The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 4, 1916, Page 4

iy 3 ¢ E " hibition forees and is kn: * nominated because he is a prohibitionist, but he is'one just : : He is 2 man who never touched liguor in his life and in his own FOUR Ehe fnen who are neither turncoats nor quitters, the men who know what they want and are going to stay with this organization to work, to advise, to plan and to vote, until the final victory. ey ; Do members of the League believe that they could have indorsed any set of candidates that the subsidized press of North Dakota would support? Hardly, unless they let the newspapers tell them whom to indorse, and they have decided they have done that long enough. -, THE FUNNIEST SPECTACLE.. et P A THERE have been a good many laughs to lighten up the work of fighting the Old Gang on behalf of the interests of the farmers: of the state of North Dakota. The enemies of the League have furnished them. One of the funniest features of all has been the great love for the Equity that has suddenly burst out of the hearts of the editors 'pf the gang press. A year ago they were fighting the Equity tooth and toenaal.. ' Now they seek to clasp it to their bosoms and they @avxsh, on it.terms of admiration and endearment. The Equity ‘was” honest; the: Equity “was” pure; the Equity “was” a real movement of the farmers for real reforms. And the farmers ought %o have these ' reforms,- b’gosh, though strange to say, we never thought of it before. The Equity was all right, but—now here’s the interesting contrast—but this Nonpartisan League business is all wrong. :‘The farmers are deceived by a bunch of grafters. Notice 'that they speak of the Equity in the past tense, as of the dear departed. Apparently the Equity is dead—as the Gang Press wished and hoped and tried to accomplish—peace to its ashes! But take it from us, Mr. Gang Editor, the Equity isn’t dead, much as you would wish to have it so. It is very much alive in this state, and—what is more to the point—so are the men who built it! They are still fighting you. Bless your soul, you know it as well as we—and they are doing their most effective fighting right now THROUGH THE NONPARTISAN. LEAGUE. Call the roll of the live Equity leaders and you will call the names of some of ihe hardest workers and the wisest advisers in the Nonpartisan League. It’s the same old bunch Mr. Gangster, The Equity in this state was not just a name. It was an organization of live men, of real fighters, of winning fighters. You an r backers have fallen’ back to a new line of trenches, Mr. G FORWARD. ; 3! tisan League, - Wonder how those folks who have in the past made’a <+ pretense of being progressive like to sleep in the sameé bed with the general run of enemies the League has. 4 & ¢ No cause was ever more fortunate in its enemies than the Nong;r- S Tr IS an objection to the Leagte, from the standpoint of-the poli tician who is opposing the League’s candidates, that the Leagu has not yet “taken a stand” on prohibition. - And as-long as the .League has ot taken a stand; it may be expected that old shop- worn prohibition questien will'be used both ways by its opponents, depending upon what class of voters they are approaching. """ The League has not “taken a stand” on prohibition, because that was not its business. F: X en bership .in the League we t asked their views on prohibition. Neither were they'asked what. cliurch they belonged to or whether they sympathize with the allies or with the Germans. . These are all matters foreign to the purpose of the League. . -, {Ruiys This is a prohibition state and likely to remain s6. No move- " ment to change its status iwill ever come from the: Nonpartisan League. It is'a matter in which the League is not meddling. The status of the state with respect to prohibition will never be changed. without a majority vote of all the people of the state. No legisla- ture can defy their will. “Prohibition is a matter strictly up to the people of the state. 5! 3 The editor of the Leader might give his opinion on prohibition, but it would be one man’s opinion and in no way binding on. the League or its members. - The officers of the League might also give their opinions, and these also ‘would be individual opinions. ‘No ‘vef- erendum vote of the members of the League on prohibition has been taken, nor is it likely to be taken. Law enforcement is a different matter. The members of the ~ A League believe in law enforcement. They have indorsed candidates who believe in law enforcement. The League is a movement based on the law. It se¢ks to accomplish its reforms through lawful means. It is an association of law-abiding ‘citizens, : The candidates indorsed by the League believe in:law enforce- ment or they would not have been indorsed. Séveral of the candi- . dates have something of a personal record on these matters of pro- hibition and law enforcement. : o 4 . William: Langer of Mandan, indorsed by the League for attor- ney general, has become prominent all over the state as the state’s attorney who cleaned up a county by enforcing the prohi ertllzlas been indorsed by the prohibition and law-enforcement forces of the state. .. . .o RS e RO B : A. T Kraabel of Clifiord has just been indorsed by the League for lieutenant governor. He also hias the indorsement of the Dro- own as one’of the Strongest supportérs . of the prohibition law in the state.. He is a/man who believes in . enforcing : iy : thelaw. '~ .. e i G Lyan J. ¥Frazier, the League’s candidate for _g'bvemor’{ was'not neighborhood and county has been its most relentless foe and the strongest advocate of law enforcement. He makes no secret of his . own personal attitude. T~ =~ ' icin an authorized statement oiven THE Nommm'LfiApEfi’ a AL VG PR T The farmers are: 8l fighting on conquered ground; AND THEY ARE STILL GO_I‘NG‘ - ently with other classes of residents in . frequently claimed that they could not ers who were admittefl into mem- - ition law. = he same. - anything vwaEabon he is ‘'Welcomes S : e S S B U st et o gtricfly en;g:‘med."