The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 10, 1916, Page 4

. | i on paying the same old high charges, based on the cost of operating railroads under pioneer conditions. . ' 5 . * * * . SERVING THE EXPLOITERS It seems incredible that such a state of affairs could continue, doesn’t it? What is the explanation ? ; The explanation is the very condition of affairs that caused the Nonpartisan League to come into being—lack of organization-among the people of the state, a-state government run in the interests of the rail- roads and the Minneapolis grain kings, a shameful conspiracy on the part of some men who live in this state and who ought to be zealous for its prosperity to court the favor and serve the interests of its exploiters. North Dakota has been content to accept spineless inactivity from its railroad commission, but the people of the state are waking up. The farmers are thoroughly awake. They are ready to make a fight for their rights. Now, at last, some of the manufacturers and merchants of the state have seen a great light. They have been trying to build up industries in the face of the worst sort of discrimination on the part of the railroads until their patience is exhausted. The success of the first steps in the farmers’ movement to restore the state to the hands of its people has given fhg‘m?new courage. Thev. too, are now ready to mak~ a fight for their rights. - : 5 x % MANUEACT}JRERS ARE W{{H US 'The farmers of North Dakota hold out the right hand of fellowship to the Fargo manufacturers and shippers and to the shippers in other cities who are joining in the first battle to get fair rates from the railroad combine. The manufacturers’ fight is the farmers’ fight. Any effort whose object is to build ‘up North Dakota, to promote its industries so as to keep the wealth of its production in " the state, is one with the farmers’ cause. The farmers want. fair freight rates just exactly as much as the manufacturers want them. They want to sell as much of their product as pessible for manufacturing use and consumption within the state. They want to buy manufactured goods made in this state. They believe thoroughly in the principle of keeping the money in the state. They want real, permanent, substantial prosperity in North Dakota, a prosperity not dependent alone upon wheat prices and the Minneapolis grain market. They can’t bring about that sort of prosperity alone. They need the help of the manufacturers and merchants. They want to work with the manufacturers to bring it about. The determined effort of the Fargo shippers and the shippers in some other cities of the state to compel the railroads to treat them fairly is one of the most encouraging events the farmers’ cause has seen. It is encouraging to note that the manufacturers, too, are learning the value of sticking together. * * * HOW THE RAILROADS HANDLE “KICKERS” - The railroad method of dealing with complaining committees of shippers is so old as to have become a.standard system. A group of shippers call on a railroad agent and announce that they have come to demand a general reduction in rates. Frequently there is some bell-wether in the committes, some leading manufacturer without whose active co-operation she others could not expect to get anywhere, The railroad agent of course gives the committee a “stall.” “I’ll consider it,” he says, or “I'll take it up with the officers of the road.” Then he makes occasion to have a talk in private with the bell-wether shipper. : “Now, Mr. Bell-wether,” he says, “what is your particular trouble? What can we do for you? You understand that we can’t possibly: grant this general reduction your committee has asked. Why it would: dis- turb the whole system of rates from St. Paul to the coast. But I'll tell you what we can do. We can go over your rates on incoming goods and we can make an adjustment that I think will be satisfactory. We are willing to take care of the shippers here, but we-can’t disturb our whole rat~ -vstem.” z A * * * A “GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT” What does this amount to? Just a bribe, that’s all. Just another little rate-making dodge similar to the rebates they 'used to hand to large corporations and thereby crush out little competitors. If a busi- ness man accepts a “business proposition” like this and then deserts his fellow shippers he has merely sold himself out, betrayed the cause he enlisted in. That may be a part of the explanation why North Dakota never has made any progress werth mentioning toward fair freight rates, but has always taken just what the railroads were willing to give. Railroads have a way of handling these things. It takes a little broad-gauge patriotism, a little something besides narrow self-interest and “business policy” to get anywhere in a railroad rate fight i * k% TWO SHIPPERS WHO REFUSE TO HELP The railroads have as many arts for breaking up shippers organiz~ ations as politicians have for keeping the farmers from voting togetheér. _Yo_ur Judgment on a Weighty ’,Questi(')r‘l Is Warited-—See V._ PAGE FOUR And that brings up another point in this freight rate fight of the Fa.rgo ; manufacturers that ought not to be overlooked. : Two of the largest shippers out of Fargo are the Fargo Mercantile company and Park, Grant & Morris, wholesale grocers. These two firms have taken a “passive” attitude toward a rate fight that has been under- manufacturers. 