The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 14, 1916, Page 4

and selling price will be fought to the end by: plofessmnal gamblers and exploiters. | This field of “cost of distribution” is the field of easy proflt for the speculator ‘and the promoter. It is the source of watered stock, of profits of promotion, of speculation and of every kind of unjust burden on the working ‘people. It is the source and creator of huge unearned incomes made in a day. \ i It creates those twin evils of idle and corrupting riches and dire and oppressive poverty which Mr. Frazier truly called “the nation’s gravest menace.” It is the source of corruption of lawmakers and administra- tors. 1t is the trough in which the hogs of special pr1v1lege feed. evil. Professor Ladd cited fizures to show that the tendency is just the other way. Itis growing worse. It is absorbing the best fruit of every ‘good and profitable invention whlch ought to make human life easier and more comfortable. Waste—the huge waste of. unearned profits—xs the dire monster that is squeezing the blood out of Amencan producers and American industry today. Don’t think that any rehef wxll come from above If there is to be 8 remedy it will have to come from those who are under the millstone. i * * * 2 : DOES IT PAY TO BE ORGANIZED? According to figures produced by the railroads when congress and - the president were wrestling with the strike question there are 450,000 . railroad employes represented in thé four brotherhoods who threatened to strike for the eight-hour day and 1,600,000 other rtailroad émployes not represented in these brotherhoods and not affected by the dispute. The railroads made a tearful and pathetlc plea for the unorgamzed million six hundred thousand. “If you put through this eight-hour bill it means a 25 per cent increase in wages for the men who are THE BEST PAID OF ANY CLASS in the railroad service,” said the railroad officials. “If we pay this increase it will be AN INJUSTICE TO THE UNORGANIZED WORKERS.” Nice to think how considerate the rallways are of their unorgan- ized workers, isn’t it? Do they think about them when traffic is good, profits are high and there are big “melons” t¢ cut? Oh, no! The officers get their salaries raised, probably they rig up a reincorporation and pass out juicy plums in the way of stock bonuses to ofiicers and directors and maybe the stockholders get a little extra in the way of a dividend. The UNORGANIZED employes get what they can PRY OUT of the company INDIVIDUALLY. And that isn’t much. Take the word of the railroad presidents for it: “The men of the brotherhoods get the highest pay of any class of railroad employes. The unorganized, rela- tively, are POORLY PAID.” But it isn’t only in the railroad cashier’s office that ORGANIZA- TION COUNTS. .{ust listen to this extract from a-news report. “How completely congress is in the grasp of the brotherhood officials was demonstrated just before the Adamson bill passed the house, when the entire Democratic majority rejected an amendment to grant the eight-hour day to all employes of interstate railroads. The leaders, in urging the house to vote down the proposition, which was submitted by Répresentative Frank Clark of Florida, asserting there was no danger of a strike from the 1,600,000 unorganized employes and therefore it was unnecessary to_legis- late an eight hour day for them.” Four hundred and fifty thousand men, ORGANIZED, forced the railroad presidents to meet them in conference, they enlisted the power ~of the president of the United ‘States on their side and they forced ‘congress to drop all the nation’s other business to pass a law for their especial benefit. . And the rmlhon, six hundred thousand who are the POOREST PAID OF RAILROAD EMPLOYES—what of them? Oh, they don’t count. They were ELIMINATED FROM THE BILL. There was “no danger of a strike” by them. They’re NOT ORGANIZED. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. - You don’t have to have any opinion about the Justlce of the elght—hom day in order to-see. the pomt * * ll.‘ : . THE ‘BUSY PUBLICITY BUREAU The pub11c1ty bureau- of the present state administration has been Busy mlsrepresentmg the -action of the state board of equalization in slashmg the- state S, revenue for next year 80 ‘as to mJure the mcommg admmistration % “The present state admmlstratlon has saved the taxpayers of North Dakota $231,000 for. the commg year,” says an “official”’ story from the Bismarck source of- pmsoned sentlment pr inted sunultaneou in the Grand Forks Herald and the Fargo. CounereNews. ‘This - 5 '_ first mentmn in either of those papers of the actlon taken by the board four days before. "1 Just how absurdly nonsens1cal is the clalm that the Hanna admin- istration has “saved”’the taxpayers - anythmg af all' by thxs actlon is shown by the interview in which Flint, who VOted for the “savmg' ” attempts to explam it in another paper . "The primary election campaign was based on a plea for the reduc- tion ‘of taxation; on the theory. that the state government should be bperated on a less expensive basis,” says