The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 25, 1917, Page 3

. In the interest of a square deal for the farmer Tonparfiséin Teader National Paper of the Farmers’ Nonpartisan Political Lcague that dares to print the trath VOL. 4, NO. 4 FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1917 ‘WHOLE NO. 71 TELL THEM TO VOTE, ‘NO,ON A NEW CONSTITUTIO > e = — B S NTERESTS D Lo N ' - Shall It Be a Partial HE cartoonist has drawn a cover for this week’s Leader depict- ~ -ing an eclipse. . The shadow of the farmer is blotting out -the =~ - politician. Shall it be a total or only a partial eclipse? Will this session of the legislature in North Dakota provide a new constitu- tion for that state, to be voted upon and adopted this summer by the people—a constitution that will forever blot out the power of the pro- fessional politician and furnish a kind of government that. will enable the people to reign supreme, instead of the Special Interests and the Politicians? The people of the state are anxiously awaiting the verdict. They want to know whether this legislature is going to give them a few more - or less progressive laws, not related strictly to the League program, " or whether it is going to take SPEEDY AND DETERMINED STEPS FOR THE IMMEDIATE CARRYING OUT OF ALL THE POLITICAL - AND ECONOMIC PROGRAM THE PEOPLE SO OVERWHELMING- LY APPROVED LAST NOVEMBER. The people did not order a - partial eclipse—they ordered a full eclipse. > * * = THE NEW CONSTITUTICON ! S THE situation now stands the _farmers’ senators and repre- sentatives at Bismarck have drawn up a new constitution for North Dakota. It will enable the people to carry out the pro- gram they want carried out—the program that relates to: the state- -ownership of terminal elevators, packing plants, flour mills and cold ! storage plants—the program that, when fully carried out, will remove from the necks of producers and consumers alike the incubus‘ of = the | present marketing and middlemen’s system- ; The best part of it is that this proposed constitution permits the building of these enterprises by the state without taxing the people of the state. As President Townley says, this program will not be mort- gaging the state or the taxpayers; it will be mortgagnig the $55,000,000 a year that has been going out of the state, to outside profit takers and useless middlemen. This is true because the bonds to build these state - plants under the proposed constitution will be a debt against the plants, and the principal and interest will be paid out of the earnings of the ‘plants, like the state paid off its twine plant bonds. 'UP.TO THE SENATE ’THIS new ‘constitution will pass the house, in which the farmers : have a safe majority, and under the terms of the bill it can be voted on by the people next June, if the senate consents. Tt is therefore up to the senate: The senate, in which the farmers lack six of a’'majority, seems inclined, aceording to those opposing the League program, to block this plan. The only indication that has been given of the attitude of the senate was the introduction of the McBride bill, BILL 44 AND ANY BILL TO FRAME " little for farmers to complain about. THREE: Somebody is on the Bismarck Line e A e s i BOSS! & G or Total Eclipse? which provides for an election to see if the people want a new consti- tution, another election to elect delegates to a constitutional conven- tion, if they do want a constitutional convention, and still a third elec- tion to adopt the constitution framed by the constitutional convention. This bill, delaying the farmers’ program several years and put- ting the state to an enormous expense, seemed to find favor with some senators. It was greeted with great joy by the gang press, which has opposed the farmers’ program since the start of the League. It is just what Big Business and Special Interests want. They think it will - enable the League and its program-to be killed by a process of delay. REASONS FOR ACTIGN NOW Fl \HERE are four reasons why the senate should not hesitate in ap- - proving and passing the plan of the League senators and repre- sentatives. The first and chief reason is because, since ' the League plan was announced in the legislaturs, the people have express- ed themselves at massmeetings by resolutions, by petitions and by let- ters directed to the legislature. They have unmistakably demanded the passage of House Bill 44, the new constitution. They have flooded the legislature, especially the senate, with their opinions in favor of this plan. It has been a unanimous demonstration of a united people. If the people want it, why should the senate object? Secondly, Governor Frazier, practically the unanimous choice of the people of the state for that position, in a message to the legislature which appears on page 5 of this issue of the Leader, urges the passage of House Bill 44. - Thirdly, the people at the last primaries and election elected the candidates who ran on the League platform and who were for the im- mediate carrying out of that platform, and they defeated the candi- dates who did not approve that program or who they did not feel would insist on its immediate carrying out.. Lastly, the farmers’ program is incorporated in the official Re- publican platform of the state, and nearly every senator was elected as a Republican and political honesty demands that they support that platform. : The' Leader respectfully calls these four reasons for passing House Bill 44 to the attention of the gentlemen of the senate. ~ The Lidgerwood (N. D.) Broadaxe, which has been slyly (it thinks) mak- ing fun of and finding fault with the farmers’ political desires, intimates there is It says the government report shows each farmer of North Dakota, on the average, had 720 bushels in his wheat crop this year, which of course isn’t true. Then it says that this crop is not so bad; “that there is much good wheat” in the state. The government reports as a matter of fact, shows North Dakota wheat for 1916 weighed, on an average, 46.8 pounds per - bushel, against 60 as standard. For this the farmers. have been getting less thani $1 a bushel, under illegal “feed” grades. Nothing to kick about at e~ gertainly not! Cheer up! ;