Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-03-05
Industrial Commission Scath-
insly A,r1raignedlBy Minor
ity Members; Public Fund.-
Declared To Have Been
Handled For Furtherance
OF Political Aims. !.
/ tBy STAFF Correspondent, Ia

20.
ing arraignments Of the. state indus
trial commission and the methods by
which the senate audit committee has
its investigation into the
affairs of that body are contained IN
"a report submitted to the senate last
night by the minority members of h
Barnes and p. j.. Murphy OF, Walsh
county. : ~. =,
Both the majority and the minority
reports were submitted to the. senate
last night. and will be printed and
distributed.
The minority members of the COM
mission declare In their report:
Real Purpose to Impeach Testimony.
THE general purpose Of the
hearings has not been SO much to in
v~estigate the state Industrial commits
sion as to inlpeach the testimony
given by citizens before the house
committee.
s@---The hearings have been directed
Throughout by the industrial commits
sion, the official body whose opera
lions were presumed to be. under in
vestigation. In proof of this it is
pointed out that the salaries of IN
ployes of the commission have been
paid by the industrial commission.
and that he. Paddock, secretary of
the commission. has been in absolute
charge Of the examination Of witness
es before the committee.
Shortcomings Shielded.
3-Every possible step has been
taken to cover up the shortcomings OF
the industrial commission.
These are the few findings Of; the
minority members Of the: committee
in regard to the investigation itself.
! In regard to- the work Of the in
dustrial commission. the minority
members find:
Its activities ever since its or
ganization have been governed almost
entirely by political considerations.
Responsibility for Bank Management.
2-Commission members are re-
sponsible for the management of the
Bank Of North Dakota in such a
Il manner that nearly half a million dol
THE Observation-Disclosures bank of
Fargo. an institution controlled by
theuI"Nonpartisan league, which recent
'ly was closed by the state bank ex-
aminer. Although the governor was
informed of the condition Of the Far
go bank he permitted an addition
al 100000 of public funds to be
placed there. with the result that at
the time it closed the bank had be-
tween $500. 900. and $500. 600 of pub
lie funds in r~e-deposits and loans.
Funds Aided League Aims.
3-The industrial commission per-
mitted the Bank of North Dakota to
handle public moneys in such a man
ner. as to further the political aims of
che rNonpartisan league. sand : IL, re-
sponsible for the fact that a group OF
favored banks have been given large
sums of public money with the UNI
derstandinE that certain subsidiary
corporations of the Nonpartisan
league, such as newspapers. stores,
ETC., should be extended credit.
'Hopelessly Mismanaged."
! 4-The commission failed to estab-
lish proper control over the Home
Building association with the result
that its affairs we're hopelessly mis-
managed.
5-The commission was responsible
for the gross .mismanagement of the
Bank Of North Dakota.
/, The counts given above are the
chief points of the findings of the
minority commission members as far
cerned.
The minority members also find no
to believe that the audit made
by Bishop Brissman and Company was
affected in any way by the political
bias. o any cause for doubling its
accuracy.
Credit Was Obstructed.
The experience of the auditors in
connection with the Drake mill is
cited, and it is shown that every effort
was made to prevent the accountants
obtaining much needed information as
to-Ale conduct Of the affairs of the in
: stitution.
In connection with the findings. of
the majority of the commission. the
minority members point out hat the
accountant on whose advice and fig
ures the committee has relied was M.
w. Thatcher who was constantly I'M
ployed by the industrial commission
OYer the period of the inauirx