The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-10-13

PURPOSE OF RECALL IS TO BLOCK
PERMANENTLY INDUSTRIAL PROGRAM

ALLOW THEM TO PUT THIS OVER THE
WORK WE HAVE DONE IN THE PAST SIX
YEARS WILL BE LOST. WE MUST STICK
AND WIN.
paign. The false charges preferred by the
I. V. A. politicians against the members OF the
industrial commission are made only tor the
purpose of getting our attention away from the
real issue in this fight. Let us stick to the
issue and save the program.
Datus C. Smith, well known Traill county
farmer, has given the initiated laws and the
constitutional amendments close study. The re-
suit of his study is set forth by himself in the
following article:
BY DATUs C. SMITH
have lately been studying the proposed
amendment to the constitution and the initiated
laws, so far as published in the Independent, and
desire to examine some of their features,
especially their trend and purpose as revealed
in the proposals themselves.
As both a farmer and a taxpayer of the state
ever since the days of the territory, l have a
natural interest in the affairs Of North Dakota;
and l want to acknowledge that most Of the
I. V. A. beyond a doubt desire the welfare Of the
state as well as l.. We simply differ as to
methods. / am a. Nonpartisan and have been
since the beginning because Of the industrial
program, "NlCu i COuSlOcI Oue " kAc AuVSt p1O~
gressive measures ever attempted by any state,
a program that / believe is calculated to be of
the greatest benefit to the entire commonwealth,
town and country alike.
I will add that I am positively in favor at
the proper time of shortening the program of
the League to give greater unity and success to
the industrial program, but that time is not now
when the initiated measures are very plainly
calculated not merely to hamper, but to destroy,
the entire industrial movement of the state.
There are some of these proposed laws that
I should approve if they stood alone and were
brought forward by anyone. But they do not
stand alone. They are bound together for the
defeat Of the League and the reactionary pur-
pose of preventing the people Of the state from
milling their own grain. So, l believe the advice
entirely wise to vote against all the proposals.
now propose to show that two of the initi-
ated measures will not merely take the state out
of the mining business at Drake and Grand
Forks, but have the hidden purpose and positive
effect Of stopping those undertakings instantly
and permanently where they are.
Let US first look at the proposed amendment
to the constitution, Section 1872. Among the
bonds to be issued under it are "$2, ,000, the
proceeds to be used to pay the debts and liza
bilities of the North Dakota Mill and Elevator
association, to pay the expense of completing
the state-owned mill and elevator at Grand
Forks, and as working capital for the operation
of such mill and elevator"
1t is previously provided in the amendment
that the bonds may be issued and sold for the
following purposes only'-and Drake, it will be
seen, is not mentioned. It is also provided that
"the total debt which may be incurred by the
state in connection with the state owned utili-
ties, enterprises and industries is hereby limited
to the amount Of the bond issue herein spec
ifcally authorized" So Drake is completely
shut out.
1t is true that the mill at Drake is mentioned
in the initiated law for the new industrial COM
mission as one Of the permitted activities of that
commission, but of what avail is it to be allowed
to live by law and killed by the constitution?
In passing it may be observed that the
stopping of the little mill at Drake is highly
important to those who would get the state out
of the milling business. / cannot stop to review
that business, but to any open mind Drake has
made good, save for losses by constantly falling
prices. And where is there an elevator, or mer-
chant for that matter, who did not do the same
thing, unless they unlawfully hedged by selling
before buying?
Completely Ties States Hands
1t may be noted that this proposed amend
ment to the constitution shuts the state out
from every form of industrial activity. Not the
slightest experiment on a commercial, scale may
it make in behalf of any industrial activity-not
q dollar in the development of our marvellous
and practically untouched coal resources, and,
more to our immediate needs, not a single unit
u q max Secu CIuSNcIs q StdLt 1HOuSIy L0aL
would, I believe, enhance the value. of every
bushel Of fax raised in the state without added
cost to the consumer. We raise in North Dakota
nearly one-haf of the entire fax product Of this
country. Thirty thousand bushels makes, I am
told, an economic unit in flax seed crushing.
Why should we tie ourselves up by this consti-
tutional amendment SO that we could not put
up so small q mill as that?
I would be in favor Of q definite limit Of, say.
100000, to all of the states Industrial activi-
ties; but the plan here is to tie the state up in q
hard knot against every form Of such effort.
Compare this with the conservative state of New
York, which has in recent years spent over q
hundred million dollars on the Erie canal (that
completes with the railroads and has always
helped to hold down freight rates); is now build
ing terminal elevators and has permitted New
York City, which is more than half the state, to
spend hundreds Of millions Of dollars on sub
ways and piers and municipality owned and oper-
ated ferry boats.
But let us return to the question Of how
things viii go with the mill and elevator at
Grand Forks under the proposed measures. The
extinction Of this industry is more scientific than
that Of the Drake mill, not 80 open, but none the