88 1 



of the second choice votes. A rigorous corrupt practices act was passed. A publicity 

 pamphlet is to be sent to all voters by the secretary of state. Space is sold in it to candi- 

 dates at rates per page, proportional to the importance of the office. A ballot law provides 

 for rotary arrangement of names when two or more persons are to be elected to an office. 



A commission of three was established to investigate employers' liability and workmen's 

 compensation and to report to the next legislature. Children between 8 and 15 must attend 

 school but a child may be excused if his labour is necessary for the support of the family. 

 The law says that no child shall be employed in "hours when" (formerly "any part of the 

 term during which") school is in session, so that the requirement is made more lax than be- 

 fore. Children under 16 may be employed not more than 48 hours, formerly 60 hours a week. 



An anti-pass law contains the usual exceptions to the provision that no free tickets or 

 passes be granted. Public vehicles must be disinfected once every thirty days during the 

 time they are used. Local boards of health must disinfect schools once every thirty days 

 except in vacation time. Theatres and places of amusement are not to be opened on Sunday. 

 Ball games and horse-racing are prohibited on Memorial Day before 2 P.M. The practice of 

 medicine is regulated by an act which requires a licence from a state board of medical ex- 

 aminers and there is a separate board of examiners for practitioners of osteopathy. A state 

 board ot dental examiners was established and the qualifications for the registration of phar- 

 macists are prescribed. Disorderly houses are declared a nuisance and may be abated by an 

 injunction. Intoxicating liquors must not be drunk on passenger trains in the state, ex- 

 cept in buffet or dining cars. The penalty for the disposal of liquors at any private or 

 public sales of property was made a fine of $200 to $ 1,000 and imprisonment in the county 

 jail for ninety days to one year. 



A bird reserve was created on the islands of Devils Lake. An act was passed for the 

 inspection and regulation of nursery stock shipped into the state. 



Any city or village with 500 inhabitants or more, may adopt the commission form of 

 government, unless it has been rejected within four years immediately previous, if the majori- 

 ty of the voters so decide at an election called upon the petition of 10% of the qualified elec- 

 tors. Voters in cities under the commission form of government may exercise the right of 

 recall, initiative or referendum. Any city after six years under the commission form of 

 government may abandon it and return to the state law for cities of its class or to its previous 

 special charter, after a favourable vote therefor at an election called by a petition signed by 

 40 % of the qualified electors. Incorporated cities are empowered to fix and adjust reasonable 

 rates for public utilities. 



Finance. A permanent non-partisan state tax commission was established in 1911; it 

 made its first report in December 1912, pointing put that the assessment is only 15 to 20% 

 of the actual value. Corporations issuing or selling bonds or other evidences of obligation 

 must report to the state bank examiner upon his request, and the state banking board is to 

 take charge of any such state corporation if it is satisfied that it is insolvent or mismanaged. 

 The balance at the beginning of 1912 was $2,121 and at the end $60,940; receipts for the 

 year, $1,418,664 and expenditures, $1,359,845. In September 1912 the city of Fargo 

 declared a dividend of 6 % on the tax levy, credited to tax payers March 1st, 1913. 



Education. The 1911 legislature appointed a commission to report in 1913 on the 

 educational system of the state and passed a school code which added one month to the 

 minimum school year and made attendance, compulsory for children between 8 and 15. 

 Lessons in nature study and elements of agriculture were added to the curriculum for all 

 common schools, and agriculture is an optional subject for a teacher's certificate. Another 

 act contains excellent and strict provisions relating to the building, sanitation and fire 

 protection of school houses. State aid of 2,500 a year was voted to schools with agricultural 

 departments, each to have at least ten acres of land for a school garden; this went into effect 

 in June, 1912. County agricultural and training schools are to be established by the board of 

 education, if approved by a vote taken after a petition of 300 or more freeholders, and are 

 to be maintained in part by the state. Joint schools may be established by two or more 

 counties. A state agricultural and training school board was created. Among the appro- 

 priations were: $10,000 for the Public Health Laboratory' (opened in 1907), Medical Depart- 

 ment, State University, and $25,000 for the Mining Experiment Station and sub-station. 



In 1912 the school population was 167,326; the enrollment 139,361; the average daily 

 attendance, 99,686; the average school year about 7.5 months; the total revenue, $5,666,934, 

 and the expenditures $5,597,154. 



In 1910 the percentage of illiteracy (10 years of age and over) was 3.1 (5.6 in 1900). 



Penal and Charitable Institutions. The superintendent of the Society for the Friendless 

 was required in 1911 to assist convicts on probation or parole to find work. The legislature 

 established a state board of control of charitable, reformatory and penal institutions. A 

 State Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Dunseith, Rolette county, was opened on October 24, 1912. 



History. In 1911 and 1912 the governor was a Democrat, John Burke (b. 1859, 

 governor since 1907), but the legislature was Republican (senate, 44 Republicans and 

 5 Democrats; house, 87 Republicans and 13 Democrats). On the death of Martin 



