Grand Forks herald., 1917-03-10
News Of: North Dakota
|0USE BILL A IS "A HARD one
T0BRINGBACK TO LIFE WHEN
LEAGUE CHALLENGE IS TAKEN

4A0A vOA ~ 4 A1AAAAv y |
ment station for one Of the most ques-
tionable Socialistic principles.
Danger to Sacred Trust.
The school land funds-the sacred |
trust of the United States government
to the state Of North Dakota-was to |
be left without an iota of the protec- |
ton thrown about it by the present |
constitution. It was to be open to |
the possibility Of looting without linn
1t or hindrance-fifty to seventy-five |
million dollars.
why did the men who drafted
House Bill A desire to take away the
present method of taxation Of rail-
roads, on physical valuation, just as
every farm and other property is as |
sessed. and put the railroads on a
gross earnings basis?" asked Mr..
reply, which he did not attempt to
do.
A Sop to the Railroads.
But Mr.. Sorlie did. He showed
that with the state going into all man
ner Of state owned public utilities,
with the possibility Of immense losses
II they failed, the losses would q1,a, have ave
railroads on the physical valuation
basis they would have to stand their
share of the losses, but on the gross
earnings they would not have to pay
one cent more taxes to cover the loss
es, and the farmer would be left to
dig his way out from under. This
was the sop to the railroads to keep
they would have done for their own
protection If left on the physical VAL
uation basis.
Under this socialistic regime you
would be taxed so heavily, Mr.. Farm
er Lacquer, you would be better off
lie.
He took up the question Of increas-
ing the debt Of the state on the
'sky Is the limit" basis, and other
issues, and concluded by disproving
the statement that House Bill ~ was
part Of the league program previous
to the election. and quoted the inter
he became governor IN which he
made a statement showing the lead
ers had no such thought In mind.
Mr.. Sorlie was given close attention
by the audience for the most part,
except for a few noisy, hard-shell
leaguers who resorted to hooting and
noise a few times until called to or
der by the chairman.
Quigley Starts Out Wrong.
Mr.. Quigley opened by attempting
to show that Mr.. sorlie had left the
league because he was defeated for
the nomination for lieutenant gov
ernor, but Mr.. Sorlie squelched that
by calling attention to the fact that
he left the league long before he was
ever mentioned as candidate and
he had never asked nor received tho
league endorsement for that or any
other honor.
Mr.. Quigley defended Mr.. Townley
and the other league leaders, declar-
ing Townley was the president Of the
! league because he had been asked by
| the men who started the movement
to take the position. He referred to
the recent statement Of q Grand
Forks attorney that under House Bill
"A any township or county could en-
gage In the manufacture and sale Of
Intoxicating liquors If it 50 desired,
but it was called to his attention that
this was not one Of the vital parts Of
the measure and he turned to the
question of invoking the Initiative to
bring House Bill "A to life and said
the fact that the senate refused to
pass the bills which passed the house
to make self-operative the initiative
and referendum section Of the consti-
tuition, which had been found to re-
quire special legislative enactment in
Inc NeW HOCkIOrQ CaplCOl removal
fight.
He acknowledged the bill would
have permitted the governor to build
up great machine, but said the civil
service law asked by the governor
would have offset that danger.
He said it was not the intention
Of the league leaders to use twenty
money for state-owned utilities at tho
start but to start with experimenting
with terminal elevator to cost say
a half million and Touring mills to
cost half million, and what If these
failed. it would be only q million dol
lars loss to the taxpayers, and that
was only $3.50 to each person in the
state"
Referring to the school land fund,
Mr.. Quigley did not attempt to de-
fend the removal of the provisions of
the constitution which saves the fund
from looting, but spoke on another
section which had been changed so
that the fund could not be invested
in government bonds. but would have
These funds, this school land
money. is being taken down to Wash
ington, d. c., and put into the gov
ernment Golfers and we get only per
cent on 1t, while tho poor farmer of
the state cannot get money without
| pdyAu6 Il per C0nt, OfdInaClC8lly a..
serted Mr.. Quigley. But he didn't
get away with the fallacious state
ment Mr.. Sorlie called the attention
of the audience to the fact that not
one dollar Of this fund was invested
outside of the state. It was all in
vested in first mortgages on lands in
North Dakota and there was demand
that would take ten millions more If
there was that amount in the fund
Mr.. Sorlie was compelled to leave
at this point to catch his train, but
telephone inquiry to Neche last night
brought tho claim of Mr.. Quigley
that he had enrolled total Of 27
leaguers at SIS per, including some
half dozen new members.
AZ Tar as could be learned, no roso-
lutions were offered.
| Former Senator A. J. McFadden
had a little controversy with Mr.
Quigley over the challenge, but this
was smoothed out by the chairman.
|0NE KILLED