The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 20, 1916, Page 6

4 " on agriculture hit out a plan to estab- SIX THE NONPARTISAN LEADER Lynn J. Frazier, candidate for governor indorsed by the League, has con- tributed to the Leader an article entitled “What North Dakota Ne.eds. : This will be printed in the Leader of Thursday, April 27, next week’s issue. Every citizen of North Dakota should read this statement by a man who ‘wants to help make this a better state for every man who lives in it. Washington Hears About It News from North Dakota Stirs the Nation’s Capital BY WILLIS J. RUTLEDGE The Leader’s Washington Bureau. 302 Riggs Building ASHINGTON, D. C., April 18 W —Ever since the convention of the Nonpartisan League at Fargo, the Professional Liar has been working overtime here in Washington, and some of his productions have been of weird and startling ingenuity. You may take it as a remarkable fact that while very little has been printed in the east about the conven- tion and its work, most of the poli- ticians in Washington have been talk- ing’ about it. They don’t know exactly what happened, but they have a fairly accurate notion that anyway it was bad for their business and they look upon it with extreme disgust. Within the last week I have been seriously assured from these sources that the convention was a failure; that it was attended by no more than 250 persons; that the League found itself bankrupt and resorted to a frantic appeal to raise funds, which was only partly sveccessful; that the Leader is about to suspend; and finally, that the candidate endorsed for governor is not a farmer. - Of this latter I was most soberly assured by an eminent gentleman, (not from North Dakota, but full of information about it.) CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR IS A “LITTLE LAWYER” “Why,” he said, “I get this straight, and the candidate for gov- ernor is a little lawyer in—I can’t think of the name of the town just this minute, but it is one of those small towns in North Daketa; the name will come to me in a minute.” “Pumpkinville,” said I, encourag- -ingly. “Naw, naw,” said he impatiently. “I'm serious. But anyway, he isn’t a farmer.” “Little man with red hair and blue eyes, isn’t he ?” said 1. : “Sure,” said he. “He’s a lawyer— an obscure lawyer. Think of that— the Farmers’ Nonpartisan League, they call it, and they have to nominate a lawyer for governor. Good joke, isn’t it? Ha, ha!” I said it was—a cracking good joke, but suggested that he wait until the end of the campaign before he laughed too much about it, because then he could tell better whom the joke was on. The origin of all these monstrous inventions is, of course, plain enough to anybody that knows the inside of the game here. Anything about politics that is sent out from Washington or has the Washington stamp is always supposed to be hot stuff and o. k. So they get up these fakes and ship them down here to be shipped back for further use, properly stamped. Good scheme. Also, of course, there are a great many uneasy politician gentlemen now in office that hope earnestly the farmers’ movement will collapse, and they jump at any story that fits in with their hope. They have good reason to be un- easy. Suppose farmers everywhere should get tired of being excluded from the government that goyerns them and decide to get into the game. Times would become mighty hard for “more than one easy going gent. By jinks, he might even have to go to_work. No wonder he shudders. But from the character of the dope that is being assiduously scattered here, you may surmise that the rail- . road gang and the elevator gang and thg money lending gang and the com- mission gang that have so long fattened their purses on the farmer are not going to give up their control of affairs without a fight. And you can guess too that they know their weapons. The best of all being the Handy Fake. 5 UNDERWOOD HELPS PLAN TO GRAB NITRATE PLANTS Private greed and the porkbarrel politicians have been at work this week: to ruin one of the best and most progressive agricultural measures of the session.” : Sometime ago the senate committee lish government plants for getting nitrogen out of the atmosphere and thus save to the American farmer one-third or one-half of the sum he now expends for fertilizers, a sum that in the country amounts to many millions of dollars a year. Senator Underwood of Alabama, that “Smooth Oscar” of whom we have heard before, who stands as close to the controlling business interests as any man in the senate, brought in an amendment incorporating this plan in the army organization bill and probably did for it thereby. The agricultural - committee’s scheme provided for an expenditure of $15,000,000 to establish five plants to extract