The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 14, 1916, Page 6

i "It takes eunrage todayforusto Bssert and defend our rights. If -we do ot defend them we will lose them. The fabor unions by organization have been sble to defend their rights and to better their condition. The farmers have Bought legislation to protect their rights gnd have been denied it.. They have Yound that the only way to get their rights is to organize. LABOR’S DEMANDS OF LEGISLATURE REASONABLE M “The workingmen of this state also fi:ve been denied by our legislature their masmable demfinds. They asked for a at workmen injured at work might recover compensation ,yithout having to pay for it by a legal Pprocess as expensive as the amount of the damages. Such a law is just and ought to be provided. You have asked for a law protecting children who work, and it ought to have been passed. -“You have been right, also, in askm& for laws restricting and safeguarding ‘the employment of women in industry. ,Until women have the ballot—and I hope it won’t be long—it’s up to the men fo protect the women workers. . “There is nothing in the aims and the desires of the unions in conflict with the program of the farmers. Like you, we are interested in getting for the: pro- ducer a just reward for his toil. We do fiot complain at prices for our manu- factured goods based upon good wages and good working conditions for those by whose labor the goods are produced. But we do object to carrying the heavy burden of big profits on what we buy gnd what we sell _Ppaid to those who do not by their labof" add anything to the value of the product. “We don’t object to high freight rates based on good wages for railroad men, but we do object to extortionate freight ‘and passenger rates based on watered Btock and huge profits for Wall street promoters. IDLENESS AND EASE ‘A MENACE TO NATION ! “We believe in the right of every man who does work and who ‘does add to the value of the product to get a fair return for his labor and his industry. We believe more of the money should go to thosewhoworkandlessoflttothose whodonotwork. “The idea that the world owes every man a living is all bunk. The world duan’toweahvmgtotheman‘whom jmtkbutwillnot. . an evil and dism ,’rbeidlennhwhohveofipropeztythey did not earn are just as much a menace to this country as any Weary Willie or. hobo by the roadside. “But we need to seek other things in this state than merely bigger profits . The Labor day committee and two of ‘the: spea.kers. rrom lett to rignt: man of the day; Lynn J. Fraszier, John N. Hagan. \ state and nation more endurable and more wholesome for all. The greatest danger we face today is the fact that in this country 10 per:cent of ‘the people control 90 per cent of the wealth and the the 90. per cent control only 10 per-cent. ‘It is ‘a serious cendition in ‘any nation ‘when wealth brings idleness, tuxury and oppression and povextybnngsdmease and crime. DUTY OF THE PEOPLE TO REMEDY CONDITIONS “Whose fault is it if these conditions exist? It is your fault and mine. We, the people of this state and of this nation have not done our "full duty by our country, our children and ourselves. We have allowed the powers of govern- ment to be seized and controlled by a few. “The majority of the people in this country have the power to rule and to right conditions. Why, in heaven’s name, do they not cast their votes for Arne . Koyther, T. W. Lee and A. W. Bowman of the committee; Peter N. Wingren, chair- North Dakota' that produce all this state’s -wealth,” said John N. Hagan. “They are the farmers and the laboring men—the workers. The neeessxty for when we asked for needed legislation. The farmers lost their terminal elevator -and ‘the -working men their ' industrial compensation act. Our fight is against the same. interests and we can coopemte with profit. SThose of us who till North Dakota’s -soil knew how abundantly it yields, and we know that every other business in the state is: dependent on agriculture. Everybody knows that. That accounts for everybody’s seeming imterest in the farmer. They watch the crop reports, the weather and the markets so that they will know how well off -the state will be each year, for it is; these things that determine North Dakota’s pros- perity. Everybody is anxious to give have been ready enough to give advice of the kind they pretend to think needed; but they have not joined, the farmer in his big fight against the greatest of all; monoepolies, the market combine. In fact ‘these papers have been prejudiced in favor of the big special interests that rob the farmer and the consumers-at the markets and so I say that one of the gteatest needs in -North Dakota today is a free newspaper that will give the farmers and the consumers a fair deal. “Thé farmers and the working men of North Dakota can well join:-to fight the great grain and other combines: that exact their toll alike from producer and: consumer. And I believe that the first thing necessary to win this fight is the control of the government by the people, taking it out of the hands of the poli- ticians and the servers of special inter- ests. The newspapers say we common people haven’t the ability or integrity to run this-state. Well, if they are right, then I say it is time we give up the talk On the spukeu’ plstfonl, lntemnz to Frazier’s address. ant row, left to right, John N. Hagan, President E. F. Ladd‘ imgren. & P menwhowmrepresmtthemjonty instead of representing a few special interests? “Let us assert our intelligence manhood in North Dakota to make it a state in which the people shall rule and justice shall be done. to all.” The applause which followed Mr Frazier’s address was broken by the efforts of more than a score of persons to shake his hand, to congratulate him and: to approve his sentiments, Among them were business men, two 'ministers of the gospel and a number of working and our . andPeterN.W‘ aboutthepqoplemhngmdmpottu regular little king from Europe, guar- anteedtogwesdufaehon.' Mr. Hagan #aid a word for fln Iugue’sprogramforstate-owned mills and packing plants, d that these were solutions fore:mtko