Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1922-02-02
hJST PAY DEARLY
FOR LEAGUE EXPERIMENTS;
Loss OVER HALF MILLION
Report Of Secretary Of Industrial Commission Shows State
Owned and Operated Industries Cost $64l O4l52
Between July /, 1919, and December 81, l92l-Uki-
mate Losses Through Bank Of North Dakota and Home
Builders Association Will Be Much Larger Than Pres
ent Figures Show, Secretary Crawford Declares in An
nual Report .>..

a Au0A AAVpOA e 5',.-&--'
/, 81 Bismarck, N. .. Feb. -(Spec-
iaD-North Dakota's experiment in
state-owned. state-operated industries
cost $641, ,O41.52 between July l.,
1919 and December 81, 1921, ac-
cording to compilations made by
Lewis F. Crawford, secretary of the
Industrial Commission, in the annu-
al report of the commission submit
ted to the Secretary of State today.
There has been loss in the opera
tion of the Bank of North Dakota.
the Homebuilders' Association, and
the Drake flour mill, according to
Mr.. Crawfords report.
The losses, particularly that of
the Bank Of North Dakota and the
Homebuilders' Association, will be
much greater than the figures Civ
en- above, Mr.. Crawford assets. The
audit of the Bank of North Dakota
now being made by the Bishop-Bris-
sman and Company, will undoubtedly
result in, the charging off of huge
sums in bad loans and in money held
in defunct banks, he says, and the
refusal of practically every person
for whom home was built under
the Homebuilders' Association law
to pay for his house lat the price it
cost to build, will increase the loss
of that department. t.
The Grand Forks mill project,
which is not completed, will show a
loss of several hundred thousands
of dollars the commission secretary
asserts, because of shrinkage due to
the letting of contracts at peak pric-
es of labor and material.
The people Of the state must pay
dearly for the poor management and
the business experiment of the Nom
partisan League. administration, Mr..
Crawford concludes from his invest-
igation during e which, TIE, report, was
- Useless Not to Face Facts = !.
When, a government gets out OF
its domain it:loses efficiency, multi
plies leaks and gives an opportunity
for, controlling, the electorate by in
flafe3 ipay+rolls,'' says Mr.. Craw-
ford, referring to: the states engage
ment in business enterprises. BE
tween the possible and the impossi-
Bile the line of distinction when faint
ly drawn, finds men ready to stake
the taxpayers money on the most ILL
conceived and visionary projects" T
The commission secretary asserts
that there is mot one oasis in, the
dreary desert Of failure 'and regrets
that better report cannot be made.
- If by refusing to see the truth
we could expunge the the past and
restore the lost fund to our people,
we would close our eyes. Not all the
employees of the state serving under
the Industrial Commission were in
competent or unmindful of the
states welfare by any means, but
these WHIP were competent and had
high ideals of service were, it seems,
judging by results, in hopeless min.
ority.'
Mr.. Crawford declares that from
the launching of the business activ-
tiles under the commission "there has
been an almost total Lack of organ
ization," and gives as some Of the
causes, false theories lack of train
ing on the part Of those named as
managers, the newness Of the work;
ill-defined duties; wide powers un-
der the laws and lack OF judicial in
terpretation, but most Of all official
incompetency an dfailure Of the for
mer commission to exercise ade-
quate supervision. s II. zs5.
New Commission Economizing
The new Industrial Commission,
which came into Office as result Of
the recall election lis endeavoring to