The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1915-03-04
REPRESENTATIVE LATHORP
EXPLAINS THE "WHy"
He Cast His Vote Against the
Terminal Elevator
Proposition.

EDITOR PIONEER:
AS there is considerable interest in
the Terminal Elevator bill, I feel that
it would not be out of place for me to
give the reasons why I did not vote in
favor of IL. had letters from men in
whose judgment I had great conf
dence who did not think it advisable,
and also had opinions just the reverse
from friends who are just as sincere in
thinking the bill ought to have been
passed. In casting my vote against
it, it was not that I am opposed to the
plan as a whole, for I believe that un-
der proper conditions it might work to
advantage. However, all we had to
consider was the actual bill before us,
and the passage of this, to my mind,
would have defeated the ultimate sue.
cess of the movement. In other words,
1 voted against this bill because I did
not want to see the proposition handi-
ca pped right at the start. A great
deal of stress has been laid upon the
fact that a large per rent of the PEG.
pie voted for the amendment, which is
true. 1t is also true that at the same
election the people voted for a good
roads amendment, and the members OF
the legislature who supported the Ele-
vator, as a rule, worked just as hard
against any effort for the state to 90
into the road building business. La
ter, a good many people felt that
building terminal elevators outside the
stae would place them under laws over
which we have no control, and our
purpose would be defeated, so another
amendment vas adopted by the people
last.fall allowing elevators to be built
within the state. I give this simply to
show that if one amendment is manda.
tory upon the legislature, every one
is, while as a matter of fact, it is my
understanding that an amendment
simply permits the legislature to do a
9 'rtain thing, and the matter of when
An how is left to them. To show the diff.
ference of opinion as to this particu.
'ar bill upon the floor OF. the House,
five lawyers and n farmer spoke in
favor of it, and n lawyer and three
farmers spoke against it. In voting,
twenty-one farmers voted for it and
tsenty-nine farmers voted against it,
Including the chairman of the Com.
mittee on Agriculture), the farmers
vote constituting q majority of the
legislature.
The amendment permitted the build
ing of elevators in Minnesota and
Wisconsin, this bill limited it to only
st. Paul and Superior, leaving out
the two big grain centers of Mime.
sofa. 1t limited the funds to s75, 900,
which under the levy Is about one.
third on hand, and the remainder was
to be paid in 1915 and 1915, so it will
be nearly up to the time of the mex,
session before all the money would be
paid in, Starting in with this amount
u buck the grain combine would seem
to me like going out to hunt elephant,
with bird shot. The contemplation Of
the people in voting to establish ter
minals was not to build a little eleva.
tor, which might Tor might not) make
q few dollars each year, but was to &C
Into the business to have a regulating
effect upon the traffic, and it seemed tc
me that going into it on this scale
would make our state the laughing
stock OF the country and would set thu
movement back ten years. 1t seems tc
me to be just as reasonable to build 8
farmers elevator in q town which onl,
handled 1000 . year, expecting it tc
have a regulating effect upon thu
grain prices Of the town, 40 to build q
$4,000 terminal and expect it to hav.
. regulating effect upon the grain pri
ces OF the entire Northwest. Befor,
the state goes into any line of bust
ness. 1t would seem that private effort,
should first be exhausted. A sub
scription Of $500 from each Of the far