The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 27, 1916, Page 4

THE NONPARTISAN LEADER \ l It Will Not Be This Way at the State .Capitol Next Year WL sz - THE GovawNoa IS OVERWHELMED [/} l.LVETO T WITH PUBLIC BUSINESS. SORRY 7§ 75 K 3% 2N 2 KILL THAT FARMER'& ‘BlLL ! (| KILL THAT FARMER'S BILL! | 7 o, \VMM %ngRnog-_‘?‘ T RNOR'S OFFICE., should be to be fair. The result is that the poor people of the cities are pressed from above by the burden of increased taxation and from below by the increased rent, both absorbing the earnings which should go to build up the home. And you edlpors_ of a f_ew less important papers are trying to kill this organization which stands for a better state and better things for the people. Storm makes the oak take deeper roet, so you editors may as well quit agi- tating and give us some news—that’s what we paid for.” e “Storm makes the oak take deeper root!” The more vicious the attacks upon the farmers and their organization the more cer- tain will be its success.. The daily growth and increased power of the farmers’ organization answer its assailants. The busy muckrakers have found one more member of the Nonpar- tisan League who admits he got in under false pretenses. That makgs two—or is it three? At this rate of progress the Big Biz jackals will be able to disrupt the League in about ten thousand years. HANNA, THE COURT AND A FOOL’S BOAST LQINCE the last issue of the Leader went to press there has been A new _ariavuiunin the Medina bank case, which the whole state " has'been watching with interest since.the Leader told the story of what had been brought out in the trial at Jamestown of the offic- ers of the bank. Judge Pollock of Fargo has sustained the demur- rer of the defendants fo the civil suit brought by the receiver of the bank to recover $50,000 frem Governor L. B. Hanna, E. J. Weiser and the First National Bank of Fargo. This is.a victory for Hanna and his associates in the first round of the legal battle and a defeat for the depositors of the bank, many of them working people of Medina and Stutsman county, who up to date have received 25 cents on the dollar of the money they had de- posited in the bank. : 3 i Hanna’s personal organ in Fargo proclaims with seven-column emphasis that this is a “sweeping vindication” of the governor and his financial associates, resting under a cloud as the result of “charges” made in the Nonpartisan Leader. But the Leader made no charges against Governor Hanna. It simply brought to the attention of the people of the state the facts that appear on the court records, facts which other publications in the state had neglected to print.” The Leader’s story was a report of the sworn testimony of witnesses, one of the most important of whom was an employe of the First National Bank of Fargo. If there is anything in this testimony and these records that consti- tutes a charge against Governor Hanna and his associates it re- mains unaltered by the action of the Fargo court. The proceeding in Judge Pollock’s court at Fargo was an argu- ment upon the complaint. There was no testimony taken or sought and none of the facts was questioned; not a line of the evidence altered or disturbed. It was a civil proceeding hased upon the evi- dence brought out in the trial of the officers of the bank in the Jamestown court. The testimony which formed the basis of the action against Hanna and associates, briefly stated, was this: That before the failure of the Medina bank Governor Hanna, as a member of a financial syndicate which was a creditor of the real estate firm of Wheelock & Wheelock of Fargo, owners of the Medina bank, had given his assurance that in the impending failure of the real estate firm the bank would “have to be taken care of.” That Gordon Nesbit, cashier of the First National Bank of Farg_'o, had renewed this promise specifically to the cashier of the Medina bank a few days before its failure and that as a vesult of this promise the.cashier of the bank had accepted deposits, knowing that without the help of other banks it must close its donrs. That, understanding aid had been promised, the cashier of the Medina bank permitted the cashier of the Fargo bank and an officer of a St. Paul bank to take from the Medina bank valuable securities on the eve of the bank’s failuyre. > : That the Fargo bank and the St. Paul bank both failed to come 1o the: reseue of the Medina bank as they had promised and the bank -examiner, Governor Hanna’s appointee, closed the bank. That the First National used the securities it had taken from. the Medina hank on the eve of its failure to satisfy its own claims :against the bank, dollar for dollar. ' These are-the statements that stand in the records and have not yet been controverted. In view of the statement that the -order of the Fargo court sustaining the demurrer was a ‘“‘sweeping vindication” of ‘Hanna and his associates it is worth while to in- -quire on just what logic that order rested. Stripped of a great -amount of legal verbage it was simply this: , That the agreement to “take care of” the Medina bank was mot a binding contract because it was not in writing. S . That it would be null and: void anyway because the First Na- “tional of Fargo had no legal right to enter into such .a.contract. In view of all these facts it