The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-02-22
Shipping Coal And
LEGISLATORS

| one WOllOeTS, IedulIlS SOIIlC VI tIlt
wild statements emanating from the
jamestown capital removal group, il
they use coal to keep warm in the
Stutsman county seat.
II they do, they might give the PEG.
pie OF this state an economy spiel
on the relative advantages of Bis
marck and jamestown from the
standpoint of buying coal for state
institutions.
Here are the factors governing the
question. 1t would be interesting to
see how Jamestown's boosters could
turn them into an argument in be-
half of their city. They have done
considerable prestidigitation will
mileage figures and it may not be
amiss to give them try at figuring
coal costs.
The state capitol building would
use about 5000 tons Of coal an
nually. The old one did and the new
one will take about the same guam
tity. The freight cost from the mine
at Wilton to jamestown is $1.30 a
ton. From Wilton to Bismarck it is
Is cents a ton, a difference of SIS
cents.
From Beulah to jamestown the cost
is $l70 per ton and from Beulah
to Bismarck it is sl.1O a ton, differ
ence of 60 cents.
Ii purchased from Wilton, it would
cost ST $50 a year less to bring 5000
tons of coal to Bismarck than to
Jamestown If purchased from
Beulah, it would cost $1,000 year
less.
Taking Jamestown's figures on
savings to be maze in the cost of
mileage for legislators to and from
the state capital, it would cost $3.50
a year less to Jamestown than to Bis
marck.
BY subtracting $3.50 from 1850 we
have $500 which is the net saving on
coal and legislators combined if the
capital is left at Bismarck.
It is absurd, of course, to advance
this petty argument when the
major cost involved is the abandon
ment of ST. 100000 worth of state pro-
perty in Bismarck, but Bismarck con-
tends that it can meet every James
town argument with one as good or
better and if Jamestown is to offer
an alleged saving of $3.50 year on
mileage for legislators, Bismarck is
justified in offering the argument of
of $3.50 year saving on coal ship
ments.
The fact of the matter, of course,
is that neither argument carries
much weight from financial stand
point as compared with that one item
of s1,40O,O00 in state property. There
just isn't any comparison.
But overwhelming as it is, the fl
nancial argument is not and should
not be permitted to become the para
mount issue. The questions of JUS
tice, righteousness, sincerity and fair
ness outweigh the material consider
atoms in the minds of many people.
The financial balance in favor of
Bismarck is heavy. On one side OF
the scales is the potential loss in
state property at Bismarck and the
savings in coal and water costs. On
the other side of the scale is the saw
ing of $3.50 year which Jamestown'S
figures show would be saved in legis-
lative mileage costs.
But heavy as the financial balance
in Bismarck's favor is, it is an even
break when compared to the showing
made by the scales of moral balance.
On one side are the sweat, toll
and years of saving on the part of
Bismarck's homeowners and business
men; the happiness of hundreds of
families and thousands of individuals,
men, women and children, whose
future is bound up with that of their
city
On the other side is the greed.
selfishness and ambition of few per-
sons living in a city which already
has one of the largest state institu-
lions in North Dakota. True, an at
tempt has been made to cloak greed
and selfishness in the disguise of con-
Germ for the taxpayer, but the people
of the state are not deceived. The
disguise is too thin
Bismarck is fortunate in having
the best of both sides of the argu-
ment but it would show little knowl-
edge Of the essential quality of North
Dakota citizens if it did not point out,
with frequent emphasis, the moral
facts involved.
TIL n~>ll,, M Et..-