The Ward County independent., 1921-02-10
Cathr0, Threatened With
C0nt<<,mpt, Produces Records
to equalize the tax burden in a more
equitable manner.

to equalize the tax burden in a more
equitable manner.
As to the farmers program, it is.
the intention of the opposition to the
present state administration to give
the mill and elevator enterprise full
and fair trial. 1t was originally the
pledge Of the Independent Voters as
sociation to limit expenditure on this
account to two million dollars, but as
half of this amount has already been
used by the most glaring mismanage-
ment of the affairs of the Mill and
Elevator association, it may be neces
sary to dig deeper. According to the
report of the industrial commission it.
self, the work in Grand Forks has al
ready cost the state more than $780,
600; there is an overdraft in the Bank
of North Dakota for $2O3, ,19O.91 per
January /, and there is ten dollars
left in the treasury.
The Home Builders association will
not find many friends among the In
dependents. This department has
been even worse managed that the
mill and elevator. OF the 62 buildings
started-most of them for rich people,
bankers, business men, travelling men,
and representatives of railroads, har-
vester companies and other big biz in
the cities-only twenty houses have
been completed. This program" has
appropriated by the sixteenth legis-
lature, all money paid in by home
purchasers, $2S5,OO0 loaned the asso-
ciation by the Bank of North Dakota
and an overdraft in the same bank
to the amount of $63,602.31, in all
$41S.630.14. To complete the AZ un-
finished buildings there are 1922
in the associations cash box.
1t is the intention OF the indepen-
dents to finish the work already start
ed and then to liquidate the affairs Of
the department as soon as possible.
The house investigation committee,
headed by Representative NJ. o. Gran
gard, of Barnes county, is making
some progress in spite of the obstruc-
tions put in its way by the industrial
commission. At first the commission
simply refused to comply with the
orders of the Grangaard committee
and gave orders to the heads and
clerks in the various state institutions
under investigation not to give infor-
nation to the committee, nor to pro
duce any books or documents. The
commission changed its tactics to rear
guard action while retreating, and
piece by piece the information wanted
is forthcoming.
Further investigation Of the audit
report brings to light unheard Of slip
shod banking methods. Banks friend
ly to the Nonpartisan league leaders
have been favored recklessly. Forty
nine friendly banks" which have a
combined capital and surplus of ST.
1859 have received from the Bank
of North Dakota in re-deposits, loans,
etc, sums aggregating $3,189,469.
Here, briefly, is the situation:
The Bank of North Dakota has
loaned $1,1350GO to the industrial
commission to finance the North Da-
kota Mill and Elevator association and
the North Dakota Homebuilders as
sociation.
The bank has invested S2,9O6,069 in
farm loans which run for period Of
30 years.
The bank has on deposit in 80 closed
banks, the sum Of $539,879.18,. while
other liabilities from those banks to
the state bank are S369, $4,000, or a
total libility from suspended banks Of
$9O9,829.27.
The bank has adopted a policy Of
favoring political friends with big
deposits and other advances; it has
put $444,127.46 in the Scandinavian
American bank Of Fargo; it has put
1858, ,137. .89 into bank with $85 900
combined capital and surplus; it has
placed $126,123.88 in one bank with
combined capital and surplus of $780,
900, and has tremendous deposits and
loans to others of group of especial
ly favored banks.
In one of the closed banks at
Donnybrook-a bank with combined
capital and surplus of $33. 400, the
! Bank of North Dakota has deposits
and other advances in the form of
loans, ETC., of 500, ,534.31; it has $79,-
242.82 in a closed bank at Beach; it
has $65,966.52 in closer bank at
Minot; it has $47,111.06 in a closed
bank at Fortuna; it has $63, ,588.85 in
closed bank at New England; it has
$53, ,362.7O coming from closed bank
at Tolley.
In group of 80 banks that appear
to have been especially favored, in
Guiding such institutions as the league
bank in Fargo, the Bank of North
Dakota has a total Of $2652, 236.49
on deposit and in other forms of ad-
vances.
At the time that this audit was COM
piled, the Bank Of North Dakota had
advances to all the banks totalling
about $4,000, 900, so the fact that
there is more than two and half
million dollars in 80 banks, means
that about one-fifth Of all the public
money loaned or deposited at that
time in the banks, was in less than
one-eighteenth of all the banks that
were doing business with the state
bank.
It is knowledge Of this situation
that the state administration is seek
ing to keep from the public in the
fight that it is making in Bismarck to
prevent the house audit committee
from making a full inquiry into the
status Of the Bank Of North Dakota
and other industries that are under
the direction Of the state industrial