The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-12-06

OK .TA. LITTER
=. t Of IS &c e. .1cr ~Tr$.
SlnI@ Is 2t0.V Of Tsu5 Hc0stytl.
who @nt.noi"IIy e c~tol a mon
st.: - 60 II rot control which
tuuroj Upon his creator and 1c&-
tro~oI all that TranlsenStcin
he'll 1ca". It vow is becoming
We oDDA ct that CO. tain prom
inent politicians and business in
tercStS Of this state unconscious
" wee acting IN the role Of
Fran'1en&toin when they created
the Public Safety commission,
for this body is thoroughly dis
crcd'tinG Governor Bulrq"ist
and his hackers, in labor circles
at least, and strongly TeuctGn@
a~ainst the very business inter-
ests that were most solicitous for
it's formation.
But these business interests
and Governor Bulnquist have
the Public Safety board on their
hands and can't get rid Of it IN
less they do as FTankenstein
fi2ally was compelled to do
kill the artificial body which
they created with such infinite
pains. And it is possible, even
probable. that this is exactly
what will be done at the extra
session Of the Legislature al
most certain to be called early
this winter.
The Legislature will be con-
vened to give the vote to SOL
diers outside the borders Of Min
nesota-~a worthy purpose-but
a violent drive against the Pub
lie Safety commission probably
will be the feature of the ses-
sion.
In the first place, union labor
is opposed to the Safety COM
mission. Its leaders allege with
good reason that dominating
members of the board are OPP
posed to unionism and have TAX
en- every opportunity to strike
at the organized workers. The
organized farmers have an e.
qually good complaint, for the
Public Safety commission re-
fused to interfere with local Of
ficials who illegally prevented
peaceable and patriotic meetings
held by the National Nonpartis-
an league. Farmers also COM
plain that the Safety commits
sion did nothing to aid in over
coming the car shortage which
resulted in millions of dollars
worth of produce rotting on the
ground for lack of carriers.
Many patriotic and in%depend-
ent citizens think that the Pub
lie Safety commission has acted
unwisely and arbitrarily in
many matters and utterly failed
to meet the conditions for which
it was created. It is too early
to predict whether the commits
sion will be abolished, but it has
aroused the bitter hostility of
many elements and if it does
weather the storm it is safe to
say that a change must be made
in it's personnel. The commission
as now constituted seems to be
dominated by c. w Ames of St.
Paul and Judge MCGEE of Min
neapolis. Both of these men are
standpat reactionaries notorious
for their open hostility to organ
lied labor, and organized farm
ers. Both men have close con-
nections with Big Business and
have acted with an autocratic ar
bitrariness instead of showing a
broad-visioned fairness. I
Within the last fortnight the
commission has made two seri-
Gus blunders which have brot
feeling against it to a head. In
the first place, it so "muddled
up" the milk situation-to use
the words of City Councilman
Oscar Keller of St. Paul-that
the Twin Cities were brought to
the verge of a milk famine. In
the second place, it took an ar
bitrary stand against the union
employees of the Twin City Rap
i'd Transit company which al
most precipitated a general
strike in the Twin Cities that
would have seriously crippled
this states wartime efficiency.
Both Of these plumbers could
have been avoided by a medium
of fairness and common sense.
In the Milk situation the Pub
lie Safety commission reduced
the price Of milk from IL to 10