The Bismarck tribune., 1922-06-19
LANCER ] ! ! SPEAKS |:'..!I !
AT RALLY |. HELD | j
NEAR ] ME.N0KlElNl N J: I \!
Severely Criticises Nestos Ad-
ministlration, Blames a Waters
For Bank. Failure
ATTACKS THE GOVERNOR

william LANCER was the chief
speaker at a Nonpartisan league po-
litical rally held at Island Park
grove, l 1-2 miles north of Menoken
Sunday afternoon. A. C. Townley,
who was also scheduled to speak, was
unable to be present because Of an
auto breakdown and hurried call to
Minneapolis, it was stated. Senator
w. J. Church, candidate for commits
sioner of agriculture and labor, fol-
lowed Mr.. LANCER. The meeting was
presided over BY Fred Argast. There
were several hundred people at the
picnic grounds.
Mr.. LANCER said that he had been
called inconsistent in speaking for the
league ticket after having run for
Governor on the !. V. A. ticket two
years ago, and previously been in
dorsed by the league. He said that ho
stood with respect to the league pro-
gram just where he stood six, four
and two years ago, indorsing the ori-
ginal five planks, and that he had
not changed his opinion on things
WHICH he fought fer in tn the -:r9 campaign
Mr.: LANCER devoted himself to dis
cussion, Of, the Nestos administration
because, he said, the Governor was a
candidate forf reelection on his rec
ord. r. @'
Referring to the Scandinavian Am
erican bank and the Bank Of North
Dakota Mr.. LANCER declared that it
was J. R. Waters who wrecked the
Bank of, North Dakota and not F. ".
Cathro. He. asserted that records
showed conclusive1y It was Mr.. Wa
ters who sent practically all Of the
money from the Bank Of North Da-
kota to the Observation-Disclosures
bank. He declared that after the new
administration came in and Ole En-
gen, treasurer Of the l. v. A., was
named receiver of the Scandinavian
American bank Waters walked into
the bank with Engen and spent two
weeks going through correspondence.
He asserted Waters walked out of the
bank with an armload of correspond
ence. He asserted that Waters was
looking for letters which might con-
meet him with the transactions. The
Nestos administration, he asserted,
had indicted many persons but had
not indicted Mr.. Waters whom he de-
clared was responsible for the con-
dition Of the bank and instead had
put Mr.. Waters on the payroll Of
the state.
Referring to farm loans of the
Bank of North Dakota he declared
that every bad loan was traced to
one appraiser, Malie Townsend, whom
he said formerly drove race horses
for ]. R. Waters.4 I.l& = ~
Y Mr.. LANCER asserted the farm loan
department Of the bank had shortened
the period Of amortization to in
crease the yearly payments to 8 per-
cent so that they would not compare
unfavorably with the high rate Of in
terest charged by Twin City houses.
Referring to the Dismissal Of Geo.
Wallace, tax commissioner, Mr.. Lam
ger asserted that when he was states
attorney Of Morton county years ago
apd Mr.. Nestos was states attorney
OF Ward county that Wallace and he
(Langer) instituted suits to collect
taxes from railroads on lease-hold
property. He asserted that only two
states attorneys refused to join in the
lawsuit against the railroads and that
one of them was Mr.. Nestos. He said
the lawsuit recovered taxes on $148,-
100000 of property. He declared that
Wallace also had instituted q suit to
collect some $4,000 Of taxes owned
by E. A. Hughes and the Hughes
Electric company in Bismarck that
Mr.. Hughes had entertained and was
friendly to Governor Nestos and that
Governor Nestos complied with his
demand that Mr.. Wallace be fired.