The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-09-02
|. Y. A, MAKES
SUBTLEATTACk
ON PAPER ACT
Present Newspaper Law Fail
Yet Big Biz Seeks to Have
It AnnulIed.

II the present newspaper law could
be discussed impartially, 1t would be
conceded to have been the fairest and
most effective law enacted by the Non
p%artisans; fairest for the reason the
paper designated official must win the
approval Of a majority of the voters
of the county effective as a remedy
for past abuses in juggling legal no.
tees out Of sight.
Legal notices do not come under the
category Of private publications, or
private business. A notice made COM
pulsory by law is wholly different
from a private notice. 1t is public
business, pure and simple. To group
these notices In a single paper is a
service to the public, and does away
with the heretofore s%neaking habit
with many mortgages of publishing
their notices furthast from the land,
as they were before privileged to do.
Ibis was skullduggery of a kind,
meant to hide the transaction from
others who might have interest in the
property. And the public doesn't care
a hang where such notices are printed
as a rule, leaving the placing Of them
wholly in the hands Of the attorneys
to whom entrusted. To the public as
a whole It is a distinct service and
protection to have a single paper made
the medium of their publication, and
since the public has voice in naming
this medium at an election, where IN
the name of heaven is the Injustice
done any paper or periodical? Take
the matter of award of the county
printing; is there anyone foolish
enough to argue it is better to dele
gate this appointment to three or five
men constituting the board of, county
commissioners than to all the voters
at an election? We think n0t--what
do you think?
Please remember there are no "pri-
vate legal notices" and this will en-
tighten as to their character and why
they should be Included in the official
paper.
49, wv NCS ~ WIN lnlpAl a
ity" in discussion Of the present news
paper law, it must be evident the
newspapers in this state that have
been deprived of legal patronage are
biased. We anticipate the "come back
will be the farmer is biased The other
way, that is shown untrue by it's ten
ure as official paper drawing to d
close with it's opposition having better
than a fifty-fifty chance to win.
Win or lose at the coming election
we contend the official paper act is of
the best legislation enacted in the
state Of North Dakota. If the average
voter appreciates the public benefit
conferred on him by the law that
groups legal notices in one paper, he
will be opposed unhesitatingly to any
proposed law to make a change as to
legal notices.
The II change for the better would
be to permit the voters to name three
official papers in which to publish
county commissioner proceedings and
other county publications. This would
be going back to the former status ex
cept in method of selection. We make
a distinction Of public business of this
sort in that the whole public is init
mately concerned, and we argue for all
possible publicity better provided for
by distribution over the county. The
saving when spread to the taxpayers
Of an entire county is picayune. What
we need IN Information of county gov
eminent is not restrictive, but more,
publicity. And this should apply to
lesser divisions such as school district
and township proceedings printed in
the newspaper closest at hand. There
Is more or less skullduggery and fav-
oritism going on within these minor
government activities that could be
curbed by publication of proceedings,
and the cost, would be negligible.