OCR Text |
Show WASHINGTON, D. C. May 11. The case of Green, and, -12 taxpayers.j versus Frazlei' has come before the United Stntes Supreme court. It seeks to test the constitutionality of the North Dakota State bank, which has now been resuming for eight months. The banking interests of St. Paul arid Minnesota charged farmers usurious usuri-ous interest rates. The farmers decided de-cided to have a state bank of their own and get money for their mortgages mort-gages and crop-moving without paying 10, 12 and 14 per cent. The Minneapolis Minne-apolis and St. Paul bankers hired law-years law-years and attacked the constitutionality constitutionali-ty of tho enterprise. This was tho origin of the case of the 42 taxpayers taxpay-ers versus, etc. Throe lower courts have sustained1 the legality of the bank. They have held that pocket-picking is not a vest' ed interest, of course, not in those words but substantially. Judge Amadon of the Federal court rendered an opinion on the subject which is likely to become a classic in the history of the fight for people's rights. Of eniirsp. fho TTnitnrl Stfitoe fin. promo court, as now constituted, is liable to do almost anything. It has been a fifty-fifty court on almost every important issue" recentlv before It. The bank of North Dakota is the first state bank to be created since some time in 1S48. It has total deposits de-posits now of 31 million dollars and has already loaned two million to farmers on their land. Its monthly clearings it clears for the private state banks are 45 millions a month. It has applications for eight millions of loans on farms. Its loan3 are made at G per cent with the privilege of taking 20 years to pay the loan. North Dakota farmers have become mortgaged to eastern capital to 'the amount of 200 million dollars and this mortgage is going to be gradually refunded re-funded by home capital and the interest inter-est reduced from 8.7 per cent to 6 per cent. |