The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 1, 1916, Page 7

—~ LL records in candidates’ nom- inating petitions have been smashed in North Dakota. 8 The Nonpartisan League has done the smashing. The League has filed petitions required by law to get the names of its candidates on the party ballots at the June 28 primary and these petitions, containing more names than any candidates ever before filed, are stacked to the ceiling at the secretary of state’s office at Bismarck. Nothing like it has ever been seen. It will be a long day before anything like it in the petition. line is ever seen again. It has made North Dakota history. It has practically assured the election of the entire League ticket. : Lynn J. Frazier, for governor, is nom- inated by over 20,000 names, many ..Q.........O......0.0......0............................ Here is the Conclusive Answer to the Question, “Who Named These Can- didates?” The Farmers of North Da- kota by Their Own Signatures to the Number of Nearly Thirty Thousand Have Ratified the Selections of Their Delegates and Made the League Can- didates Without Question THEIR . irty Thousand Farmefs of North Dakota Pile Up Huge Total of Names on Petitions of Their Candidates of the party in which he is running, "1, League headquarters decided to let tha members throughout the state particis pate in getting names on the petition§ of the League candidates, but no id was entertained that the response woufi be as great. Blank petitions for tha various candidates were sent out i League members and workers whg wanted them and in a few days they, began coming in filled out. Headquars ters was smothered under an avalanchd of names. From every corner of th state, from every township, village an town the petitions came pouring in, ; filled out on every available line for thg signing of the name of s voter. EVERY RECORD SMASHED -BY FLOOD OF PETITIONS hoorip T ¥ b e CANDIDATES. times more than any other candidate for office ever obtained on a nominating petition. N. C. Macdonald had his petitions signed by about as many as Frazier and the League’s ticket for the supreme court is nominated by about § 24,000 names of voters, /Other state office candidates backed by the League received on the petitions the indorse- ment of from 15,000 to 20,000 voters, and the legislative candidates in the various districts had>on their petitions many times as many names as required, . in many cases ten times as many as needed. : This = spontaneous = expression of the desire of the people of North 0000000000000000000000000000000000 It soon became evident that every, record in the candidate petition line w:l‘i going to be smashed. Every mail: brought in its hundreds and thousandg :- of names and its requests for morz_' blank petitions. When the flood was a 2 high tide the League headquarters wag . full of petitions. The chairs, the tables, the desks and the floors were piled high with them. League officers looked on i despair at the mass. But finally a 1% corps of clerks was put to work on them ; and after a week they were sorted and :: | checked, with those belonging ‘to edch « | candidate in a separate pile, Finally «f the state candidates petitions were takefr - 00000000000000000000000009%0000000 of state at Bisma.,rck, and the various League’s legislative candidates. 'Every county auditors in the legislative dis- one indorsed by the League for office tricts have received the petitions of the will have a place on the primary ballot Independence Wins People of North Dakota Appreciate These Papers Which are Fighting Their Battles I. H. Ulsaker of Ulsaker Brothers, Fargo, is one of the independent ding paper in the Norwegian language in the state and its circulation is in- Dakota to see the League candidates put on the ballot and elected ought to answer for all times the wild assertion that the League candidates are not. the choice of the League members. The candi- dates were originally indorsed by dele- gates chosen by 35,000 farmers. In addition the state- candidates - are now indorsed by the voluntary act of 20,000 to 24,000 voters, who have put their names and their approval to the candi- dacy of these men, the first complete farmers’ ticket ever put forward in North ‘Dakota. ; AVALANCHE OF NAMES FROM ALL PARTS OF STATE - The - avalanche of names of voters ‘that came down upon League head- quarters has other significant features. The names came from every nook and corner of the state, showing that the League support is general through- out the state in “districts where ‘the League is not completely organized, as well as-in districts where it has prac- tically every farmer as a member. The 'completeness and thoroughness of the League’ organization is demon- strated. The petitions were merely sent out to several hundred live League workers scattered over the state, and in the course of two or three weeks they came back completely filled, carrying among them the individual signatures of close to 30,000 farmers of the state. The petitions show that the League membership is sticking—not only for the League and its legislative program, but for’ the farmers’ horde of names could not-have been obtained from anything but a staunch -and ‘united’ League membership. Lastly this great array ' of names assures beyond all doubt the nomination’ .in ‘the June ‘primaries of the farmers’ candidates. v . Every candidate received from 10 to 1000 times as many names as required by law to get a place on'the primary ballot. ' The: entire bunch ‘of petitions. for state offices, making a big .wagon load, have l_aeeh filed with the secretary Definition of ?