Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1919-06-05
E D @ L
GOVERNOR PROBABLY m1sQUoTED.

GOVERNOR PROBABLY fhi5QuUIED. -.
An Aberdeen dispatch to the Minneapolis Journal, under date
of June 5, is as follows, emitting the date line:
sGovernor Peter Norbeck, in Aberdeen to attend the opening OF
the joint county teachers institute at The Northern Normal, express
ed the opinion that the voluntary subscriptions for the proposed
soldiers memorial building at Pierre would be raised. 'The only
active, organized opposition to the memorial he said, is on the
part of1tfe Nonparhsan league In general the state favors the
memorial
It is the opinion of the Daily News that Governor Norbeck has
been risaaoted to some extent at least, or possibly misunderstood.
The first pronounced opposition, 50 far as the public prints is con
cerned, that manifested itself against the proposed soldiers memoir
iai at Pierre arose in the city of Aberdeen, when the county chairman
publicly, and through the Aberdeen newspapers, gave his reason for
declining-te act. He said he had found strenuous opposition, not only
in tlpinsidty but in the city of Aberdeen, and declined to serve as
Chairman Of the memorial drive because he felt morally certain that
it could not be made a success. Personally, he sad, he w a hhhsel
opposed to it-not to the principle of erecting a memorial, but the
location selected.
In Codington county, the gentleman who consented to serve as
chairman Il. i. East"ood), than whom there is no more patriotic
citizen in Watertown or the county at large, stated to the Daily
News, on the eve of the opening Of the drive, that he doubted whether
it could be made a success, in view of the dissemination evinced by
all classes Of people to subscribe. He asked for and received the
hearty cooperation OF the Daily News and the other papers OF the
county, and yet, neither in the city of Wat}rtown nor in the county
districts outside, could the drive be made a success because of the
pronounced opposition which developed. iio result was that after
! brief effort, Chairman Eastwood called the drive off and publicly
announced that all contributions that had been received woul. be
returned.
Mr.. Eastwood informs the Daily News that. 50 far IS the drive
was undertaken and carried forward in Codington county, the rural
nrcincts reported better results than the city Of Watertown. Finding
that SO comparatively few were contributing at all, he deemed it
but just that the sums subscribed be refunded, winch has been done.
When we recall that the vote in the city OF WatertoWn was
about ten to one against the league, whereas in the rural precincts
the ratio was gust about reversed, we will understand thai neither
league sentiment nor antiIeague sentiment had anything whatever to
do with the opposition to the erection of a soldiers memorial at Pierre,
but rather arises from the location. Mr.. Eastwood tells us that
the general comment, both within Watertown ard outside, was that
they would be willing to give even more than was asked for a nc
mortal within the county, preferring numerous smaller monuments
OF memorials than TO center all our efforts in one great memorial at
the state capital
It SIS assumed that Brown and eodington counties are fairly rep
resentative OF the eiszenship# of the state, and what is TRUE Of them
iii relation ta the proposed state memorial is probably true 81 tAe
average community III South Dakota.
Hence, the GSly News repeats that it thinks the governor
was either misquetedT or misunderstood. or that the author OF the
fsoerdeen dispatch quoted at the head Of this column was misin-
formed. ssS#8Sss