THE BALLOT-BOX AS A JOKE 



preaches. It was like a siege; lines of cir- 

 cumvallation must be drawn, we must have 

 engineers, bastions, and barbicans, if I have 

 the miUtary terms right. The legislature 

 must twice give its solemn approval to the 

 project and then allow the people to say what 

 they thought of it. 



Most men conceded that if the state was 

 to go into the business of owning and oper- 

 ating an elevator the Constitution must be 

 changed first, so all the outposts, trenches, 

 and rifle-pits that guarded the Constitution 

 having been safely passed, at the general 

 election of 1912, the question was put squarely 

 to the people of North Dakota whether they 

 wished or did not wish to have their Con- 

 stitution amended so that the state could 

 build terminal elevators outside of the state 

 boundaries. 



On this the vote was: 



Yes 56,488 



No 18,864 



Every county in the state except one voted 

 in favor of the proposal. The one county 

 that showed an adverse vote was Mcintosh, 

 where the population is largely of German 

 origin and where 279 persons favored the pro- 

 posal and 679 opposed it. 



This would seem to be mandate enougn; 

 the people had voted three to one in favor of 



103 



