Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-03-14
GOVERNOR HANNA HAS
VETOED Two
(Continued from Page One.)

vEIuCu Uu
~ Confined from Page One.)
dollars Of Insurance. This includes
the insurance on the Irvine and fibre
at the P~enitentiary. OF this amount
almost one-half Of the insurance now
in force expires in the years 1915 and
1915. The bill provides that after Aug
ust list, 1915, that no officer, board,
commission or agent of this state,
having charge of any public buildings
or property of the state, shall pay out
any public monies on account of any
insurance against loss by fire or tor
nado; nor shall they contract for or
incur any Indebtedness against the
state on account of any such insurance
upon any of the public buildings, fur.
niture, fixtures or property Of any
kind whatever.
No Sinking Fund.
There is at the present time no in
surance sinking fund whatever, to pro
vide for the building Of 1buildings or
restoring property or furniture that
might be destroyed by fire, and before
a bill of the kind proposed should be
enacted into law, there should be a
fund of from $500, 100000 to $50O,000.0O.
In section 5 of the bill it provides
that in case there is a loss by fire and
there shall not be in the Insurance
Sinking Fund an amount sufficient to
pay the awarded loss, the State Audi
tor shall, Notwithstanding this fact,
I.Arx ~. ~yornorto nm 1,ok10 frrtn tho
q neral Fund and the State Treasurer
sh}pll promptly pay such warrants out
oil any monies in his hands. If the
State Capitol burned, we would have
a loss of about $4,000 o 90. At the
present time We carry 260,000.00 of
insurance on building and contents.
If we were required 50 pay from the
General Fund of the state $3.50, 100000.
as contemplated by this proposed law.
it would totally disarrange the General
Fund of the state and would make It
impossible to pay appropriations made
by the legislature for carrying on the
business of the state. 1t costs about
$1,000. 90 a year for premiums to carry
the $260,0O0.00 of insurance now car.
ried on the State Capitol and contents!
The State Capitol, as IL generally
is not a fire proof structure, but very
much to the contrary, and If a fire
shall ever get started, it would be i'm
possible to save the building and prob
ably but very little of it's contents. The
State Library, which has cost about
800, O00.O 90, is located in the upper part
of the building and there would be no
chance whatever to save It.
Takes a Long Time.
AS stated, the state pays $4,000
per year for insurance premiums on
the $3.50, 900. 90. 1t would take over
two hundred years for the state at
$4,000 a year to get back the $780,
600. 90 that would be lost to- It provided
the state shall not insure the Capitol
and contents and should have 2 fire.
That which is true as to the State
Capitol is also true as to the Peniten.
tiary, where a very large amount of In.
surance is carried on the buildings, fix
lures, Irvine and fibre, and to a large
degree at every institution throughout
the state.
The bill provides that the insurance
premiums that would be paid on poll.
cies that might be taken out. provided
the state did not carry insurance. shall
be set aside in a fund to create a sink.
ing fund to pay for losses in case OF
fire. The state pays about 100000 90
a year in the way Of premiums for in
surance on all Of its property. 1t will
take ten years without a loss to pro.
vide a fund of 5000, 100000.
The bill also provides that the tE.
surance that is now on the buildings
shall be permitted to stand during the
present life of the policies now in
force, but that they shall not be re-
newed, but as stated. about fifty per-
cent of the insurance policies in force
expire this year and next and before
the next session OF the legislature.
Believing that this proposed bill is
against public policy, that the state IS
not in condition to carry such a large
contingent liability as would be the
case were it to carry its W insurance
without a sinking fund to pay for losses
q case Of fire, and that the proposed
law is not for the best interests OF the
state, / withhold my approval.
/ have the honor to be,
s Very respectfully,
L. B.. HANNA,
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