The Devils Lake world., 1922-01-25
REASONS THAT WILL NOT
DOWN.

broken INTO the nmellght again this
week; one of them is the Scandina-
vian-American Bank at Fargo and the
other is the state pool hall licensing
department.
F. c. Heaton, former teller of the
bank at Fargo has just been found
guilty of misdemeanor in embezzling
less than 500 of the banks fund. The
charge against him was for embezz-
ling $4,000. After celebrating %
hours the jury brought in verdict
that amounts practically to an ac-
quittal of the crime charged. The
apparent reason for this is that othe-
er jersons connected with the bank
were equally guilty with Heaton in
the embezzlement and the jury did
not feel that he should be made the
goat for the crime Of others.
Nonpartisans have been reluctant
70 admit that there was anything
wrong with the institution, but in the
face of repeated examinations, inves-
legations and trials it can not be
denied that its downfall is due to
the activities of a few financial pir-
ates, conscienceless and without honor
who cared not at all who might be
made to suffer if only their schemes
for their own enrichment could be
"put across" They would have been
successful in putting them across if
the repeated crop failures in the state
Lad not made it impossible for the
victims of their stock selling schemes
to meet their obligations. The acti-
vities of these pirates have disgraced
the Nonpartisan League and have
discredited the men who could have
prevented these leeches from attaching
themselves to the organization but
failed to do so.
Those of Minot who, with open eyes
and open minds, have watched the
work of the law enforcement officers
in this territory have long enter
tanned the suspicion that the pool hall
licensing department was not one
with clear nor more efficient than in
the days of LANCER when the Non
partisans were pointing the fin
ger of scorn at him because he used
it as a propaganda bureau to pro-
mote his personal political fortunes.
We are not excusing LANCER; we are
condemning the Nonpartisan Off
cials who have deniably used this
department to the same ends.
The appointment of F. L. Watkins
was made in response to the demands
of certain organizations who were in
terested in law enforcement and those
who appointed him did it purely as
a matter of political expediency. Had
Mr.. Watkins shown more efficiency
IN preventing rum running in this ter
ritory there might still have been
some excuse for his appointment and
had he shown some inclination to put
across an honest-to-God clean up of
Minot we might still condone his ap-
pointment. But in both of these he
has failed; the recent sitting of a
grand jury in Minot proved ia be a
bowling farce and for no other reason
than the miserable inefficiency and
lack of cooperation from the state
law enforcement department. The
thrift shown by gentlemen like. Mr..
Watkins in paying himself one hund-
red dollars per month out of the
state treasury for the sue, by himself,
OF his own car, and Mr.. Upton in
paying to himself $1,000 in repair
bills on automobiles repaired in his
own garage speaks well for their alb
ilty to look after their personal for
tunes but will hardly appeal to a
critical public who sometimes has the
fancy of calling such transactions by
the name of "graft."
Another revelation made by the
new administration is to the effect
that the expenses of the Lemke cam
paign tour last fall was paid out of
the funds Of the pool hall licensing
department. To what extent this is
true can not be determined from the
proof thus far submitted but in
the light of the manner in which 9TH
er expenditures in the department
have been made we are forced to the
conclusion that there is considerable
foundation for the charge. At least
Mr.. Lemke could have so arranged
the tour that he would not have laid
himself open to the charge of hav-
ing his travelling expenses paid out
Of the funds CT the licensing depart
ment.
The Scandinavian-American Bank
affairs and the law enforcement de-
partment fiasco point to the con-
clusion that both We're in the con-
troll of men who did business on the
theory that "the end justifies the
means" In other, words any shady
transaction was justified as long as
its perpetrators could "get by' with
it. The promoters Of the Scandina-
vian-American bank failed to "get
by because Of the crop failures and
the general financial depression and
the responsible heads of the law en-
forcement department failed to "get
/, by' because of the Nonna rtisan defeat