The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-09-28
What It Means
(Carpo EOrum)

4
As voters, 1t cost us about $3.50 0OC
to administer that sound spanking
that was meted out to the state adj
ministration In the election of Friday
but probably it was worth 1t II the
boys who have been running wild at
Bismarck these last few months are
capable Of reading the signs Of the
times.
Well save far more than the $780,
600 that was spent In the election of
Friday il the Bismarck gang that has
been spending public moneys in great
gobs for political purposes realize that
voter confidence in them is entirely
lacking-that their Job henceforth
must be that of restoring public con-
fidence II there remains with them
hope for future favors at the hands
OF an outraged electorate.
1t was singing rebuke.
It was, In every sense, a vote Of lack
OF confidence. cast after the most
momentous and ruthless effort that
has been put forward to mislead and
intimidate the voters into doing the
thing that unprinciplcd politicians
sought.
Not alone does the overwhelming
defeat of the sales tax, bank receiver
ship and workmen compensation COM
missioner removal bill reveal voter
distrust Of the administration, but
the very surprising vote that was roll
ed up In opposition to the trivial
amendment submitted by the last leg
stature, going to the mere routine of
reading bills presented to the assem-
bly, for action, can be interpreted in
no way other than an utter lack of
confidence In the legislature that
made such a mess Of things only
few months ago.
We have said that the rebuke cost
the taxpayers $4,000, and probably
that bears just q little analysis.
At the outset, the election, itself,
cost about 100000.
On top OF that, as taxpayers, we
have had to pay the bill for the gov
ernor who has been running helter-
skelter into every remote hamlet over
the whole commonwealth ever since
the legislature adjourned; we have
had to pay for his radio talks and
We have had to pay for the thou
sands upon thousands Of letters and
circulars that emanated from his Of
flee and the various departments of
government that were used to put fire
into the campaign.
We have had to pay the travelling
expenses Of scores of highway depart
ment officials and employees: the
travelling expenses of tax commission.
er. regulatory department, Bank Of
North Dakota. game and fish depart
ment employees. as they pilgrimaged
about seeking votes.
We have had to pay for clandestine
visits to The state educational insti-
tutions on the part of board OF adj
ministration members who lent them
selves and their offices to the miser-
able attempt to browbeat and frighten
educational institutions, and the cities
in which they are located, into sup
porting the sales tax with the clos
ing Of the institutions as the alter
native.
As taxpayers, we paid for swell
campaign-we paid the expenses, we
paid for the time of the men and
women who were forced by the gov
ernor into the fight in amounts that
can never be determined because the
costs will be concealed in hundred
different wayS-and as voters we
served notice on the whole gang that
We wanted no more of that sort Of
thing.
It should be a chastened admins
tration, but that Is hoping for too
much SO long as we have a governor
who uses the military power at the
slightest provocation, whose l1irelings
provoke strikes among honest work.
men, who uses the power to make or
break the individual employee of the
state as he sends his paid henchmen
about collecting percentages of their
salaries that his political newspaper
may be published.
It should be, We say, a chaStened
adminiStration-but the record that
has been written since last January
Is such that there need be little hope
for reform. Rather, we should ex-
pect, out Of Bismarck, q sort Of tail
with the hide" attitude. There can
not but be other than the feeling that
this administration has broken itself,
that the voters are alive to the Situa-
ton, and that its tenure In office will
be short lived and We may have last
fling that will pale into insignificance
the miserable performances of the
past. It would not be at all surpris-
ing, and it would be in keeping with
the attitude that has been revealed
In virtually everything that has taken
place heretofore.
Legislators who were coerced into
and promised jobs for voting for the
group Of power centraling measures
that featured the recent session
should read the record OF the special
election with degree Of concern and
an understanding Of which they were
wholly incapable ct Bismarck last
winter.
They should read this vote with an
appreciation Of the fact that, had
such bills as those giving into the
hands Of the governor full authority
over the industrial commission, COM
plete authority over the highway de-
parrment ana the new regulatory de-
partment. these, too uuquestionably
would have been rejected g empha-
ttcally - were the political measures
for which the governor sought ap-
prevail Friday.
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