The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-01-14

|RS0AY, JANUARY IA, 1915.
acted to encourage men Of character
and standing to become candidates for
Office. The state needs the service of
many men who under present condit'
ions will not become candidates for
Office because they shrink from being
made the target of individuals, fac
lions or parties who may oppose them
and who in their opposition resort to
malicious untruths and insinuations
against the character and motives OF
candidates. These attacks are gen.
orally made in away to incite the pre-
JUDGE and passion of the voter and
not in any way to appeal to his intel
ligence and reason.
First, would recommend that the
present law relating to political ad-
vertising be amended so that they
appear at the head of the advertise
ment and that words be printed in full
and not abbreviated, and further that
tho words Political Advertising" must
be printed in as large type as any
type that may be used in the body or
heading Of the article. Further, the
printed advertisement should show the
cost of the advertisement and by
whom paid.
Second, would recommend the en-
actment of law which shall require
that any political article put into any
newspaper, pamphlet or circular must
be signed and where signed by CON-
mittee, that it shall have the names OF
the chairman and secretary of the
committee attached to the article, and
that anyone circulating any adverA
tisement, circular or pamphlet without
the names of the parties who author
lied the article attached thereto shall
be subject to heavy fines and impris-
onment
would further recommend that the
Governor or the Supreme court Of the
state be authorized to name commit
tee of three men, who whenever any
article, advertisement or any reading
matter whatsoever shall be put into
circulation, or any oral statement
shall seriously reflect upon the char
acter or official act of anyone holding
a federal, state or judicial office, or
who shall be candidate for any such
office, either in the primaries or at the
general election, that then it shall be-
come the duty of this committee to at
once inquire into the truth of the &C.
cusationa nd if the charges shall be
found to be true and the accusation
shall be serious enough to warrant it.,
then the committee snail take steps
forthwith to have the party accused
removed from Office, or if he shall on
ly be a candidate for Office then the
committee shall publically advertise to
the voters of the state their findings,
but if they shall find that the accusa-
tons are not true, but are simply put
out for the purpose of libeling the
character of the party holding office
orc andidate for Office, then it shall be
the duty of the committee to at once
commence action for libel against the
party or parties who have issued the
libellous matter and the libel laws
should be amended to provide both fine
and Imprisonment for those whom the
courts shall find guilty.
If we wish clean politics in North
Dakota and to encourage men of char
acter to become candidates for office
then something should be done by this
legislature to enact laws that shall
protect men in Office and candidates
for Office against the libellous and ma
licious articles that are sent broad
cast over the state preceding our pri-
maries and general elections.
Banks
The minimum capital stock under
which a national bank can be organ
lied is twenty-five thousand dollars.
Uuder our state laws state bank can
be organized with a paid in capital of
ten thousand dollars. The minimum
capital stock of state bank should be
twenty thousand dollars. At the pres
ent time too large a part of the cap
ital of ten thousand dollars is used for
furniture, fixtures and banking house
and there is not enough left of the
capital stock to act as security to the
depositors. would recommend that
the minimum capital of a bank seek
ing charter under our our state laws
be increased from ten to twenty thou
sand dollars. This would still leave
the minimum capital less Than is re.