The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 14, 1916, Page 12

ISMARCK, Sept. 9. — The Non- partisan League plutform of po- litical and economic reforms for -North Dakota is now the official platform of the Republican party of the state, and some of its chief features are -incorporated in the official platforms of the North Dakota Democratic party. Not without a hard fight but with a safe majority on the final vote, the Re- publican party state central committee here this week bowed to the will of. the: people expressed at the primaries June 28. Despite energetic maneuvering and forceful leadership by the -old political gang representatives on the committee, - the Republican platform for North Da- kota framed at the meeting incorporates demands for a state-owned terminal ele- vator, state hail insurance, amendment of the constitution to permit state-own- 2d flour mills and packing plants,. state civil service, exemption of farm im- provements from taxation and .other de- mands of the farmers of the state as ex-, pressed in the Nonpartisan League pro- - THREE LEAGUE BOOSTERS TO HANDLE CAMPAIGN William Lemke of Fargo, progressive Republican, one of the leaders of the Nonpartisan League movement, was made chairman of -the Republican com- - mittee; Ray McKaig of Morton county, stzunch friend of the farmers and mem- . ber of the League, the State Grange and - other farmers’ organizations, was made secretary, and Halvor ' P.. Halvorsen “of Sheyenne, also a Nonpartisan League member and booster, was made secre- tary. ) The Democratic party state central commitiee, meeting at the same time, also adopted a platform in which the old political gang and stalwart politicians «rats declared for state hail insurance, two-cent per rmle ‘passenger fares, the Torrens system' for the Tegistration -of land titles, good mds legishh«m and The Democrats chose Fred McLean of Pugmaschumnuftheemnmwbeennd Thexwxltaf\‘heRepnhhmoommJt- tee meeting is another step in the over- ° tuwrn of the political gang in North Da- kota. Members of the state central 'ammfl:eemdm'&epnmrylawafthe state are chosen in varions eounties by the county committees, which are elected - by the rank and file of the party. The big fact is that the Nonpartisan League ‘mndenofightmfl:epnmnestochoose committeemen in the various counties favorable to the League or its platform. The farmess themselves, however,-in-a’ mejority of the counities, saw to this withont sy instroctions from League headquarters, with the result that the . June 2B primsary not only turned out old gang office seekers but put a safe major- ity on the Republican state central _cu:mtteemfamof&epeqfle’spro- gram and candidaies. The actual machinery of the Republi- .. ean party of North Dakota is now in the .hmdsof&epeoplefurdxefirsthme flJeparty’lpldiunnlsfl:emram of political: and economic reforms -so .lcmgmva.mdemnndedbyfl;egreatlmlk b Highy had indursedsEie Lague candidst. - es 'and program June 28 meant nothing to them. They were still standpatters, reactionaries and tools of the special in- terests that have blocked farmers’ legis- lation for wyears. They turned their backs on reform and fair play for the The farmers have accomphshed thelr second great wctory by p Republican party into the hands of the people of the state. The O marck and was defeated. The people w1]l always wm lf they are ‘er farmers’ legislation. .gang against the League Program in Party Platformi.; Democrats Also Progressive voters of the state, but this txme, unlike the past, they did not win. The old political gang fought agmnst the - people’s program under the leader- ship of Treadwell Twichell," old - time ‘“politician and member of the legislature, enemy of the terminal elevator and oth- He was ably seconded by his brother, L. L. Twichell, also enemy of farmers’ legislation in the . legislature and member of the executive board of the so-called Good Government League, the organization that is fighting the farmers’ movement in North Dakota. Jerry Bacon, owner of the Grand Forks Herald, opponent of the farmers’ league and its program was a member of the committee and voted with the adoption of the people’s program as the Republican platform.. On the side lines, not a mem- planks. in the platform - the farmers " would haye te do so by amendment on the floor of {he meeting, a big advantage for the reactionary element from a. par- liamentary standpoint. _Sprague appointed the following reso- lutions committee: L. A. Simpson, Tread- well Twichell, V. A. Corbett, Berndt Anderson, R. J. Hughes, G. S: Reishus and H. W. Green. This gave .the poli- ticians, as opposed to the farmers, four members to three for the farmérs on the committee. But Anderson, Simpson and Reishus did valiant’ work on the committee for the progressives, even though they were in the minority. The majority had a platform all ready and it left out the principal reforms demand- ed by the farmers through the Nonparti- san league. But the minority made it pretty hot for the majority on the com- Thls picture shows Mrs. C. L.: Byerly of Gouverneur, Sask., wnth horse. and - buggy in the wheat on the Byerly farm. -~ Mrs. Byerly’s husband is:a member of the ' Farmers’ Nonpartisan League of Saskatchewan, started by some: Canadian farmers who had learned .about the -Nonpartisan League in ‘North Dakota: The members of . -the Saskatchewan league: suhscnbe for the Leader.: : ber of the commlttee bnt poniemng with.. the members and pulling the Wires; was .“Rs.'S.. Lewis, .Hanna: politician, member .of the state board of- control, author of the repord that kzlled thel. terminal ele- vator in the last session and contributor to the fund raised: by the Chamber .of Commerce to fxght the Equity ‘Coopera- . tive. Exchange in the. courts. . Also: Nor- man’ Black was there. 