The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 13, 1916, Page 6

e g ey W e VISP ISt L oo N e . | i » 4 G e el SIX THE NONPARTISAN LEADER The Nonpartisan Leader PUBLISHED WEEKLY—EVERY THURSDAY e N e e —— e e e Official Paper of the Farmers’ Nonpartisan Political League of North Dakota e e g AN L ICA e an n Ee X e b w s o X Se et Entered as second-class matter September .8, 1915, at the postoffice at Fargo, North Dakota, under the Act of March 3, 1879. D. C. Coates, Managing Editor. Herbert Gaston, Editor. Adpvertising rates on application. 5 Subscription, one year, in advance, $1.50; six months, $1.00 O% Communications intended for the paper ’should be addressed to the Non- partlsan Leader, Box 919, Fargo, North Dakota, and not to any individual. The Leader solicits advertisements of meritorious articles needed by Farmers. Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are not knowingly ad- vertised, and we will take it as a favor if any readers will advise us promptly should they have occasion to doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising columns. Discriminating advertisers recognize the Nonpartisan Leader as the best medium in the state of North Dakota through which to reach the wideawake and up-to-date farmers. THE FORM OR THE SUBSTANCE? HAT do the people of North Dakota want—actual govern~ . ment by the peopie of the state or something that pre- (#S76] tends to be popular government but is not? Do they want the substance of democracy or only the hollow form of it. A= It would seem foolish to ask such a question only that some belated apostles of progress in the public prints are now earnestly asserting that the sacred thing is the manner of domtr it and not the result. The hirelings of privilege and the plunder gang have now be- come the champions of what was progressive three or four years ago. The ring has retreated behind the direct primary trench after having been driven out of the fort of old party eonventions. Its lusty voiced lackeys are loudly asserting that the primary is the sacred and holy thing and they are howling at the Nonpartisan League for attempting to substitute an “old-fashioned convention” for the direct vote of the people. No one now denies that the old party convention was a boss- controlled affair; that an inner clique of a few men dictated the nominations; that in many cases the same clique dictated nomina- tions of both the principal parties and so had the thing rigged coming and going. The direct primary originated as the plan of the people to smash the old party machines and take a little power themselves. As it has stood for several years past, it has been more than half a failure. Practically the same old unscmpulous bunch has remained in control. The truth is the direet primary can be rigged up. It can be used by the old gang, and it is being so used.-- It is a little more troublesome, a little more expensive, but it can be done. Privilege has adjusted itself to the new condition and it dreads a change. It hires its press lackeys to cry with horror against anything differ- ent, any new plan of action that promises to give the people a real chance to express themselves?; and they do it in the false clothing of champions of democracy and progress. It is expensive to make a state-wide or even a district-wide campaign under” the direct primary. A man must force himself forward and spend his money freely. Who can make these sacri- fices sincerely in the publir interest? Few men can afford it. There steps in the political machine again. It can select its can- didates. It can secretly back expensive campaigns. It can elect its men. It has been doing it in the past and it plans to go on doing it in the future. Now comes the Farmers’ Nonpau tisan Political League to remedy a condition practically as bad as any state ever saw. It is an organization of the most numerous class having like interests -in the state, a class which supports all the rest of the state, which casts 60 per cent of the state’s vote and pays 80 per cent of the taxes. This organization in a thoroughly representative way names delegates from every voting precinct who meet.in district conventions as a committee to pick the most suitable candidates for the legislature. These men meeting in the distriets appoint delegates to gather in a state meeting and, again acting as a com- mittee, pick really desirable and trustworthy men as candidates for state office. But after that what happens? Does this organization try to force these candidates of its own selection down the throats of the voters of the state? Does it claim a monopoly on the business of nominating candidates as the corrupt political machines of the state long have been doing? : By no means. It openly advocates the nomination of these men in the regular state primaries in which all voters may partici- pate. It is merely a device for bringing into the political race men who would not otherwise be in it, men who will truly represent the ‘interests of a large number of the citizens. They cannot even be - nominated without the votes of