The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-04-06


for all the better it will be. The in
dustrial commission should sit up and
smooth out this matter.
The report of the industrial COM
mission for the year ending Decem-
Der 31st, 1921 contains some very
pertinent facts regarding the opera
ton of the Bank of North Dakota.
One of the principal items of inter-
est, and tending to show how the
present industrial commission is cut
ting down the expense of state gov
eminent, is the list Of employees for.
merly employed in the bank and
those now on the payroll. The for
mer payroll consisted Of 100 employ
ees with total remuneration of
SOL ,941.58. This number has been
cut to total Of 40 employees with
a total payroll of $48,735.89. In this
small item alone appears a saving to
the taxpayer of $50, 205.69 per year
of 81 percent. While this amount
does not sound very large when the
administration has been talking Of
millions for the past few years the
saving represents about 20 percent
Of the total indebtedness of the state
at the time the non-partisan league
gained control of the state finances.
The report states that the operation
of the bank since August 1919, shows
an apparent loss of $255,08S.14 but
that this loss will undoubtedly be
greater as nothing has been charged
off so far for bad paper which repre-
sents loans and redeposits in closed
banks in the state. The report states
that "the funds Of the bank deposit
ed inside of the state are for the
most part at this time frozen in a
small number of league banks with
insufficient reserves to meet drafts
drawn against them. The banks for
mer policy of making political rede-
| posts and loans is due in large part
the losses that it has already sus-
tanned and the same policy has laid
the foundation for future losses"
The report further states that the
losses of the bank have come largely
through an effort "to be of service to
politica friends" From a study of
the report it is evident that political
friends are not considered above the
interests of the taxpayers at the
present time and the taxpayers may
expect more judicial handling Of
state funds as a consequence. The
Bank of North Dakota is only one of
the state ventures and the same poll
cy applying to its management has
been applied to the other branches of
state government. This will do more
toward the reduction. of taxes in the
state than could possibly be accom-
plished by the smaller subdivisions.
We are on the eve of the city cleo
ton at which time a city council,
mayor and members of the park board
are to be elected. The Times-Record
has not taken a very active part in
the election of the mayor, believing
that both gentlemen running for that
office are as we'll known to the people
of this city as they are to the editor
of the Times-Record, therefore we
feel that they are able to judge Of the
qualifications Of these candidates.
Both of them have held the Office of
mayor, the present incumbent serving
his first term and Mr.. Moe having
served two terms previous to the pres
ent mayor. There is an old saying
"by their works we shall know them,"
and this holds good in this, election.
You know what they have done and
you can figure out just exactly what
they will do if elected, so that your
mind should be clear on this point and
you should be able to go to the polls
and vote your conviction without very
much trouble. For aldermen we have
only the right personally to vote on
alderman from the third ward, that
is the editors home ward. There are
three candidates running there, all of
them good men, and we are going to
leave the choice to majority Of the
voters. In the first ward there are
two candidates, three in the second
and two in the fourth and of course a
majority of the voters will settle those
fights. For the park board we have
three candidates and we have been
somewhat more interested in this
! board because there is a distinct is
sue at stake in the matter of expendi-
lures of public money and We have
elected to support Messrs. Mcdonald
and Ellis, thinking them the best for