need to distribute the
scientific and agricultural and social
knowledge of the schools to the farm
er and to the worker. We need to
convey to public officials the financial
n legal knowledge of the great cor
n with government no longer.
Gone Election Mad.
I'VE have gone election mad. A big
business concern hires the best men it
can and keeps them in Office long
enough to make use of their discovery
n knowledge. We elect a member
of the legislature for one session and
& governor for two years. The latter
is forced to spend the first ear learn
reelected. We need the service of
trained men and yet we do not give
Il representatives or public servants
q chance to be trained. but turn out
of office as soon as they are competent
to serve us. How much, for instance.
can a member of congress learn in one
term concerning taxation, railroad
rate regulation and the real solution
of the trust or the tariff questions.
Retail Merchant Endangered.
The retail merchant is in danger
VI SbAA ~ AiS w" SSil II uPpSl
and the lower milstone Of corporate
wealth an dof labor and industrial
combination. He must study and re-
adjust himself to the new conditions.
He must lose sight of his individual
jealousies and take a broader interest
in the movements of the age.
Two Classes of Businessmen.
There are two classes of bankers
and of business men-one who skins
his neishbors and his customers and
then skins out, and one who helps to
build up the community in which he
lives and himself grows with it. The
prosperity of the farmer is in the
lons run the prosperity of the mer-
chant. The merchant who makes his
town a home town and one in which
it is safe and wise to bring up children
dds not merely to the treasurers that
shall be his above, but in the work
below also.