Flint, “and in ordering the 'Valuation reductlon, which reduces the state’ 'S revenue about $110,000 % ‘n a year, T feel that the board of equahzatxon acted in accordance with*® the'wishes of the voters.” . This, if it means anythmg at all, is a confession that the board of equahzatxon is not “saving” anything, but is putting it up to the next state legislature ‘and state “administration to save—to run the state S affairs for 10 per cent less. 3 * »® * < e CONVICTED BY THEIR OWN MOUTH Flint is a'most amusing falsifier—either that, or he has been asleep since the beglnmng of the primary campaign. Probably the latter, for: o if he had not he would know that the primary election was not "based The progress of industry has, done nothing to-correct this monstrous - on a plea for reduction of taxation.” The primary election campaign was based on the program of the Nonpartisan League—that and the return of the state government to the people. The only mention of general reduction of taxation was the labored effort of the present state admin- : lstratlon to prove that it had not been more wasteful of the state’s funds than the average state administration. But ‘Flint himself, further on in this mterv’1ew——wh1ch conflicts ludicrously with the! rest.of the “official” dope—admits that the state board of equahzatlon CAN NOT. SAVE THE TAXPAYERS MONEY by flat reduction of assessments. “It is a well-known fact,” says Flint, “that the state board of equalization is made the ‘goat’ in raising taxes. As a matter of fact, the legislature makes the appropriations and IT IS UP TO THE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION TO RAISE THE TAX.” And what did the board do this time? It DELIBERATELY LOWERED assessments so that there WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH MONEY IN THE STATE’S TREASURY TO MEET THE APPRO- PRIATIONS. That’s how Flint, Hanna and Linde did their duty. THEY SCUTTLED THE SHIP. P * -% # WHY THE BOARD WAS ATTACKED But listen further to Flint’s arraignment of himself: “The board is not responsible for the expenditures ordered, but TT ‘IS BOUND TO CREATE THE FUNDS TO MEET THE APPROPRI- ATIONS. It is always the butt of attack however, of those who cry about high taxation.” First begging Flint’s pardon, let us take issue with him on this. question. The board is NOT the butt of attack of those who cry about high taxation. Instead, it is the object of attack of those who cry about INEQUALITIES in taxation. The board’s main function is to EQUALIZE VALUES so that tax— ation shall be JUSTLY APPORTIONED. If it does not do that, it does not-do its duty. 1, * ' The complaint relating to taxes in this campmgn has been that there was GROSS INJUSTICE IN ASSESSMENTS in this state, some classes of property—notably railroads—being given too low a valuatlon and some other classes too high a valuation. These inequalities and injustices the present state board of equal- jzation DID NOT ATTEMPT TO REMEDY. If there was any plain and" - unmistakable expression of the people on taxation in the primaries it was against these FLAGRANT INJUSTICES. The board paid no attention to this expression of the people’s will. It pretended not to hear or to understand. The board is too blind to see its duty, or, having seen it, it is too rebellious (or too something else) to do it. 3 The last act of the board of equalization has given ample proof of the wisdom of the voters in RETIRING ITS MEMBERS TO PRIVATE LIFE. Men as unfaithful, by their own confession, fo their plain duty as Hanna, Linde and Flint desérve no position whatever of public honor and trust. : * % B . HANNA—TWEFDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE There is one more point to the official plea of “not guilty” as given. to the subservient wing of the state press. - “There will be no deficit,” says Hanna. But this is a mere qulbble He doesn’t mean it, because in the next breath he says: “It is true . - that some bills will be carried over into the new year, but there is noth- ing alarming in this.” No, brothers, there’s no deficit, only just a lack of sufficient funds to meet the state’s expenses. Don’t call it a “deficit.” Tt'is a harsh and unpleasant word. Call it a “tweedledee” ora “luckey” or something like that. At any rate “some bxlls” will be camed over. To put it in the vernacular, the state treasury will be “short,” and just to make it more - interesting the board of equalization has provided for making it $110 & 000 shorter by cutting that much off the taxes. * * * : THE “COMMON” CANDIDATE - “Mr. Frazier was dressed in a common working suit, a broad bmn- med felt-hat and wore no vest,” says the sensitive-souled editor of the Courier-News. Also, let the dreadful fact be admitted that Frazier confessed to his audience at the Labor Day celebration that he was ‘“‘only a common farmer.” How can he expect the suppert of those who 4 ‘believe the high hat and the frock coat make a statesman? ; T o gy Theré’s one other common thing about Frazxer often conspmuously i lackmg in governors, edltors, and such. It is 'hls common sense. PAGE 'OUB X