The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-06-20
Petitions Deficient

Secretary Of State Robert Byrne after careful study
and scrutiny. and doubtless upon good legal advice. has
found the petitions referring the four cent gas tax
deficient and has rejected them. From all reports. he
was justified in doing so aside from the merits or de-
merits of the issues involved.
The law specifies how an enactment shall be referred
and initiated and Of course Mr.. Byrne had nothing to do
but reject the petitions as inadequate when the gasoline
tax petitions failed to comply with the statutes.
Whether the petitioners will resort to court action re-
mains to be seen. A little more care taken in securing
signatures would have done the job efficiently. There Is
enough resentment throughout the state against the in
crease in the law gasoline tax to defeat the measure II
1t ever came to a vote.
AS a rule the gasoline tax for road work is the best
medium, but in these days Of depression and curtail-
ment, the voters will endorse a tightening Of the purse
strings.
The state highway commission will find its fund In
adequate to great expansion even with the extra cent
of taxation accorded by a legislature which defied the
mandate of the people. Gasoline consumption has fallen
off materially.
This issue, along with failure to redistrict the state,
will be thrown into the political campaign hopper. The
opposition to the gasoline tax comes from imperial Cass
county, the home of Boss Twichell. Opposition is found
also in several other strong I. v. A. counties, SO the adj
ministration will have a lot of explaining to do as the
campaign warns to an open discussion OF issues.
In view of the experiences which many persons are
having with their personal affairs, the legislatures action
In increasing the gasoline tax was not only contrary to
the will of the people as expressed no longer ago than
last fall, but also contrary to the sentiment OF the times.
1t would meet with general satisfaction were a SINCERE
effort to be made to find ways of curtaiing public ex-
penditures rather than to continue the hunt for new
or increased sources of revenue. .
In all our ramifications Of government the tendency
since the war has been toward bigger and better appro-
priations; more and more money to be spent from the
public Golfers. Nowhere in America has the orgy OF
spending, which has given the nation a financial head
ache, been more apparent than in the various branches
Of government.
It is true that these increases were made largely IN
answer to the demands Of an optimistic public. But 1t
is equally true that the public which once thought
It needed so much now finds it can get along on much
leas. The people feel that this rule should apply to the
expenditure of tax money as much as to their personal
spending.
The administrations plea of highway necessity, then,
finds an offset in the popular clalnor for a reduction
in the tax burden. Whatever political benefit will accrue
from the expenditure Of this money will go to the
present state administration. But it also will carry the
onus which action in over riding the will Of the voters
and increasing public expenditures must necessarily en-
tail.