Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-09-27
THE CITY ELECTION

From the standpoint of. The Herald
the most gratifying thing abou h
city election is that a large vote was
east. While the unprecedented size
Of the vote is accounted for in large
measure by the attendance Of women
at the polls. The size Of the mems vote
as compared with the mems vote in
other years indicates that a general
and lively interest was taken in the
result.
And, while those who put forth
effort in an election not only e to
prevent the opposition from obtaining
a large majority, but try to prevent
them from getting any majority at
all, there is an element of satisfac-
ton in the fact that SO long as Mr..
O'Keefe was to be elected president
of the commission, he was elected by
a majority which places the result be-
You'd all question or cavil.
While The Herald has not believed
that the change which has been made
in the. form Of our charter was wise
at this time, 1t has said and believed
that under the new method the city
could be excellently governed. The
character of any government depends
or the character Of the men chosen to
administer it, and IN the attitude Of
the. citizens toward those men.
The Herald supported the Citizens
ticket from no personal antagOnism
toward any Of the members Of the OPP
posing group. 1t believed hat the
election of the candidates whom It
recommended would be- advantageous
to. the city, for which it has
stated quite fully. The majority OF
ithe voters have not concurred in that
Judgment, and The Herald accepts the
commission which the voters have
created as representative of the will
! Of the citizens of Grand Forks. The
fact that Alderman L. j.. Smith, one
of the candidates on the Citizens
ticket, ranked second in the voting
for~the eight candidates for commits
sioner indicates that in spite of the
adverse decision on other candidates:
some weight vas given to the elements
of business standing and experience
in municipal government which were
urged by his paper as being of special
Importance.
1t is unfortunate that the city cam
paign broke in upon a state campaign
which this paper regards as Of su-
preme Importance, and that even for
a short time the attention of our cit
liens has beer diverted from that
state campaign. A sharpley contested
local election invariably arouses more
intense feeling than any other, and
often leaves wounds and bruises
which r slow to heal 1t is to be
hoped hat every voter in Grand
Forks will consider that the city
campaign closed al 9 O'Clock on Sat
urday night. and will Immediately ad
dress himself to the consideration Of
the issues involved in the state cleo,
ton which is but a few weeks distant
Without question every effort will b.
put forth by the Socialist faction ir
the state to use whatever feeling wa!
engendered in this campaign as ar
instrument with which to divide tn.
forces struggling for good govern
ment in the state, and thus to brint
about a continuation of the misgov
eminent with which the state il
cursed. The success of any sucl
effort would be disastrous. It is pos
Sihlc for those of nc u-ho b,ro 70; Io.
to achieve success in this campaign t,
accept the result, if not without re
great, at least without bitterness, an,
certainly without any feeling which
will result in action n the state cam
pagn which will be prejudicial to tn,
state, the city, and each individual
citizen.