The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 21, 1916, Page 6

R, e R P R S e e e R S e S et e e CarRY GRIP, S| YOurR IR ? ¥ D BE DOWA “BOUT THE P (TIME I HAD Yo SewL The Leader “Points With Pride” HE Leader is a year old today. This issue is the fifty - third that has gone out from . these offices to farmers all over the state of North Dakota. With this issue the second year of the Leader’s life has begun. It has been a momentous year. Great things have happened in the state and the Leader is pleased to think that is has had a part in them. Its editors recall mis- takes and disappeintments, yet great gratification and pride at what the year has brought forth. The triumphs have outnumbered the disappointments. To recall all that has happened in the year, and even to touch lightly on what the Leader has done and tried to do would ‘take too big a volume. There isn’t much time to be loofiing back. There’s too much ahead to be done.- We can’t sacri- fice even what we’re trying to do in this issue either to boasting or to regrets. The main thing is t6 look ahead and to travel in that direction. ; Volume 1, No. 1 of the Leader was is- sued on September 23, 1915. Do you remember it? What did you think of it then? What do you think of it now? We know what a good many of you thought about that first issue. / Your letters came pouring in as a joyful flood. You liked it. Yon were immensely pleased, judging from your letters. You were very kind. You overlooked mani- fest faults. You gave the hearty word of encouragement, the slap on the back that cheers all men, and all newpapers— " especially youngsters. [ THE LEADER’S PROMISE, HAS IT BEEN FULFILLED? . The Leader needed that encourage- ment then and it needs it today. We 41l like praise: that is heartfelt and sin- cere. It encourages us to go ahead and do our best, to.remedy our faulfs and to persevere. If you like-what is in the Leader don’t hesitate to write and tell "of the Northwest. Have its promises been suggestions. us about it. 'We want to hear what you like and-what you-don’t like. In that first jssue of the Nonpartisan Leader these words were used: “This journal belongs to the farmers ' It is founded. by them to voice their protest against im- just and unrighteous . conditions—to voice that protest and make it count.” - There was the Leader’s path charted ‘( out for it from the beginning: It has been a journal of protest. It has no apo- logy. to make for that course. . It has woiced ‘the just protest of the farmers of the state against evils that were great More ‘than in any other one thing the Leader takes pride in the fact that its protest has been definite and well-found- ed. And because of that it has been Zone after the truth and when it found it-there has been no hesitation about ‘We believe we are not boasting in say- ing that never in the history of the state have the evils that afflict the state been so clearly presented and with such tell- ing force as they have been in the col- umns. of the Leader. = Never have the people of the state been s0 aroused poli- tically,.so determined to .purify public affairs and to use the power of govern- mént “oward just’ and useful ends as The oflicera‘t;t’the League had aAcie;z.f : - Information is as essential to good government by the people a polluted well. The state is sure to be sick if it'has that kind of drink alone. | Ol t well,” | n famil; h r; “in the meantime, boil the water.” | How about your daily news—are you boiling it or sprinkling a little disinfectant in it? If not, lookout. | - But say! Maybe it would be a good scheme to dig anewwell. @~ =~ = says the doctor when he finds the whole family down with fever This is the Leader’s first birthday. Is it a promising youngster? How does it look to you? files and see, then writé us a letter and tell us what you think. Tell us also what you want to see the Leader do in the future. Remember, it’s your paper. It exists to serve you. Let’s have your -answer lying attacks and kept? Look over your ! purpose in mind When they started:the Leader. They knew that to succeed an organization such as the League was to be must have some means of keeping its members in touch with each other. The Leader was to be a means of communica- tion, a meeting place of the great family of North Dakota farmers, a forum where - ideas could be exchanged. The officers of the League have used the Leader to this end. Through it they have been able to keep the members in close touch with the work,’to prevent misunderstandings, to warn the mem- bers about the activity of the enemy, to to issue the calls to action which Hiave met a wonder- ful response—the response of unanimous Members of the League have not been slow to take advantage of the opportuni- ty. to exchange ideas through the col- umns of ‘the Leader. Nothing the Lead- er has printed has been of greater inter- est or helpfulness. The Leader is not serving its full’ purpose unless its read- ers are heard through ifs: colammns. It has always welcomed free expression of opinion and always will. The spirit of the League is. mutual help and mutual - In accomplishing: its mission of “pro-_ test” often it has been sufficient for the Leader just to tell the real facts about conditions in fhe state. = The truth was ‘enough. . “Protest” took ¢are of itzelf, s ~ Agricultural College; -the as water is to life. [ of e:n’éting conditiol}s and of t'he powers and persons that have preyed on the farmers and misgoyerned the state. THESE ARE “STORIES” THAT SHOOK THINGS UP It is enough to mention just the sub- jects of some of the news stories that have revealed conditions in North Da- kota that have aroused the citizens of the state, conditions that in’the past have been sedulously concealed by the news- papers of the state. Among these news stories were the exposure of the Jorgenson tax schedule, intended to raise the taxes of farmets; the failure to tax private car lines and other corporations; the light taxation of railroads; the administrative waste of funds at Bismarck; the inside story of the failure of the Casselton bank and what it meant to the people of the state; the astonishing Medina bank case ex- posure and the vrelation A of Governor Hanna to the affair in his private role as & banker and in his role as a public offi- cial; the deliberate plot to degrade the story of Hanna'’s illegal appointments, resulting in - the resignation of a member of the board of control; the exposure of how North Dakota suffers by extortionate freight rates; the revelations of ‘the ope~ ration of a banking ring and the’ opera- tions of the state banking board. . Added 1o a long list of fact. stories: which no newspaper in the state had the enter- The Leader also has taken up in detail the legislative records of individual showing