The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-02-26
LAWMAKERS REST
FOLLOWING HECTIC
SESSION WEDNESDAY
Majority Leaders Status Is
Further Diminished by De-
cisive Defeats

ClSlve
Members Of the North Dakota
house of representatives took things
easy Thursday after a hectic Wed
l.esday session during which all mea-
sures originating in the house were
disposed Of.
Breaking through the majority
fences, the Nonpartisans came of
with a number of victories to still
further diminish the effectiveness OF
l.. L. Twichell's leadership of the ma
lority faction.
Twichell took a number OF decisive
defeats but also won some victories
Efforts to reconsider a bill to give
the governor authority to appoint the
state printer failed with the chief
executive looking on.
o. E. Erickson. minority floor lead
er, charged that Governor Shafer
had been brought into the chamber
in an effort to intimidate the major
ity into falling into line.
If this was the fact it proved In
effective, however, for two I. V. AS
refused to jump when the whip was
snapped and the vote on a proposal
to reconsider ended in a tie.
The governor blinked in surprise
when the vote was announced.
The result of the vote was an
nounced as 81 to SIS but the authenti-
city of the count was challenged and
a check showed an error which made
the final result Sc to 56. The motion
to reconsider lost, therefore, for lack
OF a majority.
Traynor Bill Passes
A measure introduced by Edwin
Traynor, Ramsey county I. v. A.
amending the present hail insurance
act to permit voluntary hail lnsur-
ance and separation of hail taxes from
general taxes, passed with the bare
constitutional majority OF 81 votes
after several roll calls and motions.
A congressional redistricting meas
ure, introduced by H. F. SWEET OF
Kidder and William Crockett Of Cav
alier, passed when the Richland
county delegation of four members
voted with the solid Nonpartisan MI
nority. The vote raj So to 81, With a
'.clincher" motion attached.
An attempt to place the SWEET and
Crockett bill at the foot Of the calen-
dar to give preference to a measure
introduced by John K. Olafson OF
Pembina, failed when the Richland
county members, Holthusen, Lynch,
Morgan and Worner, opposed it. A
roll call was then taken on the SWEET
Crockett bill and it passed as the
Richland members again supported
the bill. Later Olafson moved for in
definite postponement OF his bill.
Pierce in East District
The Nonpartisan proposal places
Pierce county in the east district, in
addition to the counties originally al
lotted in the bill, Pembina, Cavalier,
Towner, Ramsey, Walsh, Grand
Forks. Nelson, Benson, Eddy, Foster,
Griggs, Steel. Trail, Cass. Barnes,
Stutsman. Logan, Mcintosh, La
Moure. Dickey, Ransom, Sargent, and
Richland.
In Olafson's bill the counties OF
Burleigh. Kidder and Emmons, placed
in the west district of the measure
passed, were included in the east
district.
The SWEET Crockett bill places "A
counties in the eastern district and 70
In the western, with the eastern dis
trict about $4,000 greater in popula-
ton.
The hail insurance measure on the
first roll call failed as a result OF a
Sc to Sc vote. On reconsideration,
however, Fred A. Mau, Ransom. I. V.
A., swung over to his party's side to
give it the necessary majority for
passage. j. H. Henrickson, another
Ransom Independent, voted against
the bill in all counts taken on it.
Other Measures Approved
Other bills to pass provide for re-
apportionment Of the states 49 leg
islative districts, licensing and inspec-
ton of gasoline pumps and coin
weighing machines. elimination OF the
secretary of agriculture and labor and
superintendent Of public instruction
as ex-officio members Of the state
board of administration, that grain
storage charges in elevators be paid
yearly, that hail insurance depart
ment be placed on a budget basis, for
refunds by the state hail insurance
department to hail tax purchasers
paying taxes for which they were not
liable and prohibiting any warehouse
from selling grain stored within
cept as provided for by law.
1t was necessary to stop the house
clock to complete all business before
the fiftieth day passed. Each legis-
lative day must terminate at 2 p. m.
the following day, and to comply
with this rule the clock was stopped.
At $40 p. NJ. the necessary business
was finished and the clock again set
to ticking.