nitrogen “from the . air by means of electricity generated by water power. Late developments in scientific processes have made it pos- sible to manufacture nitrogen from air at a cost less than half of what is paid for the natural nitrate of Chili. The gcevernment plants were deemed- necessary as a measure of national defense, since nitrogen is the prin- cipal ingredient in high explosives and the war has made it very hard to get. The friends of the farmers seized this opportunity to do something for American agriculture, giving it cheap fertilizer in times of peace while the government would be provided with a nitrate plant of large capacity foruse in case of war. But the friends of the interests were also on the job and they grabbed the thing away from the farmers with the Underwood amendment, which provides that the plants, after they have been built by the government, shall be leased to private concerns. The lessees,” of course, will charge what they like for. the fertilizer, keeping the price just be- low that of Chilean nitrate, but high enough to give them a- handsome profit, especially since they are put to no investment in the construction of the plants. There is now a hint of pork in the measure, too, for it is believed that if Senator Underwood’s amendment pre- vails the plant will be located at the Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee river in Alabama, Underwood’s own state. Senator Gronna and other progres- sive senators have announced their in- tention of opposing the Underwood amendment unless the leasing clause is eliminated. SISAL PROBE TO BE USED AS EXCUSE FOR RAISE That cordage manufacturers of the United States are using .the sisal in- vestigation in the senate as an excuse to raise the price of binder twine was alleged by Senator Gronna in a sensational speech before’ the investi- gating committee last week. A number of witnesses before the committee have spoken about the sisal shortage - this year. The represent- atives of the sisal growers of Yucatan have themselves testified that this vear’'s crop is short. The cordage manufacturers, declared Gronna, have given these statements wide currency and on the basis of them they have raised the price of twine to the farimers. Gronna is a member of the commit- tee, but for the purpose of refuting the claim of the manufacturers that they have ben compelled by any shortage to raise prices he insisted on taking the stand as a witness. He said that although the Yucatan crop is somewhat short, this shortage has not affected exportations of sisal to the United States. He showed by the testimony' of the witnesses that 851,000 bales -of sisal -have been im- ported by this country thus far this year, a quantity much more than suf- ficient for the needs of American farmers. ; “Even if no Manila hemp at all had been imported, this quantity of sisal is 100,000,000 pounds in excess of the total quantity required for all the binder twine needed .for the whole American grain crop,” said Gronna. “Therefore, there is no actual short- age, so far as the American farmer is concerned. 'Unless the manufac- turers have exported more twine than they should, there is plenty of it in the country. Every cent’s advance in the price of twine costs the farmers millions of dollars. I will not sit in this committee and be a party to advertising a twine shortage when none exists.” Gronna also declared that the spring wheat crop, due to the late Labor Pledges Aid Organized labor in North Dakota has testified its willingness to work shoulder to shoulder with the Farm- ers’ Nonpartisan Political League for the reform of political and economic conditions so as to benefit both the farmer and the wage worker in the state. The board of directors of the North Dakota Federation of Labor, the highest body of organized labor in the state, in a resolution trans- mitted to the state convention of the League in Fargo has gone on record as_bespeaking the cooperation of all union men with the League in its pro- gram of political and economic reform. The resolution was transmitted to the League with credentials of a fraternal de_legate- who spoke before those in attendance at the' convention meeting on Friday evening, March 31, together with a request that the Leaguc send a fraternal delegate to the sessions of the state federation, to be held on June 4 at a place to be selected later. G The resolution is as follows: “Whereas: Organized labor through its organization, the North Dakota Federation of Labor, has always advocated a closer relation between the workers of the cities—and the: workers on the farm in order that. they may coo; erate with each ‘other in getting .a fairer share of the pro- -duct of their toil, and “Whereas: There. exists ' in the Directors. ; state