Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-01-22
rHK eo1DEN VALLEY CASE.

The district Judge, before whom
suit was brought in relation to the
ousting Of local officials in Golden,l
vaTey county. has rendered a decis-
ion in favor OF the officials agstnst
whom ~proceedings> were undertaken,
and against Governor Frazier who
had undertaken TO pfsJ his part in
the political game Of which the Cold
en- Valley situation il a part
Before the recent special session
Of the Legislature, Attorney Genera
LANCER was widely and vigorously de-
nounced by administration speakers
and papere, becaune OF his alleged
negligence and partsanship iii the
performance Of his official duties in
Geiden valley county. A man nam
ed Bowen asserted % he was being
prosecuted by people in the vicinity,
and particularly that hts cattle were
being poisoned. Subsequently Bowen
vas shot, seemingly without proTsoca-
ton. and t%hereupon it waA charged
that the attorney general had paid no
attention to the complaints made by
Bowen. Inc to his appeals for protec.
ton. Because OF this it WAS declared
that Mr. LANCER ought to be suspend
ed from his office and that proceed
ings for his impeachment would be
instituted at the special session.
II there vas any foundations for
the charges made LANCER ought to
have been impeached. II there had
been even = reasonable suspicion that
he had been rcmiss, as stated, the leg
stature owed It to the people of the
state, as we'll Is to the official him
self. to institute a thorough and
searching investigation, and if at the
end OF such Investigation there ap-
peared good reason to believe that the
charges were wel1-foandsd in1peach-
mont before the bar Of the senate
ought to hive followed.
There was no Investigation, there
was no impeachment. there was no
! opportunity given to those who made
the charges to substantiate them, or
to the man against whom thav were
made to deny them. Instead. the
whole matter Was allowed to drop
Mr.. hanger himself invited invesliga-
ton, and challenged his detractors t
impeach him. There was no response
Instead, it VA left for Mr.. LANCER tt
make the s~tatenoents which he IL now
making in public addresses in order
to show to the people. Of the stats
that these charges were utterl,
groundless and false.
Mr.. hangers statements have beef
, very specific. He tells what occur
red, and when and where It occurred
He gives dates. names Of individuaEs
| and cites official reports. He show
that instead Of being negligent he ha
, been diiigent in Investigating ever;
} charge which was brought to his at
tention. He shows that the charge Q
/ cattle-poDoning had beer investigat
: cd, no only by himself and his ow:
employees, but by representatives G
the federal government, and OF q cat
tie growers association. these work
ing independently and reaching thei
conclusions without his assistanc,
i and the verdict Of all Of these agent
IA that there n no evidence tha
! there had been n poisoning Or an
attempt in that direction. That cor
: clusion wal supported BY the state
nlent OF one man who has since rept
dated everything that he had for1nel
~ said, End haA been employed by tn
governor in the attempt to dscred
Mr.. LANCER.
r., The people Of the state have \ risl
to know why there vas no invcstigs
d ton by the legislature. and no a
n tempt at impeachment II tbe xovel
nor or any of his associates have il
formation tending to support u
charges that have been made the
themselves, are ealpahly negligent I,
not having presented 1t in a mann4
upon which it could he acted. II
inevitable coneluston sstnat they kne
the charges to be false, and that tht
permitted them to be circulated Al
repeated solely for political efte<
dfhopinE to iniure a man for whom tn,
had developed a strong dislike J
n keeping alive in this mariner chart
which would have Immediately be-
e exploded had they been submitted
81 the scrutiny of 4 proper investigate
ISL
e; INFLUENZA AGAIN.
it There u again in progress what a
pears to be another influenza epiden
d ic. Chicago seems to be the center
II ~. %>.-kY.E ;,A --,A--.
lie how fast the disease will spread ]
y enc knows. One reA3uring featu
te is the fact that thus far the dhea
]. is Of q very mild type. In the tho
sands Of cases In Chicago The 6ea
ID rate is very low from the dfseAAe {
A. rAetIt and fhA numher AZ eanH4