The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-02-08
MERRY FIGHT IS
LIKELY RESULT
Courant's Bismarck Correspondent
Predicts Many Complications Be-
tween Belligerent Houses.

Predicts Many Complications Be-
tween Belligerent Houses.
(By o. M. Thomason.)
Bismarck, N. D., Feb 6.-The past
week has been a historic one in the
legislative annals of North Dakota.
It will probably go down in history
as the one week frought with more
dramatic interest than any in the his
tory of the state up to this time.
Nothing but time can foretell what
the future holds in store. That it
holds much, none but the intellectu-
ally decayed will deny.
All the dramatic interset centered
around House Bill a., which passed
the House on Friday by an over
whelming majority-82 to 27, with a
absent and not voting, to be exact.
This historic document, the so-called
Magma Charta of the Nonpartisan
League, came up in the senate and
passed first and second reading on
Monday and was referred to the COM
mittee on state affairs. This COM
mittee is dominated by members of
the old guard and reported the bill
out on Tuesday with majority and
minority reports. 1t went under the
guillotine at five o'clock when the
majority report to indefinitely post
pone was adopted. Not only was the
bill promptly killed but the "clincher''
was put on it which sealed it's cas-
ket.
No Debate is Permitted.
There was no debate on the bill in
the senate. The % senators who
had evidently entered into pact to
kill the bill would not permit It.
This was unlike the conduct of the
majority in the house which threw
down the bars and permitted the
minority to discuss it for one and a
half days. The minority in the SEN
ate fought manfully - especially
Hamilton and Cahill, but so far as
saving the bill was concerned they
fought for lost cause. In all there
were seven roll calls forced by the
minority which adequately put the
opposition substantially on record,
There were two or three that wav-
cred back and forth from pro to con
and con to pro but the fate of the
bill was plainly seen in the first bal
lot. On the final vote to adopt the
minority report of the committee
there were 20 for, 20 against and
none absent. It was said, however,
that Hamerly voted to accept the re-
port through mistake, owing to the
fact the question was put in the re-
verse form to what it had been in the
other six roll calls.
Roll Call on Bill A..
The senators voting to indefinitely
postpone and thus kill the bill were:
Allen, Beck, Carey, Ellingson, Eng
lund, Gibbens, Gronvold, Haggart,
Hamerly, Heckle, Hyland, Jacobson,
Kirkeide, Krecthmar, Lindstrom,
Mcbride, McGray, Mclean, Murphy,
Nelson of Grand Forks, Nelson of
Richland, Paulson, Ployhor, Porter,
Sandstrom.
Those voting to save the bill were:
Benson, Cahill, Drown, Ettestad, Ham
ilton, Hemmingsen, Hunt, King, Le-
wang, McCarten, Martin, Morkrid,
Mortenson, Mostad, Pendray, Skies,
Thoreson, Wexford, Wenstrom and
Zieman.
During the seven roll calls on
House Bill A standing room was out
Of the question in the gallery and cor
ridor Of the senate chamber. Every
speech made in behalf of the bill was
enthusiastically applauded. There
were no speeches made against the
bill. The senators opposing it simply
sat in sullen silence and voted like
clock work. It was another exemple
of running the steam roller over the
majority. Because of the strategic
position which those senators occu-
pied they were able to thwart the
manifest will Of eighty per cent of
the population of this state. They
made no excuses or apologies for do
ing it. Perhaps they did not think
the people were deserving so much
CONSIDERATION DIS d T0dSOH. luOy Sill
ply had the power to do it and did it
without giving any reasons for it.
There may be farseeing men among
those senators, but if so they had
their eyes closed. They either did
not care what the people thought or
else they discredit the peoples men,
ory. It was even remarked that the
people would forget in two years.
This would indicate that they do not
regard this as spelling their political
doom. Or, maybe they don't care if
it does. There are many other things
that are worth more, for the time be-
ing, than membership in the state
legislature.
Petitions Pouring In.
But the death Of A did not stop
the flood Of petitions that were rolling
into Bismarck. They continued to
flow in from all parts of the state,
many Of them signed by hundreds Of
- ~ ~4& A