Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/138

 NORTH DAKOTA

112

NORTH DAKOTA

River valloy, from thirtc-rn luinilml to fifteen hundred feet in tlie I')evirs Lake region and froin two thou- sand to twenty-eight hundrcil fcot west of Minot. The chief rivers are the Missouri, Hed, Shej'enne, James, Mouse, and their tributaries. The state forms a rectangle, measuring approximately two himdred and fourteen miles from north to south and three hundred and thirty from east to west, and has an area of 7(1,795 square miles, of which (i.") is water. The poi)ulation (1910) was 577,056, an increiise of 82.8 per cent, since 1900.

Resources. — Agriculture. — The number of farms in the state in 1910 w-as 64,442, number of acres in cultivation over 13 millions. Wheat is the dominant crop, the Red River Valley being perhaps the most famous wheat-producing region in the %vorld. Oats flax, and barley are also produced in large quantities. The prairies offer fine ranching ground and the state has 1,. 315, 870 head of live stock. Her forests aggre- gate 95,918 acres; there are 135,150 cultivated fruit trees, and 2381 acres of berries. Besides many natural groves, very rich in wild small fruit, there are a vast number of cultivated farm groves, and some fine nurseries, the largest of which is near Devil's Lake and consists of about 400 acres.

Mining. — In the western part of the state. North Dakota has a coal supply greater than that of any other state in the Union; coal is mined at Minot, Burlington, Kenmare, Ray, Dickinson, Dunseith, and other places; the supply is cheap and inexliaustible for fuel, gas, electricity, and power. In 1908 there were 88 mines in operation and 289,435 tons mined. Clays for pottery, fire and pressed brick abound in Stark, Dunn, Mercer, Morton, Hettinger, and Bil- Ungs counties. Cement is found in Cavaher County on the border of Pembina. The artesian basin is in North Dakota sandstone at the base of the upper cretacean, at a depth of from eight hundred feet in the south-east to fifteen hundred feet at Devil's Lake. Good common brick clay may be found practically all over the state from deposits in the glacial lakes. North Dakota has 5012 miles of railroad, and four main lines cro.ss the state. There is direct railway communication with Winnipeg, Brandon, and other points on the Canadian Pacific.

Matters Affecting Religion. — North Dakota is a code State. The civil and criminal codes prepared by the New York commission but not then adopted by that State, were adopted by Dakota Territory in 1865; a probate code was adopted the same year, and thus the Territory of Dakota was the first English- speaking community to adopt a codification of its substantive law. The territorial laws, compiled in 1887, were revised by the State in 1895, 1899, and 1905. Section 4, Article 1 of the State Constitution pro\'ides: "The free exercise and enjoyment of re- ligious profession and wor.ship, without discrimination or preference, shall be forever guaranteed in this State, and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness or juror on account of his opinion on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State." The statute makes it a misdemeanour to prevent the free exercise of religious worship and belief, or to compel by threats or violence any particular form of worship, or to dis- turb a religious a.ssemblage by profane discourse, in- decent acts, unnecessary noise, selling liquor, keeping open huckster shops, or exhibiting jilays without licence, within a mile of such assemblages. Servile labour (except works of necessity or charity) is for- bidden on Sunday; also public sports, trades, manu- factures, mechanical eniployment, and public traffic (except that meats, milk, and fish may be sold before nine a.m., also food to be eaten on premises. Drugs, medicines, and surgical appliances may be sold at

any time). Service of process excejit in criminal cases is prohibited on Sunday. A person uiiiforndy keeping another day of the week as holy time, may labour on Sunday, provided he do not interrupt or disturb other persons in iiliscrxing the first day of the week. The fine for Sabbath-breaking is not less than one dollar <ir more th.an ten tlollars for each offence. It is a misdemeanour to serve civil process on Sut\irday on a person who keci)s that day as the Sabbath.

Oaths. — Section 533 of the code of 1905, amended 1909, provides: "The following officers are authorized to administer oaths: each judge of the supreme court and his deputy, clerks of the district court, clerks of the county court with increased jurisdiction, county auditors and registers of deeds and their deputies within their respective counties, county commission- ers within their respective counties, judges of the county court, public administrators within their re- spective counties, ju.stices of the peace within their respective counties, notaries public anywhere in the State upon complying with the provisions of sections 545 and 546, city clerks or auditors, township clerks and village recorders within their respective cities, townships, and villages; each sheriff and his deputy within their respective counties in the cases provided by law ; other officers in the cases especially provided by law". It is a misdemeanour to take, or for an officer to administer, an extra-judicial oath, except where the same is required by the provisions of some contract as the basis or proof of claim, or is agreed to be re- ceived by some person as proof of any fact in the per- formance of any contract, obligation or duty instead of other evidence. Blasphemy consists in wantonly uttering or publishing words, reproaches, or profane words against God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Scripture, or the Christian religion. Profane swearing consists in any use of the name of God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost, either in imprecating Divine vengeance upon the utterer or any other per- son, in a light, trifling, or irreverent speech. Blas- phemy is a misdemeanour, and profane swearing is punishable by a fine of one dollar for each offence. Obscenity in a public place or in the presence of females, or of children under ten years of age is a misdemeanour.

Exemptions from Taxation. — "All public school hou.ses, academies, colleges, institutions of learning, with the books and furniture therein and grounds attached to such buildings, necessary for their proper occupancy and use, not to exceed forty acres in area and not leased or otherwise used with a view to profit; also all houses used exclusively for public worship and lots and parts of lots upon which such houses are erected; all land used exclusively for burying grounds or for a cemetery; all buildings and contents thereof used for public charity, including public hospitals under the control of religious or charitable societies used wholly or in part for public charity, together with the land actually occupied by such in- stitutions, not leased or otherwise used with a view to profit, and all moneys and credits appropriated solely to sustaining and belonging exclusively to such insti- tutions, are exempt from taxation." All churches, parsonages, and usual outbuildings, and grounds not exceeding one acre on which the same are situated, whether on one or more tracts, also all personal property of religious corporations, used for religious purposes, are exempt.

Matters Affecting Religious Work. — The law pro- vides for corporations for religious, educational, benev- olent, charitable, or scientific purposes, giving to such corporations power to acquire property, real and personal, by purchase, devise, or bequest and hold the same and sell or mortgage it according to the by- laws or a majority of votes of the members. Catholic church corporations, according to diocesan statutes, consist of the bishop, vicar-general, local pastor, and