The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 25, 1916, Page 5

o TR ST e A s ‘farmers. Thousands ¢ rushed to the state fair and many of . low They Fought the Equity Newspapers Were Important Factor in Attack on Farmers’ Orgamzatlon by Chamber of Commerce 5 N IMPORTANT item of news that has gone unnoticed by the newspapers is the notice of trial, filed récently, in the suit brought by Attorney General Linde, in behalf of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce against the Equity Cooperat- ive exchange. This is the famous case in which an attempt is being made to.put this great farmers’ cooperative institu- tion out of business. Attorneys for the Equity recently took steps to have the final issues in the case tried in the term of district court open- ing the coming June 5 in Fargo, and the suit is now on the calendar to come up that day. Nothing has been done in the case since the first round was won by the Equity-a year ago. Whether the case will go to trial in June or be dis- missed by the attorney general and the attorneys of the Chamber of Commerce remains to be seen. The Equity stands ready to try it and has forced the hand . of the other side by noticing it for trial. FIERCE PRESS ATTACK BEFORE PAPERS WERE SERVED <A great change. in public sentiment regarding the Equity has taken place imr the two years since the first atack on it was made in the courts. Then the gang press was printing columns of purported news matter and editorial denouncing the organization, and giving the Equity no show at all to state its side, just as the same papers are now fighting the farmers’ political organization, the Non- partisan League. Then, as now, these papers claimed to be friends of the farm- ers; warning them against false leaders . and ‘a “fake” organization. Today the Equity has come into its own. No papers.dare attack it. Most of them are praising. it. - -The fight on the Equity began in the courts.in 1914, the stage being carefully set by those powerful influences who had determined that this farmers’ move must be crushed. Suddenly, during the State fair :at Fargo in 1914, before: the Equity had been served with legal pro- cess or knew that it was to be sued, the newspapers came out with big front- - page scare heads and articles announc- ing that certain stockholders of the Equity had discovered gross fraud in the conduct of affairs by the Equity officers and that they had demanded to. see the books and had been denied. The. articles said suit for a writ of mandam- us to compel the Equity Cooperative exchange to open its books for examin- ination- had been brought in the Fargo district court. The newspapers gave the impression the Equity was a great fraud on the of ' copies were them were distributed free. The grounds were filled with farmers, ‘and those who had determined to “get” the Equity thought this was a master stroke. Not a word -in the newspapers of the Equity side; not a word of interview with Equity officers or with the farmers who had organized the great movement. The papers gave only the Chamber of Com- merce. side. = ' COSTLY PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN AGAINST EQUITY CARRIED ON Here started a campaign of' imbhcity : against the Equity that cost thousands of dollars and was intended to destroy " confidence of the farmers in the organ- ization. The real purpose of the suit was diyulged at once. by = adverse publicity. : copies, of the paper carrying the stpry of the suit against’ the Equity Wwere pur- ‘chased by the Chamber of Commerce and mailed to: farmers throughout the state. This was kept up for weeks, until the whole state was sown with copies of the gang press displaying the one- sided reports of the case. The Courier-News of Fargo was one of thé papers used by the Chamber of Commerce in vilifying the Equity. This is the paper that is now being used to vilify the Nonpartisan League. The one- sided articles of this newspaper concern- ing the suit against the Equity were sent broadcast over the state. They were good publicity for the Chamber of Com- merce because they gave only the Char ber’s version of{ the suit. THE COURIER-NEWS’ PART IN VILIFYING CAMPAIGN Here is a section of the court reco giving the sworn testimony in regard | . -Courier-News- of July 26, 1914, It appeared to be' to furnish data to kill' off the movement .The testimony - afterwards showed that thousands of - - 26, 1914, The Courier-News Assault on Equity Exchange in 1914 ‘@VOL 7, NO. 23 Price Five Cent3 EQUITY EXCHANGE, LOFTUS AND ANI]EHSI]N SUED N HEWNEPN GOUNTY GOURT FOR $20,000 ATTEMPTS TO MEDIATE THREATENED RAILWAY STRIKES 1S.FAILURE \lcago, July 26.—After announcing ediation had failed to bring the federal - commissioner OFFICERS ‘OF WELL KNOWN - G.BAIN COMMISSION HOUSE CHARGED WITH VIOLAT ION OF CONTRACT, MiS- MANAGEMENT AND POLITICAL ACTIVITY et [GAL SUIT EXCITES MUGH INTEREST AMONG along new lines, of success, Just fon by the gov- e would say. W FARMER STOGKHOLDERS IN THE GONCER WALTER'THOMSON, LOCAL EXPERT ACCOUNTANT, RE PUDIATES ALLEGED STATEMENT BY HIM—HAS NOT SEEN FIRMS, BOOKS SINCE 1912 Mlnneapolis. Minn,, July 25 ,—The Equity Exc‘na.nse which is t® ngfer its local office from Minneapolis.to St. Paul next month, ‘ant in simultaneous suits flled yesterday ; D._ Violation of contract, mismanagement and poe- wre among the &llegations in the local suit, the last This facsimile reproduction from the Fargo Daily shows _the headlines on a “rumor” article played up to destroy the credit of the Equity Cooperative exchange and destroy -confidence of the farmers in the organization and its officers. For whose benefit this . . was done by the Courier-News was proved by the Equity in sworn testimony. ‘The Chamber of Commerce of Minneapolis " bought 4000 copies of this issue of the Courier-Néws and cir- culated’ them free of charge from Minneapolis to managers of farmers’ elevators and prominent farmers throughout the state. It was one of the tricks of the gang press and Cham- - ber of Commerce to put the Equity out of business. The pur- ‘pose is made plain in the article under these headlines, which in part was as follows: . * “Will the Equity Cooperative Exchange go into the hands of a receiver? . “It is reported upon the street that behmd Mr. Schmidt,: who has joined Greenfield and Crumpton in asking a‘ show- : down_ of the books, there is considerable constituency. - There ;s much talk in Fargo over the situation, but several of the ; parnclpants in the affair are. inaccessible and little_ definite information can be obtained. “A gentleman who has been present at various meetings where addresses were made and stock sold and who asserts that ‘he knows the busmess methods used says that the qapltal 3 fi stock of the Equity society has largely been used up in the propaganda of ‘educatxonal work’ of the orgamzatxon, and in Minneapolis pther that the grain business is carried on upon $50,000 borrowed from the Twin City banks which finance the operations, and that when any of this is furnished the Equity cooperative elevators, the directors of these give their paper. “The present organ of the movement which is mentioned in the complaint is said to be owned by a separate corporation. - Less than a year ago it was started by an individual with neither type nor presses. It was then said that the Equity society subsidized it about $2000 a year, presumably for sub- scriptions. A few weeks later a corporation was organized, and a bill of sale recorded that $5000 was paid by the corpor- ation for the Herald.” It will be noticed that this is the usual type of article employed by Dr. Guild, editor of the Courier-News, when he sets out to “knife” the farmers or their organizations, just as he is now trying to discredit the Nonpartisan League. It - will be noted he relies on rumor instead of facts and hides behind’ a “gentleman,” said to be on the “inside” and whom. Dr. Guild makes say most of the damaging things about the Equity. It is attempted to create favor for the Chamber propaganda among the Equity stockholders by stating that Schmidt, ‘the Chamber of Commerce dummy employed. to bring the suit against the Equity, has a considerable follow- ing among the farmers. The whole thing was calculated to ~destroy the financial credit of the Equity by rumors of insolv- ency and hints at' shady deals concerning the Cooperators : “Herald and the use of money for educational work among flxe farmers. .