The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 16, 1915, Page 4

%1 1t di. 4 i FOUR THE NONPART ISAN LEADER A Papers That Oppose the Farmers’ League - -ers’ organization, and the HE Kenmare Journal appears to be opposed to the farm- in your own mind, whether or not the Kenmare Journal has the Nonpartisan League, farmers’ paper, the Nonpartisan Leader. been perfectly, fair, square and honest with you. ~We want you to decide whether or not you think the Kenmare Journal This discovery upon our part is not causing any is run for “ulterior purposes” and in the interest of the rail- 1Y loss of sleep and we are not going to Journal. it pleases. not, it is only all the worse for We have no animus against the Journal. ing to run the Journal. We are running the Leader. “roast” the Kenmare The Kenmare Journal has a perfect right to do as If it gets away with it, why, well and good, If the Journal. We are not try- If peo- ple don’t like the way the Leader is run, why don’t they .run it themselves? Our only object in making this reference to the Kenmare Journal is that the farmers around Kenmare may know the facts—all the facts. This is for your information—not to take a “rap” at the Journal or vent our own spleep. We sim- ply want you to know how well the Journal loves your paper and your efforts to organize yourselves politically. We wouldn’t harm a hair on the Journal’s pate if we could. Probably we couldn’t if we would. Our only object is to let you farmers know how the Journal has, we hope inadvertantly, misrepresentated your paper. Below, we submit the proofs right along side by side that you may see for yourselves. If you want to go on supporting “papers that misrepresent your cause and your interests, then we have nothing more to say. In a recent number the Kenmare Journal says: ¢ According to the Leader every businessman and banker, es- pecially the banker, is a robber and a thief and every farmer is a down<trodden, - poverty .stricken -individual and that -as a «class the farmers are bing preyed upon because of lack of peliticai organization. All newspapers are being run for ulterior pur- poses and in the interest of the railroads, banks, politicians, commissionmen, etc., and they are ‘used 'to serve their purposes against the farmer.” Doubtless the Kenmare Journal -will never read this article. Tt is not written for the Kenmare Journal. It is written for These papers are able to speak for themselves. roads, banks, politicians, etc., or in the interest of the farmer. Here are a few quotations from the Leader: “But ‘many officers of banks are friends of the League and it: rarpose. So ‘we don't want our members all over the state to %higk that all bankers are bad”—Leader Eeditorial of Dec. ‘9, 915. “TIf the ‘local’ businessman is to have the hearty cooperatio’ of the farmer he must get on common grounds with him. H must ‘sympathize with him in his figths for better marketing cm ditions, cleaher politics and more ;ust treatment.’—Leared Ed torial of Dec. 2, 1915. % : ’ ’ “There can, be no valid objections to each -class (bankers, busi ness men lawyers, .etc.), havimg proportional representation in public office.~ But there is very wvital objection to one class mon- orolizing all legislative, executive and administrative power.”— Leader Editorial of Dec. 2, 1915. ‘“We have personal friends and :acquantances among bankers for whom we hold very high regards. We want to be fair with the ‘bankers :and we surely will :as long as they give us a square deal.....As long :as ‘the present system of banking maintains we ditions, ‘cleaner politics and more just treatment.”—Leader Edi- ticle in the Leader of Nov. 28, 1915. “They (the bankers)’ are performing @ service to the com- munity for which they are entitled to -a reasomiable compensation, but .even the small banker should realize that his business depends on the prosperity of his patrons.”—Editorial from Kansas City Star, quoted with approval in Leader of Now. 11, 1915. These .quotations will prove .conclusively that the Kenmare Journal has -either very carelessly read the Leader or that it seeks ‘to misrepresent it. ot mmes ¥ In addition to these plain--.and open statements of the Leader, it has made numerous -quotations from state papers and has in turn been quoted liberally by them. All of which disproves the charge of the Kenmare. Journal. There are: scores of state papers which come to our exchange table, which are standing four-square for the ¥armers’ political ‘organization. And the very you farmers— you farmers who subscribe, pay for and read batent fact that a very large number of papers are bitterly - the Kenmare Journal. scriptions. We want you to realize that the Ken- hostile to the League and the Leader, does not blind us to that mare Journal would not be worth 30 cents without Y.OUB sub-, fact. Ing - Most of its money comes from the advertisers, but hearty support of the farmers’ organization. Many country editors are taking long chances in their They have con- the fact that you farmers pay for and take the Journal, makes sciences of their own, and hearts ‘unsullied with a greed for it profitable ‘for the advertisers to pay Mr. Kenmare Journal gain. to display their wares before you. your hat. Keep that fact pasted in From ‘the wild, rash and reckless statement quoted above we are forced to conclude that the Kenmare Journal either them on the back. L ‘ does not read the Nonpartisan Leader ‘or else it is so blindly Leader is simply with them in their fight. prejudiced against the farmers’ movement—because it is a They are willing to risk bringing down the wrath of the powers that be that they may advocate eternal justice and right. * e It is not necessary for the Leader to paternalistically pat The Leader is not leading them. The We are simply one of them. We enjoy their company and wish each of them god- political movemert—that it. cannot fairly and truly make a cor- speed. rect statement concerning the Leader. : 1 We herewith submit some quotations from the Leader, giv- ing cars, we will leave that for the farmers to answer themselves. ing date of issue. After reading them we want you to decide, Financial Leg:slation in As to the con talk about farmers rolling by in their tour- The Kenmare Journal is ‘against your paper, Mr. Farmer. the United States By Hon. Charles A. Lindberg, Congressman from Sixth Minnesota District - After the scare had been ‘thrown into the banks and the government of the United States by the panic of 1907; after the monetary Commission had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money making an appearance -of ‘demonstrating that the plan evolved by Paul M. Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb & ‘Co., was exactly the plan that the money trust wanted; and after legislation had already been secured from Congress making it pos- sible to “stabilize” the price of for- eign owned watered securities based on American industries, the next move qn the program of preparation for the main event which was to give the money trust a monopoly of the use of government credit, was to cre- ate the appearance of a wide-spread demand from the people themselves for some kind of currency legislation under the name of banking and -cur- rency reform, I have said “the ap- pearance of a wide-sprena demand’’ advisedly. No genuine demand ever came from the people for this legis- lation. The truth is that nine out of every ten bankers who were led to use their influence in favor of it. did not understand what the effect would be-and have been very much surprised as they have seen and un- -derstood how it is working out. More and greater surprises for them are still in store. Organized Citizens’ League The particular method which wag employed by the money trust to cre- ate ‘the appearance of a popular demand, ‘was the organization of Citizen's Leagues, as they were call- ed, in every state in the Union. None of these ‘Leagues”, so far as I know, .ever passed a resolution in favor of the TInitiative, the Refer- endum, Recall, = Equal. Suffrage, or any of those things which are con- stantly surging up from the great heart of the people.. On all these important questions, the membership which compozed the Citizen’s League for monetary.reform, were singular- ly “safe and sane.” To show how little the membership of those or- ganizations were trusted to formu- late their own demands, it is only necessary te say that not one of them ever had anything to say about the officers that were selected to voice the “demand” or the xresolu- tions which formulated ‘them. - The organization was started by Wall Street, but they fixed, the headquar- ters in Chicago in order to give col- or t6 the claim ‘that one purpose of the movement was to free the coun- try from Wall ‘Street influence. It almost went so far as to amount to a denunciation of Wall ‘Street by ‘Wall Street; of the money trust, but ‘not .quite.” It never gave away any secrets that were-not already well known and only talked about ‘Wall Street .and the dominating in- fluence of New York for the pur- pose of fooling the people into be- camaign to voice a spontaneous de- lieveing that Wall Street did not mand of ‘the people for banking res want what it was crazy to get. form were contributed by an aggre- : B £y gation of the largest of the New AR Slowt Hivind @6 Velale York, Wall Street banks. Just as As I have said, the membership of goon as the Federal Reserve Law the Citizen’s Leagues did mot have was passed, the work of the Citizen’s anything to do with electing ‘the of- -Leagues was done, and they dissolv- ficers. These were all carefully se- ¢q like the mists of morning bsfore lected and- hand-picked in advance: the .rising..sun, and every one of them guaranteed Faked “Insidious Influences” “safe wnd sane.” A full complement * Eyery time the present adminis- of officers for every state was in ex- tration has been thwarted in trying istence before a single mgmb‘er Was to put over some piece of fake legis- -enrolled. Many flf them have since latijon, ostensibly in the interests of been ‘rewarded by appointment to the people; but really for ca!hpaign higher salaried: positions c_reated by purposes only, we have been wont to the ‘Federal Reserve Law, -but, as @ hear something about the “insidious matter of fact, about all they did influence” of business in legislation. was to -allow the use of their names.- Here was the most clear-cut, bald- Not -even ‘the officers were consulted fluence of business ' in legislation. when resolutions were to.be :adopt- for the purpose of securing legisla- ed. ‘That was gll done in headquar-- tion of benefit to the big banks ters fin Ghmagp. Strange, isn’t . alone—there is nothing in it either that such a wide-pread movementa this, such ‘an ‘admirable league ©f fit to the people—and not a word citzenship could not have been Té- emanated from the White House a- tained, ‘to ‘aid ‘and. assist in the busik«bout - the: “insidious influence? -~ ness of running the.government af- ' What a pity ‘it is that no ‘effec- ter the Federal Reserve = Law. was tive means has yet been discovered passed? But where is it now? Only to get the wishes a memory remains, ‘the "premanent ‘record of the testi- lawmakers as big business has so well money of its Secretary given before learned how to do. : of . the people an investigating committee of the 1. ‘House of Representatives down in The League and th e ; ‘ e Leader—thi Wafihmgton, D. -C,,_ which shows con- farmers’ double-barreled shot gm: clusively that the bulk of the fundsand full of buckshot to the muzzle. which “defrayed the expenses of its Who's looking for trouble. 3 designed cor:intended to be -of bene- - together with themselves as’ insistently before ‘the