Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-02-04

LNo HoOVe IdoOIo "oo lHc
Of raising the money to mcet ex'
penses, which was the most trying
task of all. The, fact remains that
for 70 years the legislature has been
making more Prohibition laws and re-
fusing to provide the necessary ma,
chine!w to enforce them and they
have not been enforced in most plac-
es. except as no:l-ottlcial organiza-
tions of citizens have furnished MT
ney for such enforcement. The legis-
lature two years ago gave the Cover
nor power to remove delinquent oiil-
Gals but left his hands tied by not
giving him a dollar with which 10
get the necessary evidence upoI
Whic to act, and some splendid WORK
done by the Governor using this law
would have been impossible withous
the North Dakota Enforcement,
League to get preliminary evidence.
All that the law abiding people OF
this state ask is that this bill be
placed upon it's merits and that it be
not s~idetrackad by raise claims o1
'unconstitutionality," great expense"
too much power to the Governor"
creating too many offices" and al
ready machinery enough The ques-
ton at issue is, shall the burden OF
enforcing these state laws be taken
from the private citizen and placed
on the state? That is the real ssue
ture. 49,.
to be decided by the present legisla-
81. Is the bill constitutional? 1t
has been gone over carefully by the
attorney generals Office and promin-
ent attorneys of the state, and is be-
lieved to be constitutional on every
point. If it is not, the pure food, oil
inspection, hotel inspection, game and
OTHER laws are unconstitutional.
%. Will the law be seif-supporting!
From long experience, | know what II
costs to get evidence and what in
come may lbe expected from the law,
and believe the bill as amended Will
be entirely self-supporting. States at
torneys in fifty counties pay out
about $4,000 per year. They hire
o~utside-state detectives at from s. to
SO per day and heavy travel expense,
for men who are not acquainted with
our laws or tho ruses used to violate
them. The subpoena system used by
states attorneys is very expensive
and does not get the results. Local
men can be hired for one-half the
cost. become skilled in the law ano
ruses of violators ind get twice as
much evidence in the same time, ana
| am sure that this plan will cut costs
of prosecution over the whole state.
The presence CT such a force will iii
itself restrain many violations.
"3. Have We now sufficient ma
chinery to enforce the law? II i:
were usabie, yes, but it has not been
and will not be. Six years ago :here
were 80 open saloons with bars anc
back bars in the Slope country ano
hundreds of blindpigs. There were
fragrant violations at Valley City,
Devils Lake, Minot, Williston and, in
fact, all over the state. There were
800 drug stores doing a large liquor
business, some OF them selling as
much as So, 10 worth of whiskey a
year. There were 30 bawdy houses
at Fargo, 5 at Wahpeton, 2 at Willis
ton, a dozen at Minot, 3 at Devils
Lake, 5 at Mandan, / at Dickinson, 5
at Bismarck and numerous other
places. One year ago there were a
dozen tblindpigs and gambling places
at Hankinso1, others at Paramount
and L%idgerwood and all the above
have gone on for years and during
such continued violations. all the
county and city machinery for law e::'
forcement that we nov nave, was IL
vogue. 'i,.t.a
There is need of this department
to get the evidence on which to start
the actions. This is the hard part as
local people do not want to make the
complaint and those who are
willing to do SO canot guy at blin>-
pigs. I have letters from 81 out OF
so states attorneys about this bill;
80 indorse the bill and say it wou;o
greatly help them. Local officials arc
indebted to local people for tAels
election and dislike to make enemies
of their n%eighbors. This law woulc
create officials with these hindrances
removed. as,
IS. Is it not time to shift the bur
den of enforcing the state laws from
the private citizen of organization to
the state? <,lrs -...
yours respectfully,
o.. "F. l.. WATKINS,
"Supt.'
The members of the high school