The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 1, 1917, Page 4

Here is Proof of What Some of tl;N. D. Senators Are Doing GINIGRATION COMMITTER —_— @ W. MEGRAY, CHAIRMAR €. % ronvER SOHM €. VAULSON 4ONNYOUND GRINT W, HAGdARY @, sANDSTRON ¢ canil RANE K. HYLAND #.9. MuRPHY ¥r. Ral? A. Pence, a Janvary 17, 1917. shier Dogden State Pank, Dogden, N. D. Dear Sir:e- I am enclosing you am editoriel from the "Hannah Moon" weekly paper, which I wish you wouid * kindly see 1f your local paper will not copye. Vith best wishes, I am, CWMcG- 50 ence On the left is a photographic reproduction of a letter sent to a banker at Dogden, N. D. which Senator McGray is chairman. It asks the banker to have his local newspaper print an a which the banker is to influence his local paper to print, inclosed in the letter, Yours very truly, clipping containing the attack the editor of the Dodgen paper has written: “Do armer who owns bis farm and hl?: snug bank account concludes that he will experiment with a small herd of pure bred Clydes, Percherons, Shorthorns, Cotawolds, Dorics or Bar- ged Rocks, or that hé will sow & half acction.to corn, alfalfs, fiax, rye, tim- othy, peas, or &ven peanuts, i’ quite i\.uuflad in making the experiment. Ho taking a chance within his means. quiwmutmthonurpm He is a pubdlic benefactor. His efforts ‘make for true progress. What should we think of this farmer, bowever, it tho should exhaust his bank acoount, mortgage his farm and strain his credit %o go into all of these in one and the same year? At the end of &wo or three years what would be his gating in the community or' Brad- atreets? He would land exactly where the farmer landed who broke up sev- eral gections and sowed it in flax when the drought struck it. Down end out. The state ot North Dakots et the present moment proposes to faunch out into a great variety ol experiments. It proposes o go into every form, of commercial ‘wetivity that has to do with the manu- tacturing and g of the pro- Qucts of the state. %mnl elevatons, flour mills, packing plants, banking, loans, insurance, are a part of the pro- posed experiments. To do this the treasury must be depleted, our credit % strained and the state mortgaged or bonded to the limit. To de this our -going old charter, called the eonstitution, which bas given us pros- rity for over a quarter of a century 5« :ndo us envied by every state in the union, must be torn to shreds and & new charter substituted to meet the needs of our great experiment. Is the state any wiser in taking a long gam- chance than the farmer just cited? With all these experimsats in full swing North Dakota will not be assured of any better markets than she has at the present time. A farm- er with three fat steers in his corral cannot control the beef market of the United States; no more can the tarm- ers of North Dakota control the mar- Xets of the world. When we get our products ground to & pulp we are compelled to throw it cut on the mar- ket in competition with similar pro- ducts eminating from enterprises which have passed the experimental stage. By effort, skilled fabor, scientific management and the mastery of economic details hought by & half century of experieuce ths pris Yate owned and operated manufactur- ing plants can back us clear off the map on the competitive market. Why do we buy our fiour now in Minne- apolis with scores of flour mills stand-/ ng idle over the state? Why do we ship our cream to Minneapolis and the weeds growing up around scores of creameries in this state? What God~ given virtues has state-owned enter prise over private enterprise? We be- Heve .this is & good time for every man—even farmers—to exercise cau- tion and sound business sense—The n«»lwg,a‘l‘ It is on stationery of the N. D. senate immigration committee, of ttack on the farmers’ program in the present legisiature. The attack appears at the right, also a photographic reproduction. On the bottom of this gden News refuses to copy.” This is an honest editor. The writer of the letter from the senate forgot to sign his name after he dictated the letter. shows it was dictated by “CWMcG” to a stenographer whose initials are Senator McGray dictated the letter and forgot to sign it. IT IS ON HIS Will you deny you wrote this letter, Senator McGray? The Leader is of the Leader in North Dakota can read it. Isn’t that fair enough, Mr. _kanker? He saw through the game. The notation on the bottom left hand corner of the letter, however, “ACE.” “CWMcG” stands for Senator C. W. McGray. COMMITEE STATIONERY AND THE DICTATION glad to print this attack of Senator McGray, McGray? Isn’t that more circulation than y This is pretty good evidence that NOTATION HAS HIS INITIALS. shown on the right ahove, so that 100,000 readers ou hoped to get for this clipping through the Finding the Goods on a Senator By the Editor of the Leader ENATOR C. W. McGray, chair- man of the North Dakota senate immigration committee, who is a hold-over senator from McLean county, apparently is one of anti- League members trying to work up sentiment against the farmers’ pro- gram throughout the state. Senator McGray according to evidence repro- duced on tHis page, has had printed a wholesale lot of copies of an editorial condemning state elevators, flour mills, packing plants, etc., which appeared in the Hannak (N. D.) Moon. He is sending these to bankers and other supposedly influential people with the request that they use their efforts to get the editorial printed in the various town papers. Senator McGray, if he is the au- thor of this move, as he appears to be, has taken what he thinks is a clever course in influencing news- papers to oppose the League plan. He does not send his publicity stuff to the newspapers he wants to print it. He sends it to bankers and other people he thinks have power over the local newspaper, believing the newspaper can be lined up against the farmers by local people better than they could be by politicians of the McGray type at Bismarck. The Leader is in possession of one of the alleged letters, addressed to “Ralf A. Pence, cashier of the Dogden State Bank, Dogden, N. D.” The writer says to this banker: “I am enclosing you an editorial from the Hannah Moon, weekly paper, which I wish you would kindly see if vour local paper will print.” PAPER REFUSES TO PUBLISH IT This editorial was offeregd to the Dod- gen News to reprint. The News has forwarded it to the Leader with this notation on it: “Dodgen News refuses to copy.” ‘What was apparently Mr. McGray's letter to the banker was on stationery of the state sermate, dated January 17 and is reproduced on this page. The editorial ifnclosed for publication in