Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-06-25
AUDITORIUM ].
COULD HAVE
BEEN RENTED
o. Young Contests Asser.
ton Made Yesterday by
n O. K. Lageson.

At the meeting. held In Central
park on Monday afternoon o. K. Lag
eson made certain statements which
either directly o. by Implication con-
veyed the impression that those in
charge Of the meeting had found
difficulty in obtaining a meeting
place. and tho impression ha, gone
abroad particularly that the use Of
tho auditorium was denied them.
Such an impression IL entirely con-
trary to the facts
AZ a few minutes before I p. M.
on Monday q representative Of the
Nonpartisan league from Fargo
called on O. Young, who IL chairman
OF the committee which has charge
Of the auditorium, and applied for
was to be held. At that time it was
supposed that Messrs Baer and Man
nhan were to be the speakers, and
this information was given to Mr..
Young. Mr.. Young said that he would
get in toch with the, other members
Of the committee as quickly as pos
stble and make the decision known
at once.i This no did. rhe commit
tee was aware of the protests which
had been made against addresses be-
ing delivered by Messrs Lindbergh,
understand that these protests would
apply to an orderly assemblage by the
men who were expected to speak,
and 1t was at once decided t rent
the auditorium as requested. The
league agent was notified. Of this
within half an hour Of making his
application. and expressed his appre-
citation Of the promptness with which
the matter had been disposed Of. He
said. however. that the use OF one
Of the parks vas being considered.
and that Mr.. Young would be notified
later II the auditorium were desired.
This ended the matter SD far as MIR.
Young and the auditorium commit
tee were concerned, as no further APP
pication was made.
The facts are, therefore, that any
statement that the s OF the audi
torium for, the meeting was denied is
entirely without foundation; that ap-
plication was made for the use of the
building only a. little over an hour be-
fore the time scheduled for he meet
ing to begin, the matter Of providing
a meeting place having apparently
been overlooked by those In irnmedi-
ate charge Of the meeting that the
use Of the auditorium was granted at
once, land proper notification of that
fact was made; and that those in
charge of the meeting did not choose
to. avail themselves Of the permission
GRANTED.
"A mistaken impression has also gone
abroad to h effct that the use Of
Central Park for the meeting was
first refused and then granted. One
Of the ordinances governing the use
of the parks. which has been in force
for many years, is that no public
meeting of any kind shall be held in
any Grand Forks park until permits
sion has been obtained from the park
commission. When application for
permission to hold the Monday meet
ins in Central park was made to the
park authorities It was at once grant
led. Until such permission had been
granted it was the duty Of. the police
man in charge Of the grounds to pre-
vent the holding Of n meeting. The
people in charge Of this particular
meeting were granted the same priv
eleges and required. to abide by the
same rules that apply in the case OF
every orderly gathering. ~