'He was not a member of the committee either, but he was._on the ground to dd what he_could for the stalwarts. . He is the hired pub- Heity agent of the Good Govemment League. : Among 'fnends of the Nonparhsan : League and the farmers present were Mr. Lemke and F. B. Wood, the latter vice- - president of ‘the League and prominent Equity booster. : Neither were members of the committee but were there to give advice and aid to the League forces. Ray McKaig of Morton county was floor leader for the farmers and after he got his bearings and got down to business he " was a match for the Twichells and oth- ergangstersthereto head off a pro- gressive platform. - - GANG “SLIPS ONE OVER” BUT IS SOUNDLY BEATEN .More. familiar with polmcel maneuv- i ering - and’ parliamentary ' control than “ the farmer members of the committee, the politicians slipped over something at_the start. Frank Sprague of Graf- 7 ton, -chairman of the committee during " the last campaign, was allowed by the - . farmer members .to be temporary chair- man, ‘which “was‘not ‘2 serious blunder, It enabled the .old gang to dictate the personnel of . the platform committee, appointed by Sprague. = It meant that the committee could frame a. platform leaving out much of the :mportant farm-. . get these er legislation and that to ‘mlttee and fmally Lynn J. I‘ramer the 'Republxcan candidate for govemor, ‘in~ dorsed by: the League, was called in, FRAZIER “TALKS TURKEY” TO PLATFORM ‘COMMITTEE He made 1t~absolutely plain that re: gardless-of . what the committee or the meeting. did he stood by the Nonparti- san league platform -and would run for election ‘on . that. - He" pomted out that he ran on -this: plat:form in the primaries and that he and he platform were over- whelmingly - indorsed .by the rank and file of the party. = He urged that the - resolutions committee bring in a majori- ty report, leaving out the League plat- form, if they desired to, but also 'a mi- nority report incorporating the League program, so that the meetmg could choose between the two. The committee finally thought it was best to compromise and bring in one re- port. By this time it was well estab- - lished that the progressives who fa- vored the League . program and would stand by the will of the people expressed at the’ primaries; wére: in_the majority. in the meeting and would control anyway. The committee . decided “to mcorporate some of the League planks-in the plat- form it would x‘ecommend but not all of them. L i On the floor of the meetmg, however, the farmers -and ; progressives brought- the -matter to a test of strength and by - amendments - mcotporabed the full pro- ‘gram of the League, with one exception, - into the platform. This was handled on . - the floor ‘ably by McKaig. . He had back . but ‘a motion wds made to make him - chairman for the day and this got-by. - of him a safe’majority of 3 few vobes and the farmers and. progtesswes stuck - together on every ballot. ‘When it came < to electmg permanent officers; the’ gang, seeing it was beaten, lay down.and Mr. Lemke was made: _permanent chairman without opposmon. : The exceptxon in the League progtam ted. . platform, state as well as national. .are “heartily in favor of a state admin- not ‘put in the party.platform was the ! plank. declaring for .a state system of rural credits. The farmers did not make - a hard fight on this, because they thought that since the League program was framed the United States congress had passed a. rural credit bill which, while not meeting the demands of the farmers, should” be given a fair trial. The complete platform of the Republican ‘. party of North Dakota as adopted by the state committee is as follows: “We, the duly elected and constitut- “ed state Republican committee, now in session at the capitol in the city of Bis- marck, on this 6th day of September, " 1916, selected and chosen in accordance with the primary laws of the state of North Dakota, do hereby adopt the fol- lowing platform for the Republican par- ty and its candidates: “We heartily indorse the Republican candidates for president and vice-presi- dent in the person of Charles Evans Hughes and Charles W. Fairbanks, and hereby ratify the national Republican platform as adopted at Chicago, the splendid record of our standard bearer while serving as chief executive of the great state of New York, recommending him to us as the one to harmonize and reunite the national Republican party; and the splendid record of Charles W. Fairbanks made while a member of the United States senate and vice-president, rendering him most fit to occupy the po- sition to which he has been nominated | by the party. - “We congratulate United States sena- " tors Porter J. McCumber and A. J. Gron- na for the splendid fight they have made . and for the energetic activities put forth - " by them to forward national legislation for the benefit of agricultural conditions ; existing in this state and nation. “We ‘indorse. all the nominees of the Repubhcan .party successful in the state primaries, and call upon the people to elect them, with the purpose in view of carrying out the above principles and 1stratlon of efficiency and ‘economy, based on service to'the people ‘and. enforcement of law, and pledge eur candxdates to - those principles. -. g “We favor a .thorou, - administration of our educatlonal and our public institutions, and a future adminis- tration of the same which will render the best possible service to the people, without partisan -political considera- tions.. “The chief factor in successful govern-~ ment being the ‘education of our child- ren; we favor the enactment and strict enforcement of laws for the upbuilding of the state’s educational institutions to the h;ghest point of ‘efficiency, to there- ~ by equip them. for future service and _usefulness to the state and nation. Two ~~'successive. legislative assembles having provided for the adoption-of a constitu- tional - amendment locating ‘& normal . school on the Missouri slope, we recom- "mend- the ‘establishment of such an in- :stitution 'to theelectors of the state at the coniing “election. We believe in' the development of ‘our Agricultural college and other institutions of learning, to the end that they shall-be-in position to give the most. valuable information to ‘the citizens of the state, and especially as'to the best methods of tilling ‘the soil, pro-~ moting diversified farming and economy and efficiency. “Easy and rapid means of communieas: _tion and ability” to reach the ma:kets being of vital concern to the agricultural interests - of this state,. we favor the building and maintaining of state roads, “and in‘the building of which prison:Iabor . should be utilized to some: extent, ‘and -the adoption. by this state of such laws’ as will place it in_ position to receive its -“full share of the benefits of the national highway legislation recently enacted by ~ ‘congress. - We favor such change in the st’ate's dramage ‘law as wfll make the (Contmued on page 20) utting. the state maclunh Ty of the Id Gang made its last stand at Bis- We‘