The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-02-06
STATEINVESTSIN
BURLEIGH. FOUR
PER CENT BONDS
University and School Land Funds
, Absorb 100000 Seed and
Feed Issue
NEXT LOWER BID is G

The state Of North Dakota saved
Burleigh county $4,000 in interest on
its 100000 issue Of seed and feed
bonds Tuesday afternoon, when it bid
chem in at four percent, about two per-
cent lower than the next lowest bid.
The bid came as surprise to rep
1esentatives of half-dozen banks
and bond companies who were here
with tenders said to have ranged
about six percent The states bid
was the first opened by the county
commissioners, and other prospective
bidders kept their tenders in their
pockets.
To Invest s66ooco
The money which will be invested
in the Burleigh county bonds will come
from the state university and school
lands fund and will represent about
80 per cent of the amount which is
expected to- be available by March
1st.
'If all contracts are paid up as due
and our land sales 90 we'll, we will
have about a million in this fund by
March l." said State Auditor Kositzky
member Of the board of university
and school lands. Under the laws
governing this fund, only one-third Of
it may be invested in farm loans, and
the remainder is to be invested in
bonds. We should have by March ],
therefore, $GG0,0OO or more for the
purchase Of county seed and feed
bonds"
Cannot Purchase All
1nasmuch as many other counties
will bond as heavily as Burleigh or for
an even larger sum, the states $780,
900 will not 60 far, if it is compelled to
actually invest in many counties
bonds, but it is believed that, used as a
regulator, the fund will enable all the
counties which have bonds to sell to
command much better price than
would be possible were it not known
that the state is a possible bidder.
Burleigh has enjoyed the good fortune
Of being the first county to sell bonds
under the amended seed and feed
bonding act, and it was picked by the
state as an object lesson TO DOnu
buyers.
Under the law, the farmers who
borrow from the county to purchase
seeds pay premium of but one per
cent on their loans, which means that
in Burleigh county their money will
cost them only five per cent.
Transaction Held Legal ,a
Burleigh county decided to bond and
advertised for bidders under the old
seed bonding act. Some question arose
yesterday as to the legality of such
procedure under the new act, F. F..
Shepard, of the First National Bank
of Bismarck procured from Attorney
General LANCER a written opinion in
which he held that section Is of the
new seed and feed bonding act, where
in it states that NO bonds issued or
proceedings had heretofore under
chapter "a of the political code of the
session laws of North Dakota for
1913 shall be invalidated or in any
manner made void by this act" is con-
trolling and that the bonds offered for
sale by Burleigh county on February
5, 1918, are offered legally and are in
every respect valid"
John N. Hagan, commissioners OF ag-
riculture and labor, held to the same
opinion There is no conflict between
the two acts in this respect" said Mr..
Hagan, except that the old act made
seven percent the maximum, while six
percent is the limit under the new
statute. 1t is my opinion, however,
that counties which have advertised
and sold bonds under the old act must
comply with the statute as amended
as to the purchase Of seed and feed,