The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-02-22
ASSEMBLY FACING
TREMENDOUS TASK
LAST DAYS DRAW NEAR WITH
MANY BILLS UP
House Killed Rural Credits Bib
New Highway Laws Up-Corrupt
Practices Act-Freight Tariffs
"A Knock at Booze.

Bismarck.-The Fifteenth leets-
lative assembly Of North Dakota IL
now in its last quarter and The time
10 waning rapidly. With the arri-
val Of this stage in the sessions ex-
istence comes the usual grist OF new
bills; tn fact ar unusual number.
over 100 having been introduced ia
one day in the house alone. And
this means serious thought for all
concerned, for the time is short for
consideration Of the vast amount to
be cleaned up before the sixtieth day
which will be at hand on March 2,
and when the session must close.
Every committee is busy. while the
neavy committees, such as jmdiCfary,
ways and means. appropriations,
etc.. are working. many times all
night in order to handle the vast
amount of business which IL thrust
upon them. 1t is a tremendous task.
The fact is. there is a great deal
more work before the legislature
than It will be able to get through
with, and there is now talk that it
may be necessary for Gov. Frazier
to call an extra s. ion In order to
complete It. In case it is decided to
call an extra session there will be
no limit as to how long 1T may stay
In existence. Should there be no .ex-
ira session. there is but one thing
left to do and that is to allow the
session to close with a large number
OF bills dying without consideration.
The committees will only be able to
sift out a few, car for them and
throw the rest away. The prohabil-
ity is that night sessions will soon
be the order.
House Killed Credits Measure
There are some strange things
happen at this session. hut the one
which cannot be explained occurred
the other day when the house killed
the constitutional amendment pro-
viding for rural credits. This bill
passed the session of two years ago
and had passed the senate this SEES
sion. Had it passed the house this
time it would have gone to the pcn-
pie at the next general election.
But the unexpected happened and
the bill was instantly killed in the
house. This having been one Of the
issues Of the Nonpartisan league.
there never was a thought but that
it would pass. and its failure in the
house where the league is in control
has caused considerable m
and speculation
House HaS Highway Rill
Two bills which are attracting
considerable attention from the leg
islators, as we'll as all others who
are interested in fhstter highways,
are house bills 1877 and 1863. ~.Rill
l67 is an act providing for dealers
meteor vehicle license fees and
amending sections relating to same.
the disposition OF license money for
the Improvement Of highways. With
1t IL bill 1853. authorizing state aid
for the establishment. construction.
maintenance and repair OF public
roads and bridges. making appro-
priation therefor: asserting to the
act Of Congress. through which act
the U. 8. government will give large
sums to the state for the improve
ment Of highways. This is an op-
portunity for the state of North IA
or Eve years the finest roads in the
United States. 1t il a cry popu-
lar move, and there ia no question
but that the bills will both pass.
Bill 1853 also provides for the ap-
pointment of a highway commits
sion, to be composed Of the govern
or, the state engineer, the commits
sioner of agriculture and, labor,
with two members to he appointed
by the governor. and ~preecribes
their duties.
With the automobile license
money, the state appropriation and
the vast amount of money to be CIV
en- by the government. and which is
to be made larger each year for sew
eral years, the great improvement
to roads in this state can hardly be
estimated.
The Game Laws
It is quite probable that there
will be little If any change In the
game law of this state at this ses-
sion. Senator Lindstrom introduce
ed a resolution signed by 8,047 per-
sons against any change in the game
law except as to cutting down the
bag limit on prairie chickens and
removing the protection on beavers.
These two items may be allowed,
but probably no more.
Allows Sale Of Cigarettes
Senator Martin has introduced
senate bill 2a9 which permits the
sale of pure tobacco products except
to minors. This would undo the
snuff law also the law against Gig
arettes, or at least some IT them.
It is limited that there is a big ma
FORTY with a club awaiting a chance
to hit the bill when it comes up.
Short on Cash
The Fifteenth legislative assem-
bly, is going to be short on cash, in
fact II IS estimated that 1t will lack
about $4,000 of having enough to
get through. It's expenses will be
that much greater than the budget
board Of two years ago estimated 1t
would require, and upon mich re-
= N&A A $500 1-- 4