The Dickinson press., 1917-03-31
THE PEOPLES FORUM
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Editor Press:
I read on your editorial page Of
the Press dated March 24th, an
article under the heading of "The
Peoples Forum. Now whoever the
author of that article may be, he was
evidently ashamed of it as there is no
name signed to it.
Now as citizen and tax payer I
feel it my sacred duty to resent such
a slanderous and unjust attack on
our governor. AS a matter of fact,
the article referred to is inconsistent
of itself in as much as it says the
available funds are between $150,000
and $175,000, while, if I am informed
right, there should be about $4,000.
l see our friend draws a comparison
between Governor Frazier's veto of
Senate Bill "a, and the flibuster tac-
tics used for our beloved Senator
Gronna and others on the neutrality
bill. Now if you can see the point,
I will have to confess can't. AS we
go little farther we see Mr.. Con-
tributor speaks of the farmers being
1eeced. I would like to know if he
means that for the governor?
will heartily agree with him that
the farmers are being fieeced, and if
we can take DR.. Ladd's figures, they
were feeced to the tune Of
$55 100000 on their wheat crop in
1915, and the good Lord only knows
how much in 1916.
I wish to. say in closing that 7
bear no i'll will towards any man,
not even Mr.. Contributor, but take
this way to let the public know that
the. farmers Of this section stand
solidly with few exceptions) be-
hind their governor in his action on
Senate bill "a.
If you will refer back to your Press
of March 18th you will find resolu-
tions to that effect passed by the F.,
E.. & C. U. Of A. at the quarterly
meeting of the Tri-County division
held in your city March 10th. This
convention represented farmers from
different parts of Stark, Billings and
Dunn counties.
Now l am going to ask you in
view of fair play, and as subscriber
to your paper, to print the governors
veto message on Senate Bill "a, and
let the public judge whether his reas-
ons were good or bad.
E. D. CULVER.
Editors Note: In compliance with
Mr.. Culver's request, we publish in
full, Governor Frazier's reasons for
his veto Of the terminal elevator bill,
as follows:
II file herewith Senate Bill Num-
ber "a, an act to provide for the crea-
ton Of a commission, the selection of
a location, erection, leasing, operating,
fIrrr ca11 nv.
side the state of North Dakota, and
making an appropriation therefor,
without my approval for the follow,
ing e, reas9R; %h;s o. ,,,ou;ao. e.. +,,o
building of an elevator or elevators
by direct taxation.
81 feel that the taxes are high
enough and in view of the condition
of the states finances and the fnan-
cial condition of the people, an in
crease of the taxes is unwarranted
and undesirable.
"Our state permits cities to issue
bonds for improvements such as
sewers, water works, paving, electric
Light plants, etc. This method has
|proven to be the correct principle and
has given general satisfaction. l be-
lieve the state should follow the
same principle in the building of
terminal elevators or other state
owned projects for the benefit of
the farmers who pay the greater
part Of the states taxes and produce
most of it's wealth.
"2. I believe state owned termi-
nal elevator without a state owned
flour mill to- grind the. wheat into
flour and demonstrate it's true milling
value, thus showing the wide differ
ence in the price received by the
farmers for wheat and the price
paid by the public for flour, would be
q failure.
"Such an elevator in this state
without a mill would be of no value
unless it were large enough to handle
or control all the North Dakota crop.