Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-03-06
PRICE GOUG|NG


remain and we do not feel that prop
er and adequate legislation on this matter
can be presented and carried thru the
assembly within this short period. More
over. we are of the opinion that a more
thoro- going investigation than the one
that has been carried out by the joint
committee oil the high cost of living
should be obtained
Your committee further recommends
that a special committee be appointed
whose duty it shall be to continue such
investigation and that such committee
shall report lis findings to the governor
net later than November /. 1919. and
that, if III the judgment Of the governor
the findings of the said committee shall
warrant cali of special session of the
legislature, that such findings shall be
laid before such special session and the
proper legislation dealing with the pro-
flteeriny evil be enacted into law
Rider to III Proposed.
"A remedial measure, creating such
investigating committee and defining
Their poweNs aid duties can yet be enact
ed by this assembly by amending or at
t2ching y rider to senate bill III now in
the hands of the judiciary committee
9iElhg 10 the commission created bv this
act. the power to conduct this inyestiga
tlon, and your committee recommends
.hat II this report is approved by the
house. it be then referred to tho house
Judiciary committee for their favorable
consider 1tiun."
RasInasson. in rising to move the
adoption Of the report, said:
Il realize in dsposing of this meas
ure we are dealing with perhaps one of
the most important bills before the
legislature. The terms are such that one
VINO reads them can understand. This
Dill speaks to the taxpayers and Others
of Montana in the language of food
stuffs and the other things we all use
every day-the one thing the peopIe
OF Montana are now interested in-the
high cost Of living.
Cuttered With Amendments.
This bill was presented to our COM
mittee on the morning of the fifty-first
day of the session. 1t is a bill that was
widely advertised over the state in the
newspapers and given more publicity
than any other bill and is probably more
drastic than any bill introduced before
this assembly, but il my mini It is not
workable under its present shape.
Even after coming into our con-
m1ttee, ~ amendments to if were offer
ed by the author of the bill. Our com.
lnitee worked o.er It and various of the
leading attorneys Of the state studied it
and offered suggestions If we had put
il on general orders and it had survived
that ordeal it would have had hundred
amendments and had ii gone back to the
senate. II would have been in a form un-
recognizable as senate bill 1S9. This is
ut all I ~
members over there say they passed it
without looking at it.
I'VE presented the bill to the best
lawyers or the state and they came back
with the statement that they could
make nothing out of it and it would
have 70 be drafted"
Remembers the Honest Ones.
Rasmussen said the members of the
high cost of living commission had been
sincere in their efforts and had found
things in the state which should be recti-
fled. but that they were legislative
committee having other duties TO de-
mand their attention and could not
give to this subject the time it de-
manded.
He said: 1T may he we have dis
honest merchants and wholesalers in
Montana but you must remember that
we have thousands in the state just as
honest as we are and it is due TO them.
as well as to the people who have been
robbed. that this investigation be con-
tinued.
Governor in Line.
Regarding the final report Of the in
yestigation committee. he said Senator
Booth had been promising this from day
to day and that he had been waiting for
II before bringing in the report on senate
bill 1Sa, but that report was still lack
ing and could not longer be awaited. He
was satisfied the Booth report would
bring ou. some other matters of import
ance along this line.
He said he was satisfied that If senate
bill III, should pass, it will obtain the
governors approval and that the gov
ernor will agree to having the powers
of The efficiency commission enlarged so
as to take up much of the work sought
10 be authorized in 1S9.
sit puts three Of the best men sf the
state on this commission" he concluded
"and when this legislation is enacted we
will have done what every man ard
woman in the state demands We shall
do
Bill Dropped: Board Created.
without further discussion and with
ont dissenting vote the report Of the
ways and means committee was then
adopted.