The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1920-01-05
Attorney General Exposes In.
consistencies Of League Boss
and Second Fiddler Lemke
With Regard to Initiative and
Referendum and Emergency
Amendments - Declares Only
Beginning Has Been Made
and Warns Hearers to Watch

audience. composed largely or Non
partisaus, which gathered here Sat
urdav afternoon. The attorney gen
eral exposed the Inconsistencies of
Townleyf and Lemke in agitating for
the adoption OF initiative and refer
endum and emergency amendments
to the constitution and of then refus-
Ing to abide by the very rules which
they. had made for the regulation OF
the opposition. And. said LANCER, the
worst Is yet to come, He urged his
hearers to be on guard unless the
last vestige OF their constitutional
rights as FREQ American citizens be
wrested from them.
In part the attorney general said:
"Only few months ago Governor
Frazier and myself were out cam
paigning In almost every part OF North
Dakota in favor of the adoption by
the electorate Of the state Of the pro
nosed ten constitutional amendments.
"The opponents Of some Of these
amendments also campaigned against
them. They were thoroughly discuss
ed and one Of these amendments is
the one providing for the initiative
and referendum.
"In order to present the arguments
in favor of the adoption OF the ini:ia
tive and referendum amendment as
we'll as other amendments, clearly be-
fore the electorate a pamphlet was
issued by the North Dakota Republ
can state central committee, OF which
william I.emke, vice president Of the
Nonpartlsan league, is the state chair
man. The, pamphlet was entitled
THE Truth about The Constitutional
Amendments" have that pamphlet
In my hand. It Is here for any one
OF you to look at.
PROMISE ON REFERENDUM
The pamphlet to which I have re-
ferred, ON page II takes up the. argu-
ment In favor OF the Referendum and
is 'as follows:
SIN the second place, the refer
endum amendment provides that
1000, voters can sign a petition r
which will hold up and prevent
any legislation or any pond issue
/, passed by the Legislature until
the measure Is voted upon and
passed by q majority Of the peo-
pie.
"'Afr. Doyle and his big Bust
ness hackers can get 1000 signers
to any referendum petition in the
cities OF Fargo, Grand Forks, Mi
not and Devils Lake alone. and
thus. one OF the very amendments
to which they object gives them
absolute means of checking any
unwise legislation or bond issue
unless the same has been approx
ed by majority of the voters
In the state. PEOPLE ARE SOLE
JUDGES. The people of North
Dakota are the sole judges Of all
legislation or proposed bond is
sues and 1t Is extremely unlikely
that majority Of the people Of
this state would sanction any pro-
gram OF unlimited expenditures
From the above you will note that
the North Dakota republican state
central committee, when they got the
farmers OF this state to vote in favor
OF the referendum amendment, un-
equivocally and clearly stated that the
referendum amendment provided that
1000 voters could sign petition which
would hold up and prevent any legis-
lation or bond issue from going in to
effect until the measure was voted
upon and passed by a majority of tho
people. Nothing could be clearer than
that.
EMERGENCY DEFINED
we will turn now to page 4 of this
pamphlet and here we have an ener-
gency defined. 1t says here:
PEOPLE ARE FULL YPROTECTED
The Emergency Amendment makes
1t possible ior the Legislature in case
of an emergency, such as drouth, a
plague. an in.asion or an armed in
surrection, to aass laws or to appro-
pirate money which may 60 into effec:
before submitting same to the peo-
pie" The amendment which was
adopted by the people was Section G7
Article 2 and Is as follows:
">No act Of the legislative as
sembly shall take effect until July
lst after the close of the session,
unless the legislature BY vote Ct
twO-thirds OF the members pres
ent and voting. In each house.
shall declare it an emergency
measure, which declaration shall
he set forth In the act, provided.
however, that no act granting !
franchise or special privilege, or
act creating any vested right or
interest other than in the state,
shall be declared an emergency
measure. An emergency measure
shall take effect and be in force
from and after its passage and ap-
proval by the governor
III ever . proposition is plain tnis
emergency measure IS. You can twis:
the language, put on black spectacles
or white eye glasses, you can turn the
measure east or west, north or south
you can read 1t with microscope OF
look ct it with q sun glass, you can
translate 1t into Irish, Gaelic, Norwe-
CLAN or Hindustan. but when you get
all thru with 1t. the clear fact stands
Out that the people of this state arc
protected; that. no measure becomes
an emergency measure, that no law or
bond issue or any act OF the legisla-
ture goes into immediate effect unless
two-thirds Of the peoples representa-
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