The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-10-30
LANCER UNFIT
TO HOLD HIGH
LEGAL BERTH
Justice James e. Robinson De-
clares Attorney General
i Miserable Fizzle.
POINTS OUT HYPocRlc1Es
Poses as Spectacular Law En-
forcement Officer and Then
Violates Laws.
POINTS OUT HYPoCRlclEs

That William LANCER is unfit to hold
the office Of attorney general, to
which he seeks reelection at the polls
one week from today, is the solemn
conclusion OF Associate Justice James
h, Robinson, u lawyer and jurist OF
more than fifty years active practice
and the leagues highest legal author
ity, who sets forth his conclusions in
the following letter issued from his
chambers in the supreme court Of
North Dakota today:
October 80, 1913.
And still the attorney general
fiddles while Rome burns-and the
pestilence prevails. Fifteen thousand
people of the state are attacked by
the plague, and from the Bismarck
hospitals there are ten or more fun
erals daily, and the people are dying
all over the state. And now the at
torney general is q candidate for Of
1ice and it seems he is better salts
fled to have the people die all over
the state than to come out like man
and a patriot and to declare, as the
fact Is, that his pet dry bone statute
Is an absOlue fake and a fraud; that
1t was never passed by the senate,
and that any person in the state has
an absolute right to import liquor for
personal and medicinal purposes.
"And now the attorney general has
come out with proclamation saying y!
'Within the last few days many physi-
clans and health authorities from var
ious parts of TIE state have advised
me that whiskey and brandy can be
used adyantageously in treating se-
we're cases Of influenza and pneu-
monia. and have asked permission to
secure limited quantities OF these H.
quors, for such purposes So the at
torney general graciously declares
that whiskey and brandy may be con-
sidered as medicine and brought into
the state for such treatment in man
ner prescribed by law, during the epi-
demic only. And that the liquors
must be obtained through registered
pharmacists. and private importation
Is absolutely prohibited
p, Who 10 the Attorney GeneraI7
And, who is the attorney general
to- prohibit importations Of liquor
when there is no law to prohibit the
same land when the U. S. statute of
March 3, 1917, expressly permits the
importation by any person for medi.
cinal purposes? Why was not tho at
torney general so candid as to say to
the people: My own good wife was
taken with the plague: my physician
said that she must have whiskey or
die, a. I secured '.'e official
to run and rustic for a bottle of good
liquor and thereby saved her life. l
had no time to get it from the phar-
macist and when stricken with the
plague you will have no time, and
hence It is proper and right that you
should all have some such medicine
for use in case Of an emergency Why
did he not say that he had made an
investigation and found that the bone
dry law is an absolute fake and a
fraud, as declared by the senate in
extra session, without a dissenting
vote? Why did he not say that the
senator's are not all liars. and that
the record clearly shows that their
declaration is true! ~,
. Langer Shows No Fitness.
Now, in this matter, l have tried
hard to induce Mr.. LANCER to do his
duty, but he has not kept faith with
me. Hence, as judge Of the supreme
court, I deem 1t my solemn duty to
state those matters and to show that
the attorney general has shown no fit
ness for the duties of his office. r
49, His Opinion on A.. .-
"For instance, he gave to the gov
ernor a solemn opinion which was
message to the house, commend
tContinued on Page Four.)