Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1914-02-13
omcal Paper of Ramsey County.
PRO BuNCO pUBLlCO.

PRO BUNCO PUBL1CO.
A shirt time ago there was held in
the city Of Fargo oae of the most en-
Pertaining and interesting political
meetings which have ben pulled off
in the state in quite a while. A small
gathering of disgrunted politicians,
with a select s%prinkling of the FORUM
ate and invited few who have their
shouts in the pubic trough, gathered
in the metropolitan city, to select for
the people of this grey. commonwealth
the statesmen whom they desire to be
at the helm of our good ship Of state.
From the reports of the meeting, it
is reasonable to conclude that the Sc
lection Of captain was the crucial pro-
blem; in fact, it was evidently a mos.
momentous problem. And the mental
agony Of the elf-constituted crew who
felt themselves selected and qualified
by nature to name the said captain
must have been excruciating until that
noble political reformcr. F. +. Pack
ard, member of the "non-partisam'
tax commission, ga,lently came ii the
rescue and offered the happy solution,
for, when the meeting was on the
point of adjourning without indoors,
ing the pilitical saviour from Willis
ton, Usher L. Burdick. for Governor,
the said Packard of the parti-
SAM tax commission, rose nobly to
the occasion and delivered an impas-
stoned harangue on "the man Of the
hour Making telling use of his for
mer ecclesiastical experience, he final
ly requested all who were in favor Of
indorsing "Ush" to arise. 4 number
of uncOverteu sinners remained seated,
however, in spite Of Packarl's putrid
e!oluence. But finally the pathos ii;
the non-partisan tax commissioners
appeal, coupled with the persuasion Of
those who We're standing, was too
much, eve for them, and they reluct-
ant'y arose, and Ush had been Gun.
animously endorsed for governor
In 1905, the Legislature, in response
ii the expressed wish of the people,
enacted the primary election law, the
fundamental purpose of which was to
substitute in place Of the cd slate
making caucus, the now well known
primary method Of nominating can,
didates. The object of that law was
to give every aspirant for public Office
an equal chance to run On his merits
by doing away with ~slate-making.
The law did not accomplish this we'll
intentioned purpose, however, hence,
in 1911, the legislature supplemented
it with a corrupt practice act.
Now the public is confronted with
the spectacle Of certain self -cinstitut-
ed insurgent leaders resorting to the
same tactics which were used in the
old ~slate-making days, The proceed.
ings of this meeting were absolutely
contrary to the spirit of the primary
election law, and they render the cor.
rupt practices act primarily null.
The coterie of Politicians who gath.
cred at Fargo loudly talk about re-
form and government by the people,
but their actions speak louder than
words. There were undoubtedly hon
est and well -intentioned men at that
meeting, but they were duped by the
self-constituted leaders. Who were
some of those leaders9 The press re.
port of the meeting is at hand There
is the name of an ex-state official,
whom the supreme court compelled to
restore over $4,000 to the state treas.
ury(, which he had illegally converted
to his own use. There is the name of
the non-partisan tax commissioner,
whose duty the law prescribes to be
the devising of a more equitable sys'
tenn Of taxation, but who devotes a
large share if his time to the political
propaganda. What a harmonious gath
ering it would have been had Bick'
ford been there!i,
Let a banner be made and presented
this crew-inscribed-
PRO BUNco PUBL1oo
O. T., ,: F. E. P
Bismarck Tribune.