is the stupidest.sort of folly to talk -about- a “vindication” for Hanna or anyhody else. The Medina T bank proceedings have only been started. The proceedings:in the Jamestown court._are .still_in_suspension. Judge Ifo]]op]i has left open a way for the filing of an amended gomplamt in the:case against Hanna and associates, tosay nothing .of appeals to the supreme court. S o o e R T : - o The- case against Hanna -has net yet been .tr1egl on its metits. No decision has been rendered. except theé decision in the office of the Courier-News, which has taken upon ifself an ill-advised course of defense of Hanna which can not help being damaging to him, and which has announced a “vindication” of the governor and his finan- cial partners in total disregardof the action of the court and of all facts in the case,-facts which it has consistently suppressed for reasons best known to the men who-control:it. . The worst feature of all is the abominable attempt on the part of this publication, apparently for the purpose of misleading the courts as well as misleading public sentiment, to make a political issue out of the effort to recover for the depositors a part of the savings they lost in the wrecking of the Medina bank. . Unlike the Courier-News, which has repeatedly confessed its bias in the Medina bank case and otliér cases before the.courts of the state, the Leader -has no interest at stake but that of seeing justice done. It makes-no boasts or prophecies about what the courts will do, as the Courier-News did in referring to the Medina case several days before the decision on-the demurrer was rendered. It does not seek to create the impression that it can control the courts in the interests of favored litigants or that it is in league with interests which can control the coutts. ! ; It considers -such boagts and such intimations destructive of th confidence which the people of the state ought to feel in their courts of justice, which ought to be the bulwark of their liberties. It he- lieves the facts about important ¢ases on trial in the courts ought to be printed in order that the people of the state may be assured . of -justice: through the corrective.effect .of publicity and in order that the reputation of the courts may be protected against slander- ous hoasts which impugn their integrity....-.. It believes that suppression of the facts and distortion of court decisions by publications which purport to print the news is one of the greatest of the evils in the state of North Dakota. ) No, Wiliie, “vindicated” does not mean precisely the same as " “whitewashed.” Whitewash is a real:suhstance though the coat may .be thin, but a “vindication” :is often jmaginary. < RELIGION AND THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUF HE effort to foment religious prejudice against the League is H - being worked overtime. This is still considered a promising field by the League’s enemies because the League includes men of many creeds.. i gl Al Long ago all reputable political parties ceased to use—openly at least—the religious argument in ordler to.get votés, hecause it.is recognized as unfair and as tending fo-.create dissensions which are destructive .of the very -principle of democratic government. n- deed it was for the sake of religious freedom and to escape the _mixture of religion: with governmental-matters-that the first sett- ler's came to-this-dand of freedom and promise. But the Old Gang newspapers-stop at nothing. They repudi- ate the Declaration of Independenice and the constitution of the United States in order to perpetuate political corruption in "North Dakota. Their one object is to split the votes of the people to de: feat the people’s will. The Nonpartisan League does not seek to ‘“use” religioniin any sinister sense or to command religious influences. It does however, appeal to the canscienge of every’ and fo every man’s knowledge of what is right axid his will-to follow it. In that respect it holds many things in common with many creeds. It takes it for granted that it-is every man’s duty to fight.corruption and to seek justice—for others as well as for himself. - 7t . If religion means-the solemn conviction that this can be made a better state and.a happier one for all who live in it and that the way should be sought by cooperative political action- to attain that end then the Leader freely confesses that it is willing to make use of it. The platform and the program of the League are broad enough for all who believe in those things. It is willing to do without the help of any men of any-creed who do not. > ol President "TFownley and his crowd have given other pu lisl_;érs some tips for usé in North Daketa. There is no need of giving away - pianos or autos in order to procure subscriptions. -Give Pearson’s - magazine and your own paper for $9.—Petersburg -Record. = tlt;s‘ :‘)n;gkafquegttion,of “lfi; .brotgler. 1f yoyr own paper is worth 4 /0! or it yon won’t-have to give away i ith it, even though the pti_cg 'l:le 5911)‘ insl?eqd of %‘9. ANMARLBanteilh It “I can t’s:,ke care of my enemies, ‘but Heayen deliver me from my 7 fool friends,” said a famous man. It is current ‘gossip in Fargo that Hanna and the N, P. may soon find the ion.of the -News " too heavy a load tpf catl?ra){ mn Al e éd;}latlnn‘nf.fihe@“fifl}seiwflr‘ !