Devils Lake world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1914-1915, 1915-01-07
Fourteenth Legislative Assembly
C0nVeneS at Bismarck.
BIG QUESTIONS TO DECIDE
Probe of Educational Institutions One
Of the Important Matters Ex-
pected to Come Up.


teenth Legislative Assembly of the
state of North Dakota convened in
the capitol building on Tuesday for a
session limited by the constitution to
sixty days. From all indications it
will not be one marked by monot-
cnous calm, and it would surprise no
one if it excelled previous sessions in
the number and extent of the battles
that will be waged over questions
that will affect nearly every part OF
the state.
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Political Complexion-Naturally the
legislature is Republican and by an
overwhelming majority. There are
six Democratic senators and five Dem
ocratic representatives. Did party
lines afford the only division there
would be nc need to attempt to fore
cast the current of events. But party
lines in the legislature are as frayed
and broken as they are over the state
and over the nation, for that matter.
There still remain the two factions
within the Republican party-the in
surgent and the stalwart. Both sides
claim control in the senate, but the
house is generally conceded to be com
posed of a majority of insurgents, or
"progressives," as they used to be
called before the Bull Moose party
rose and grew and waned.
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The speakership-The man not
versed in North Dakota politics might
conclude that the insurgents, having
a clear majority in the house, would
elect one Of their own number speaker
and that the stalwarts had little, il
any, chance to land their man. 1t
might be anywhere-but not in North
Dakota. In past sessions, in spite of
such conditions, the stalwarts have
managed to elect their man-gener-
ally in the guise of a compromise can
didate or II who had "insurgent
leanings." And generally after he was
elected it was seen to that his lean
lHEo ~ " WILL liz tOLA1A1I-
tee appointments and other little mat.
! tiers.
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The Candidates-When this letter
was written the contest for the pres
ent session had not been settled, the
list of candidates being unusually
large. The principal and best known
are Treadwell Twichell, Cass county;
A. J.. Burnett, Trail county; A. G.
Divet, Richland county; Frank E.
Ployhar, Barnes county; Staale Hen
erickson, Burke county; ]. L. Hort,
Adams county; E. O. Haroldson, Bot
tineau county, and A. NJ. Thompson,
Ward county. Of these the first six
are credited with being insurgents
and the last two accepted as stall
warts. Possibly there is some Moses
hidden in the legislative bullrushes
who may come forth at the last min
ute to lead his people, but at the pres
ent writing no Pharoah's daughter has
discovered him. In view of the fact
that there is coming a legislative in
vestigation of the educational institu-
lions of the state it is pointed out as
significant that Cass, Trail, Richland,
Bottineau, Barnes and Ward-all coun.
ties where such institutions are To-
cated-are represented in the race.
This brings us to one of the great
questions that will confront the leg
islature.
Educational Institutions Duo to
some cause unknown the university
at Grand Forks and the agricultural
college at Fargo have called attention
to themselves all through the past
year by reason of fights and SQUAD
bles which have gained newspaper
publicity. This has called attention
to the other institutions and all find
themselves in the limelight at a time
when they would much prefer the
shadow, for the legislature will be
asked for vast sums of money In ap'
preparations for the coming two-year
period. The result is that critics
claim the white light shows a serious
state Of affairs. These conditions, 1t
fs suggested, could be remedied by q
law creating a board Of regents, hav'
ing control of all the institutions and
compelling them to economic and to
keep their courses of study within the
limits set by law and the constitution
To all this the institution heads re
spond, denying the existence Of such
conditions and accusing the critics OF
making a mountain of trouble out OF
a molehill Of a squabble, but particu'
lar stress is put upon their opposition
to q board Of regents. They are con
tent with things as they are, with
their individual boards Of trustees and
with the comfort and conveniences
these afford. AS is always the case
when conditions arise which might be
bettered some enthusiast rushes with
= first aid to the injured in the shape
Of the prescription: Pass q Law! The
educators deny the need Of any more
Nv and point to the fact that laws