« R U e g | ¥ . % - Has the assessor been dround yet with thaf, 95-item’ scheduley that perfect flower of the present administration at Bismarck? = . 5 (Editorial in the Jamestown Alert) ‘Within - the past: ten months the ;argexsrsmof lNortl}; Dakota lélz_ive &er- ec e largest: organization they ever had in the history of the state. The work of organizing has been done largely through the use of the automobile, an indication of the new order of things and of the social and economic 'changes now going on in: the state. Nearly every township<in - the state has been visited and organ- ized by a number of active young and middle-aged men, some of whom have had experience and others not. But the organization has been the result of a clear presentation of the subject to the farmers themselves. Each member of :the new organization_has been asked to pay six dollars toward the expense of the organization, and when &e possible benefits are right- ly presented and considered, there are few intelligent- farmers who are not willing to risk. the loss of six dollars ?fl the future benefits that may ollow. . .. The present economic and market- ing conditions in the state have made it compamtifiég easy to bind together some 35,000 farmers who, it is now claimed, are members of this organiz- ation. ' Their declared object is to co- ) ith - o organizations in Bommon “benefit of n o q ] swisely in pr ciple and in organiz act consist- the state. The farmers say that the doctors, lawyers, business men, min- isters, and mearly: every . occupation cent of population of no such organization. secure such organization for reasons that have prevailed iin the past. But time brings its changes, and ‘the or- ganizers—and by “far ' the . greater number of farmers of the state—now “Knowledge is power.” What a world of vital truth is em- bodied in that “ancient and trite aphorism. Through all the ages, history proves that these classes in human - society who possessed the superior - knowledge, even though minorities, have ‘ruled those classes and majorities who wére lacking in the ‘essential knowledge of human ‘relationships. Knowledge of the fundamental program of- the Nonpartisan League and assuring their permanence. 5 The -Wisdoni of the Farmers ent . ed exts g1k Bt icy o b & . TSI Saine o to Toster the abitions of & On Profifable '» principles that underlie the legislative is absolutely necessary to speedy ‘suc- - grai cess in bringing them to actualities A e < ltem believe that such an organization eax be made cohesive and successful if rightly managed. It certainly can be made {o accomplish great benefits for the fatmeurthemselveg. 'g'he oppo= sition to such organization is claimed “to come, first from outside - the state, and the business interésts within the state are criticized as having too often: shown - an inclination to sympathize with and join with the opponents of the farmers. PR : DErAL e tisan e is at home mu of the profits of ou:p farm products that now_go outside the state, and to this end legislation will be sought to promote the more ed manus facture of our own whiath;‘fito flo\g. more satisfactory marketing condi« tions, the establishment of a packing- plant, a state hail insurance for grain ccrops, and encouragment of other in- dustries and occupations® whereby much of the money spent for these necessities will remain at home. : This is surely a laudable program. - In the past, farmers have been electing to office many of those not of the same occupation as themselves, A state ticket has been indorsed and, with a few necessary exceptions, the candidates are _chosen from the farming class_and the delegates who named the ticket point with pride to the same as a clean, capable, and rep- " resentative group of men. Promoters of the new orgmfiafim can certainly -accomplish much good for its members, as well as for other classes of citizens, if the work is car- ‘ried out along right lines. Fair and msonab%fti blic. and. private, in terests, both public . Priv : the legislature, will‘be necessary; also- a detgrx_rfinatign on the part of both. biaal s private individuals. "This kind of Te- form work will make the new organ~ ization populdr an@ will' secure ‘the future support -of those ‘not members of the organization. ': S 5 public * utilities’’ been ‘withheld fr farmers. and!-wage workers'. by ' the prostituted ‘press of: the private.and corporate traffic:mongers in the rieces- sities of life which they are so willing that labor dig'out’ of 'the ground. . A rich literatuté’on' all these’ sub- Jects exists,“but one will searchiin vain. the s S Papers or the weekly or dail: e to find attention divected to inx;apmr%. . The powers: that do not want the farmers to reag',.r;gch obg:ks.f All they ‘want farmers to do is to dig, read only their papers and b pout%f.polifi ks, m Too long have farmers beén. ex- % " horted by exploiters to “stick strictly to farming.” : ¢ The son of James J, Hill tells the ~farmers that' they spend t60 much ‘time in an ‘automobile; poEns * 1s. mot a thoreugh knowledge :of - marketing; insurance; taxation, bank- “.ing credits; milling,: Dacking and f . storage, from the view. 'point of the ~classes that produces grain and live- - stock; quite as important as the rais- “ling-of these products? = R BT ‘7 Are ‘the ' sons and “danghters of Dakota: farmers North “tang ~ state? ut 't er of Commerce sees to it that you are pumped full of “Better ~ farming” ‘dope ' year -after ; ST e v power of the middlemen in , Too long has kmowledge of collec- B:kuta or in North ‘m“Norgh tive ‘ownership and management of tion, g}l:lyig:i;;_al, sbtate : owne: of public utilities. ‘a5 1w 55 histh P, public utilities, ‘as tell '_thg’ fio at were not tru thin, b7 t}dghngs,_ ower. 3 ules of the' game, and = will ‘make' it imp_’ossiméts r all th ‘you—R. P, H, 7 _s : eration: of ‘other in. . files of most of the “farm” - cs, and produce more Ve government ahd economics;