4 How do you suppose it happens that these two big firms are not willing to help in a fight for rates that will enable them to ship their goods for less money? Amos C. Crowl is secretary and local manager of Park, Grant & Morris, one of the two big Fargo firms that can’t see its way clear to joining the shippers’ fight. C. O. Follet is the vice president and active head of the Fargo Mercantile company, the other one of these firms. Do those names mean anything to you? Did you ever see them before? To save racking your brain let us remind you that the Leader printed them last week. According to the statement of Norman Black, secretary, THESE TWO MEN ARE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE GOOD GOVERNMENT LEAGUE. Do you get the connection? Here are two men anxious to save North Dakota from the peril of the “socialistic schemes” of the Non- partisan League. ) The Leader does not charge that the railroads have bought the silence of those two men in the rate fight by making special concessions to them. It does not know that.” It does suggest, however, that a better way for these men to work for the prosperity of the state than by join- ing a “Good Geovernment” organization LED BY A RAILROAD ATTORNEY would be to throw in their lot with that of the Fargo ship- pers who are asking for a fair deal in freight rates in order that this state may have a chance to prosper equally with its neighbor states. * ¥ *» . AGAIN—WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE? Is North Dakota facing a “crisis?” You can bet it is. It has come to the point where it has an opportunity to decide whether it will go up or down. The farmers are stirred up to make a fight for the rights of the state. They are in a mood to do battle wth the exploiters. The people of the towns and cities have a chance to make their choice. Will they join with the men who are trying to build the state’s future or will they join with those who are trying to tear it down? DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES NOT “REPUDIATED” Charles E. Drown is the League candidate for state senator in the eleventh district, Cass county. ‘He is a Democrat. His opponent is W. E. Clark, Republican. s Lately the Tower City Topics, a weekly newspaper which is sup- . porting Clark, has been trying to make it appear to its readers that the League has deserted Mr. Drown, the candidate indorsed by the League district convention. It draws this extraordinary conclusion from a statement printed in the daily press in which the successful state candidates on the Republican ticket reaffirmed that they are the candidates of the Republican party and devoted to Republican prin- ciples. Other editors of small newspapers, like the Tower City editor, have labored diligently to make out of this a “repudiation” of the League candidates who are not Republicans. - The facts are simply these: The League indorsed candidates on all three tickets, Republican, Democrat and (in one or two cases) the Socialist ticket. In every case where these candidates indorsed by the League were nominated in the primaries the League still stands behind them and its members will use every effort to bring about their election. - © taken on behalf of all the cities and towns of North Dakota, a rate fight ~ that will benefit the consumer just as much as it will benefit the Charles Drown, candidate for the senate in the Eleventh district - and a Democrat, is just as much _the candidate of the Nonpartisan League as' Lynn Frazier, Republican nominee for ‘governor. They are both good, strong, able and conscientious men. Charles Drown was not_indorsed . for_ the state senate because he was a Democrat. The district in-which he is running is normally Republican. Tt cast a'heavy Republican and_ light: Democratic vote in the primaries, Drown was indorsed because.his neighbors and fellow League members believed him' to be. the ablest man 'available)for the office and & man who would faithfully represent their interests in'the legislature, A majority; of the men’ who' asked him to run were Republicans. He has been unanimously indorsed by the- Democrats:of his district. Mr. Drown will be €lected by a combination of Democratic and Republican votes in November because he has. the unqualified” support of the Nonpartisan League, because he is the only. candidate for. the position truly devoted:to the interests.of the farmers and: because in every way. he is the candidate best fitted: for the place—all three good and sufficient reasons.” Pl Rl e LR R Other Democratic candidates'indorsed: by the ‘Leagiie ‘'who were Successful in the primaries are in' exactly the same position as Mr. Drown. 'The . League stands by” each of their . indorse The League is not Republican; it is not Democratic; it is not Socialistic ; it is nonpartisan.: - Bielh S hn e B R ~