an organization of farmers, po- litical am_l nonpartisan in character, whose principles and platform coin- cide with the platform of the North Dakota Federation of Labor, wherein we ask for the public ownership of public _utilities, namely . the Nonpar- tisan League, “Therefqre, Be it resolved: That we, the ‘undersigned board of directors of the: North Dakota Federation of Labor call upon all the workers of the state, organized and unorganized, to study the principles and platform of the Nonpartisan League, and get in touch with the organized branches of the League, in order that we may unite with them in electing such rep- resentatives, whom we know will place upon the statutes laws that will make for a better home for the man who toils, be he of the factory or of the farm. . “And be it further resolved: That in order to bring about this united effort at the polls at the coming elec- tions, we most earnestly invite the Nonpartisan League to send a dele- gation to meet with us at our annual convention, where they will be shown every courtesy at the hands of the North Dakota Federation of Labor. Signed, FRED W. ZELLER, W. G BESSERER, A. W. OLIVER, BEN DUVAL, WILLIAM ENGLISH, S.'S. M’DONALD, - President, CONRAD MEYER, Secretary, - Board . of season, will be 25 per cent less than last year, while the Department of Agriculture’s figures show that the winter wheat acreage is only 78 per cent of the normal. These conditions he said, more than equalize any alleged shortage in twine. 4 CONGRESSMAN YOUNG BOOSTS RIFLE CLUB SCHEME ; Representative George Ym\mg of Valley City believes that the young North Dakota idea ought to be taught how to shoot, literally. So Yqung_ is standing sponsor for the organizstion of rifle clubs in North Dakota under the direction of the government. Already Young has arranged for the organization of a rifle club at Car- rington, N. D., and he is extending a general invitation to the boys of his district, especially the country boys, to get in on this useful fun. “This is my idea ‘of practical pre- paredness,” says Young, “to teach our young men how to shoot accurately, and at the same time not to take them away from productive employment. You know General Kitchener says that the most essential quality in the soldier is to know how to shoot with a rifle. The expert rifle shot is the backbone of a nation’s defense.” . Any ten boys or men in a com- munity can organize a rifle club. ‘When the club is organized it receives an official charter, and the government supplies the regulation army rifle and 120 rounds of ammunition annually to each member.- : Young stands ready. to assist in the organization of these clubs anywhere, whether in the country or the towns. ‘Anyone interested can get full par- ticulars by writing to him at room 115, House Office building, Washing- ton, D. C. - NORTH DAKOTA LIGNITE MAY SUPPLY OIL FUEL The government bureau of mines is looking . seriously at the great North Dakota lignite fields: as a possible source of the nation’s future fuel sup- ply of benzol and other inflammable liquids used in internal combustion engines. The excessively high price of gasoline is turning the attention of government scientists toward sub- stitutes. The success in Germany in producing cheap benzol from low grade coals is starting an agitation in this country for the distillation of lignite coal. It is believed that ben- zol, which is a fuel superior to gaso- line, can be produced from lignite at 12 cents a gallon, providing there is a sale for the coal’s by-products, which are gas, tar, and the derivatievs of tar. The principal tar derivatives ; go into the manufacture of dyes. The Williston, N. D., ecommercial club has a plan for the government to experiment in benzol from lignite at the power plant of the Williston irri- gation project. Senator MeCumber last week -presented this plan to the scientists of the bureau of mines. The latter told McCumber that they had not yet come to any decision on the question of conducting experi- ments in North Dakota this year, but that the question is being seriously considered. McCumber also present- ed the offer of W. P. Macomber, superintendent of the Wilton, N. D., coal mine, tendering to the govern- ment free lignite, power and quarters if it will establish an -eperiment station at its mine. - 2 FARMERS CAN GET COPIES OF YEAR BOOK The new 1915 yearbook of the de- partment. of agriculture, that depart- ment’s most interesting publication, is out. The - North Dakota 'senators have 1000 copies each for distribution, while the three members of the house have 600 apiece.’ Senator McCumber - invites ' readers of the Nonpartisan : _to ‘him for copies’ which he will continue to furnish as Leader to write to him long as his supply holds out. "