The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-04-10
ANONYMOUS LETTER
ATTACKING BYERLY
IGNORED BY SHAFER
Governor Never Pays Least
Heed to Unsigned Sour.
rilous Complaints

Governor George F. Shafer doesn't
think much of persons who write
anonymous letters.
And when he does think of them his
reactions are not complimentary.
The governor made that plain in
discussing letter which he received
from Mclean county. asking that he
discharge w. E. Byerly as state land
commissioner.
When he received the letter the cx-
ecutive lcokcd it over closely to see
II the writer had indicated his iden-
tity. There was no signature on the
letter and no return address on the
envelope. The letter was written on
plain paper. His inspection over, the
governor tossed the letter into the
| waste basket.
Il get quite a few anonymous let
tcrs." Governor Shafer said. If I
never got any it would be enough. II
person writing letter doesn't think
enough of 1t to sign his name feel
that it isn't WORTH the time and at
tcntion Of the man who receives it.
! throw all such correspondence into
the waste basket"
Most of the anonymous commune
cations received by the governor call
his attention to alleged lapses of state
employees or to various. things con-
nected with the state government.
Some contain suggestions for changes
In policy on various matters and some
seek to call the governors attention to
things which the writer's feel lie may
have overlooked.
The letter attacking Byerly alleged
that he had loaned more money, than
Hthe security was worth on some land
and that his language, on occasion,
was impolite. to put 1t mildly.
Byerly said the charge wasn't worth
comment. His principal occupation
with regard to farm loans, he said
has been to reduce, the amounts which
the county appraisal boards recon-
mend. and he proposes to keep on
making reductions where he feels they
are necessary to protect the states in
terest II he should miss some. he said
no one will be as sorry as he will.
There are about 1000 land loans
in this department and 100000 people
In the state" he said. This is the
peoples money. If a man is going tc
be square and live up to his oath In
this job he must see to it-tllat there
is ample security for. every dollar
loaned. That is what am trying tx
} do. and I am going to keep on try.
ing"
Because Of the reference in the let.
ter to Byerly's alleged proclivities fol
profanity, the land commissioner feel!
that he could !. guess the author
of the letter without taking too man!
gueSSeS.
"A few people have tried to bulldozt
me into raising the amount Of theil
loans or of granting loans which hac
been rejected" he explained. I'm some
cases they have attempted to carry
their point by bluster and cursing
got little hot under the collar and
gave them some of their own medi-
cine. They deserved 1t, and am moi
sorry. Under the same circumstances
would do the same thing again.
The number of bad loans In the de-
partment's files is particularly large
In some counties, and Mclean is one
of these. For that reason Byerly has
kept close scrutiny on loan applica-
tions from Mclean county and, unless
the application Is for a reloan or the
property offered as security is known
to be worth the full amount stated
he has ordered investigation of the
application before taking final action
As result, he said, some loans have
been materially reduced in amount
and others have been rejected alto
getller.