‘partnérsl}ip?’--éAgreefhent _betWéen gang ne_wspapers, corrupt politicians and Big Bfisinéss to preak up the League if possible, for “profit™ of Big Business—. The members are individu- ally responsible to every farmer in the state. o § ‘candidates. . This' publishers of ‘North Dakota who has built up a big business om the priciple that newspapers should be run for their readers and not for advertisers, politi- cians or any other special interest or business. Ulsaker Brothers publish the Fram, a weekly Norwegian newspaper, and the Search-Light, a weekly paper of currant topics and discussion. Both these papers have been staunch friends of the farmers. They supported the Equity cooperative movement = before that movement was the great, popular ‘L. H. Ulsaker - organization it now is and when it was almost suicide to oppose the ‘great bu- siness organizations that wheré fighting the Equity. Since the organization of the Nonpartisan League the Ulsaker papers have supported . that movement of the farmers. S . FRAM LEAPS AHEAD. | Since the Normanden of ‘Grand Forks has joined the .gang newspapers to attack the present: farmers’ political movement the Fram has gone forward in reirculation and advertising 'prestige by “leaps and bounds. It is now the lea- e There’ll be an accounti creasing weekly. Last'month 700 new subscribers were put on. Of these about 600 were unsolicited. They came in from Norwegian farmers who wish to give support to a paper in their own language that has not sold out to the political gang of North Dakota. The Search-Light is one of the most widely quoted papers in the state. It has a general state circulation which is being built up rapidly, with consequent increase in advertising patronage® It is popular with thousands of readers for its discussion from an independent point of view of politics, economics and in- dustrial questions. In a state where most of the larger city newspapers are dominated by Big Business, the Search- Light furnishes & metropolitan medium for the circulation of independent opi- nion. Like the Fram it is ably and fearlessly edited and its popularity is shown by the fact that its editorials are quoted throughout the state press more frequently than those of any other North: Dakota publication. “I have not had a kick from a single reader because of my stand for the far- mers’ political uprising in this state as represented by the Nonpartisan League”, said Mr. Ulsaker. “On the contrary the farmers have shown me that they approve heartily of our boost- ing the League. Their voluntary sub- criptions are coming in by the hundred. It is not true that the farmers do not appreciate and stand by their friends, as some would have it believed. “Of course ‘there have been - kicks about the stand we have taken, but they have not been kicks from our readers. Outsiders, certain business interests, etc. have not liked what we are doing, but we are getting out papers for our rea- . ders and not for these outsiders. The Normanden management has been par- ticularly anxious to have us change our stand - concerning the League and join them in opposing the farmers’ program. We have given.little heed . to such re- quests.. We are responsible to our rea- ders, who are largely farmers, and we are getting out the kind of a paper they want”. : > ] o ng June 28. to Bismarck and the legislative petitiong s sent to the candidates for filing. The fact that both Frazier and Macs: donald ‘got about 20,000 signers while - the League ticket'for thé supreme court i; got 24,000 was due to the supreme court candidates being on the nonpartisan : primary ballot, so ‘that members of ‘all = petitions, Frazier’s petitions, of course, could ba i’ signed only by Republicans, because he u is running on that party ballot at the parties could sign their primaries. But Macdonald will be on: the nonpartisan school ballot at the pri- maries, and of course members of all:? parties could sign his petitions. The- only Democrat indorsed by the League-i for state office is P. M. Casey for state: treasurer and he had 3000 names on hig petition, ten times as many as necessarys Only Democrats could sign his petition, -« While names to.the number of 800 : were on some of -the petitions of the:.: League’s legislative candidates, 200 is the maximum prescribed by law and the.:: auditors in some of the legislative dis~:. tricts would not accept more than this-, number. 2 2 “The League candidates are now - " mot only the candidates of the Lea- : Townley., " “They are not enly the candidates n gue,” said President of the farmers. They are the can- didates of the people of the whole state. The fact that from 20,000 to 24,000 voters have now each person- ally indorsed these men for office by signing their names to the petitiong makeés these men the nominees of 8 larger group of voters than has ever ‘. before backed men for office in North Dakota. <“In the first place the League state candidates were -indorsed by the regularly elected delegates of 85,000 farmers; now they are per- sonally indorsed. by the 20,000 to 24,000 voters who .signed their peti- tions. A ticket with that backing can never be beaten.” ‘ Gt