this campaign by the hold-over senators against the League program BaYS: “The state of North Dakota at the present moment proposes to launch into almost every form of commercial activity that has to do with the manu- facturing and marketing of the pro- ducts of the state. Terminal elevators, flour mills, packing plants, banking, loans, insurance, are a part of the pro- posed experiments. To do this the treasury must be depleted, our credit strained and the state mortgaged and bonded to the limit.” This, since Mr. McGray sends it out and asks bankers to have it printed, is his idea of the plans of the farmers. It is a gross misstatement, such as was circulated before the primaries and election by inflammatory agitators to stir up class prejudice against the farmers. Mr. McGray is a senator. The League program is before him to be enacted into law. Yet he seems to be ahsolutely ignorant of what it is, but he is against it anyway and wants to stir up the bankers to get local newspapers to fight it. FACTS MISSTATED IN SENATE LETTER The League proposes with the al- st unanimous indorsement of the people, to have the state build and operate a few stafe-owned industries, to be built after careful plans and consideration. It does not propose to “launch into almost every form of commercial activity that has to do- the manufacturing and marketing of the products of the state.” Secondly, the farmers do not propose to bond or mortgage the state, “strain its credit” or “deplete” its treasury. The consti- tution the League senators and repre- sentatives have drafted for this legis- lature to submit to the people limits the indebtedness of the state that can be contracted after the constitution is adopted to $500,000. But it is not pro- posed to even mortgage the state to that extent. The proposed new constitu- tion specifically permits and the farm- ers’ legislators specifically propose to issue NO bonds against the state. They propose to issue bonds AGAINST THE INDUSTRIES THEY PROPOSE TO ESTABLISH, Iletting the earning power of the industries take care of the principal and interest, just as the, Ny state took care of its bonds to build the state twine plant; WITHOUT TAXING THE PEOPLE FOR IT AT ALL. The editorial sent out with the ap- proval of Senator McGray to bankers also says: “To do this (carry out the farmers’ program) our steady-gging old charter, called the constitution, which has given us prosperity for over a quarter of a century and made us envied by every state in the union, must be torn to shreds and a new charter substituted to meet the needs of our great experi- ments.” BETTER GOVERNMENT THE ONLY OBJECT 4 Of course it is not true that League senators and representatives propose to tear the q}d constitution “to shreds.” This is another untrue, inflammatory statement to work up prejudice against the farmers. A few only of the consti- tutional provisions are intended to be changed. Besides permitting the farmers’ program to be carried out, it is merely proposed to give the state a better government by providing for four-year terms of office, with elections between presidential elections, ~ ta. abolish national party influence and money in state elections; permitting the short ballot, with more responsive and responsible government; giving the people the right to recall public officers; giving the people a workable initiative and referendum in place of the restricted and almost useless one the - politicians of the McGray stripe gave them. The rest of the statements of the above paragraph of the hold-over sen- ator’s editorial hardly needs answering. The people of NortH Dakota know all about the “prosperity” they have en- joyed “for over a quarter of a century.” They know all about the highway rob- bery in the market place, “feed” wheat, crooked grades and the middlemen’s system that has been in incubus on their necks and has made the rarmer the brother of the ox. So other states have “envied” this condition of the farmer? It doesn’t look like it, when farmers by the thousands are organiz- ing in-other states to do exactly what the North Dakota farmers hope to do, in spite of the prejudice, the bitter op- position, the untrue attacks and the “people-be-damned” policy of such politicians as Mr. McGray. NO BETTER MARKETS POSSIBLE, HE SAYS & The McGray appeal to bankers goes on to say: “With all these experiments in full swing North Dakota will, not be as- sured of better markets than she hasg at the present time.” Well, will North Dakota be as- FOUR ~ cient for? sured of any WORSE markets, when grades are made fair, when useless middlemen’s profits are eliminated, when ihe producer can get a fairer share of what he pro- duces and the consumer can buy .without paying toll to the gamb- lers in food products? Will they be any: WORSE, Mr. McGray? And isn’t there a chance for them to be BETTER? Further on the editorial says: “By specialized effort, skilled labor, scien- tific management and the mastery of economic details, bought by half a cen- tury of experience, -the private-owned and-operated manufacturing plants can back us clear off the map on the com- petitive market.” So? Has any private postal system backed Uncle Sam’s government-owned postal system off the map? Has any private-owned school system backed the state-owned school system off the map? . Have private terminals and privately owned marketing machinery backed the state-owned cotton mare keting system of the state of Louisiana off the map? Have privately-owned grain elevators, cold storage plants and docks in Seattle, "Wash., backed Seattle’s publicly-owned facilities of this kind oft the map? Come again, Senator McGray. The People are too big to be pushed off the map. The state of North Dakota is too big to be push- ed off the map. WE'LL ADMIT IT FOR ARGUMENT’S SAKE Let us admit, if necessary, that prie . vately-owned mills and elevators, ag this editorial says, can be made effi- cient by “gkilled labor, scientific man- agement and mastery of economic de- tail” But whom are they made effi- For YOU? Never. They are made efficient for PROFITS FOR PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS, Do you think private capital, monopolizing our market places, is putting in economies, skilled help, scientific ma.na.gement: etc., In order to increase the price paid to farmers for grain and live stock, and lessen the price consumers have to pay? Hardly. They may give you a few crumbs from the table, but they will carve and serve to themselves the roasted bird of profits. Do Yyou think somebody else is going to get some- thing for YOU? You haye waited 28 years under the present North Dakota (Continued on page 16)