a majority of the electors. Of course this does not suit the political adventurers who under the old system have claimed:a monopoly of the public offices. bmatlons of corrupt pnwlege which in the past have d state’s s ai’fmrs It does no smt the news ‘it is in the interest of the common people. It’s all ngh hen 11; - for the purpose of permitting a few men of old line pe It does not suit their backers, the sinister influences, the com- : antagomsm” for the purpose of fighting a whine before their masters, which scurry hither and thither devis- ing false issues and kicking up the dust to deceive the voters of the state. = The Leader speaks for the farmers of the state as well as for itself when it says that this plan does suit the farmers and that does suit a great many other thoughtful men in the state who know that a new remedy must be sought when other means have failed. The voice of the farmers is unmistakable. The Leader has heard it. They are speaking through its columns in every issue. They are real men and real farmers not anonymous dummies creat- ed to falsify opinion. This Nonpartisan League plan suits them right down to the ground. They know it is a winner: They know it is not a viola- - tion nor a circumvention of the primary law, but a democratic, rep- resentative, honest way of seeking to make the direct primary law .effective for the purpose of government by the people. ' They re- spect the forms of the law, but they want also the substance of popular government. SECRECY — IT’'S ONLY BAD SOMETIMES. N THE very day that certain daily publications of the state were attacking the Nonpartisan League for the “secrecy” of its method of indorsing candidates there appeared in their columns reports of other political meetings. One of these, according to the daily newspaper ‘account was held “be- hind locked doors” in a room in a Fargo hotel. What kind of a meeting was. this—delegates chosen by con- vention from every district in the state? Oh, no! We should say not! Far, far from it. There were three or four or half a dozen at that meeting. Not any more. What were they doing there in that hotel room? CHOOSING CANDIDATES TO RUN IN THE STATE - PRIMARIES. THE SAME THING THAT THOSE TWO SCORE REPRESENTATIVE DELEGATES FROM ALL OVER THE STATE, DULY ACCREDITED BY REPRESENTATIVES FROM ALL THE VOTING PRECINCTS INg THE STATE, WERE - DOING AT THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE CONVENTION. Was there any voice of the people in this hotel room meeting? Not a sign of it. It:was a little group, a little clique of professional bosses, engaged in picking from the field to choose the “right men,” the “regular” men to be voted upon at the party primaries by the voters of the state. THAT IS WHAT IS BACK OF THE DIRECT PRIMARY UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM. Did the newspapers-of Fargo or elsewhere in the state com- plain of this secrecy? Not a bit of it: It was mere routine. :It was' the regular way of doing things. It was all right. They didn’t - even make any comment on it directly. One did—indirectly. Here is what the most hypocrltlcal of the morning publications had to say in the course of its regular attack on the League: (The parentheses are ours.) “Progressive Repubhcan leaders who have put time and money” (get that: “and money”) “into previous campaigns, now see a band of adventurers organizing their progressive friends and erstwhile followers into a raid which confuses the voters,” (Do you feel confused?) “obscures the issues,” (the old reliable “paramount issues”—mustn’t forget ’em) “and bids Tair to defeat those” (Now let this soak in) —“bids fair to defeat those who fought for princi- ple so resolutely and honorably that they have PRACTICALLY ABOLISHED THE ANTAGONISM OF THE SO-CALLED STALWART ELEMENT OF THE PARTY.” Isn’t this rich? They have fought “so resolutely” that they . have “practically abolished the antagonism” between themselves and those whom they purport to be fighting. We get you, Steve. In fact, we got your number even before ( you spoke. We know what kind of a progressive you are. You are a progressive who has “abolished ~antagonism” between your- self and special privilege with the fat purse. You are of precisely the same lot. You have a thorough understa.ndmg' You are a progressive after the fact. You progress backwards, like the crab.. Those who think there is still room for progress in the State of North Dakota have not “abolished their antagonism” toward the political highbinders, the interest-controlled plunderers who have - ruled North Dakota for the benefit-of a special few, and. those few mostly non-residents. The real progressives don’t care nght now to attach any special party label to their progressxveness 80 far as it refers to state affairs. : They are for progress; not for PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL : PARTISANSHIP. They believe in facts; not names, 80 many of them are in the Nonpartxsan ‘ more are joining. And so0 you see why secrecy is bad—-and when. together, hand pick a bunch of “1egular” candidates and “al e ——— i