The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-02-04
The Capitol Removal
Valley City Times Record

tVauey City llmeS-RCcCTQD
The Jamestown boosters have filed petitions contain
ing the names of something over $1,000 signers asking
for removal of the capitol from Bismarck to jamestown,
and the Jamestown men appeared at Bismarck yesterday
arguing for delay in construction until the matter Is
settled, the one thing the Jamestown people are asking
for particularly was to have the emergency clause
stricken out of the bill.
Inc state affairs committee, OF which L. L. TwicneA
Is chairman, promised TO take the matter under advise
ment, and while we do not know anything about 1t from
any contact with MI. TWichell or any member Of his
committee. we are going to predict that the committee
will refuse 70 do this. No doubt the intention of the
committee will be to try and get the legislature to ratify
the emergency clause so that operations for the building
of a new capitol can start at once. The Jamestown
people will probably fight that by compelling a special
election through court action and much delay and bad
feeling is going to come through such action.
1t is a known fact that anybody circulating a petition
can get all kinds Of neutrality-suspicious. from those
who do not bear the burdens of taxation but are voters
and perhaps that is a good argument for having a
property qualification for voting. Most Of our heavy
bond issues, or matters pertaining to the spending Of
large sums of money for which the taxpayer has to pay,
are settled by those who are over 81 and entitled to
a vote but do not pay a dollars worth Of tax-but they
vote and vote according to the way they are approached
and their vote counts just as heavy as the vote OF the
man or woman who pays a big tax. So it has been no
trouble for jamestown to get signatures-but 1t is going
to be much harder to get votes, because when the elec-
ton is called there will be a campaign of education put
on showing the ~fooishness of removal that will change
the opinion Of many of those who signed those petitions.
We attended a press meeting at Fargo yesterday, and
talked with a number Of state editors, and while none
Of these have yet taken any particular interest In this
question we found that most OF them regarded removal
as unfair to Bismarck and entirely uncalled for and
that they were not going to support any removal pro-
position.
We found little sentiment in Fargo for a change.
Many signatures were obtained In that city just as We
have said-people giving it no thought, but there Is no
sentiment at all strong for removal. From the north
west end Of the state, particularly, we found that editors
were not favorable to removal, so that II the matter does
come to a-yote. and 1t, seems highly probable ut this
time, we do not look Tor any change in capitol location.
A special election is going to cost the taxpayers 2 lot
Of money, the Jamestown people q lot OF headaches, and
when the smoke Of ballots has blown away the new
building will be put up on Capitol Hill where the con-
stitution put 1t at the time the public buildings were
located and at which time Jamestown secured the second
another?