The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 8, 1917, Page 10

i SN e e S S A e R B e e e e A AL TR AN A S B T HE cartoonist has drawn a picture of Representative A. G. Divet, 'champion opponent of the farmers in the 1917 N. D. legislature. The picture is drawn from Mr. Divet’s description of himself.. He says he is the “shepherd of the people.” So the picture shows Mr. Divet with a shepherd’s cloak on and ‘a shepherd’s crook in his hands, guarding the sheep, the people's interests. But this disguise is rather thin, Mr. Divet. Somehow, it doesn’t.cover up those wolf’s hoofs, those wolf’s fangs and those wolf’s ears. You can not deceive us in this disguise, Mr. Divet. We admit it’s pretty clever, but you are a wolf lackey of big interests and you are not a shepherd. You bent the fawning knee at the com- mand of the big interests and voted against the people’s constitution. Then you called a selected few Fargo busines men together in a meeting, and, without giv- ing friends of the people’s plan any opportunity to state their side, you had these gentlemen pass resolutions against House Bill 44. a5 - o You were “called” on this behind-the-scenes attempt to work up prejudice against the farmers’ cause. Mr. Townley, president of the Nonpartisan League, in a courteous letter to you, offered to arrange a debate in which you would have unlimited time te-state your views to an audience. DRAWN FROM ALL THE ; PEOPLE IN FARGO, NOT COMPOSED OF A SELECTED FEW. You were offered the Fargo auditorium and the white light of publicity for your views, at a meeting to which ALL THE PEOPLE OF FARGO WERE TO BE INVITED. But you refused this challenge, Mr. Divet. That shows your caliber. You went further than that, Mr. Divet. You replied to Mr. Townley’s courteous and frank letter by a prejudiced, inflammatory, intemperate, ill-bred letter. You resorted to personal abuse of Mr. Townley. You called him an “L. W. W.” and a “soap-boxer.” But you dared not meet a representative of the people in fair debate before the people of Fargo. Mr. Townley’s letter to you was so fair and frank, and your letter was so intemperate and ill-bred that the two side by side tell the whole story of what you are and what you represent. The Leader is glad to print your letter and Mr. Townley’s letter in full and let the 100,000 readers of the Leader in North Dakota judge between them, Mr. Divet. Isn’t that fair? All you had to sfiy about it and 411 Mr. Townley bhad to say about it, and let the people judge. Here are the letters: MR. TOWNLEY'’S LETTER, IN FULL . SENT TO REPRESENTATIVE DIVET Hon. A. G. Divet, Dear Sir:— Hearing that you have sought occasion to discuss before residents of Fargo the merits of House Bill 44, containing the proposed new constitution for the state of North Dakota, I wish- to offer you the opportunity to address an audience in this city under circumstances which will insure the most representative hear- - ing possible. I hereby challenge you to meet a representative of the ‘Nonpartisa.n League in a debate on the merits of the new constitution and the validity of the process involved in House Bill 44. I will permit you to select the date of the discussion, stipulating only that it shall be not sooner than Sunday, February 4, but as soon as possible thereafter, and that the place in which the debate shall take place shall be the largest suitable hall available in the. city of Fargo. The hall will be provided without expense to you. ' M _' If you desire to obtain the fullest publicity for the provisions of this bill and the fullest possible expression of public sentiment thereon your. purposes are in full accord with mine and I believe you should have no hesitation in accepting ¢ this offer and in conferring regarding details of the meeting. A. C. TOWNLEY, Pres. Farmers’ Nonpartisan League. MR. DIVET'S LETTER, IN FULL, SENT TO PRESIDENT TOWNLEY & Bismarck, January-29th, 1917. Mr. A. C. Townley, Bismarck, N. D. R 2 Dear Sir:— < % B Your letter of the 28th, addressed to me through the preéh of the sfate, without the courtesy of cbmmunicating‘the same to me direct, comes to my at- tention upon returning from home this morning.r I might under these circum- stances well ignore the whole matter, as such an exl?ibition of ill manners and to gather an audience for any of your many soap box agitators. - not seeking petty controversy with me, personally, I am assured that there are ‘bauchery of the public school, that at the present hangs over the horizon. lack of breeding is to make it beneath notice. I have concluded, however, to take cognizance of it. < ; I am first impressed by the fact that under a large head line announcing a challenge to meet you in debate, there is in fact a declaration that some un- known REPRESENTATIVE of yours will meet me in debate. 'Who or what such representative may be is left entirely to conjectun’ 2 I think, Mr. Townley, you are taking yourself entirely too seriously. The fact that a public representative sees fit-to confer with some of the citizens of the state about a matter of public interest is hardly sufficient to warrant the assumption that he is at your beck and call to the neglect of his public duty. I have no inclination to do any thing to make you famous, or dignify the position of yourself or any of your “Representatives.” - I am at present engaged in the performance of my. official duties, and it would hardly seem an opportune time, when the wolves are gathered at the door of the fold, for the shepherd to go wandering into the wilderness in pursuit of some particular whelp that may be selected as a lure. BRANDS FRIENDS OF FARMERS' : o CAUSE AS “DISCREDITED SOCIALISTS” I am heartily of the belief that a full understanding of the injquitous pro- visions of House Bill 44 is desirable, and that one appropriate method of bring- ing about such understanding is the dissemination of information from'the public platform. My field of activity, however, is for the present in the legislative halls. " Should the catastrophe of the passage of this measure overtake the state I have no doubt I will in due time be found on the platform advocating its.defeat by the people at the polls, and while I am constitutionally opposed to disorderly wrangles such as are commonly injected by you and your ‘“representatives” into public meetings, I might, then, even enter into debate with some repqtable man of standing and character in the state. It is obvious, however, I could not, even then, consent to loan to you my reputation and acquaintanceship over the state If you are seeking to have information disseminated in Fargo, and are many men in that city, not engaged with any official duties, who will be glad to lay aside their private affairs, and enter upon some orderly line of discussion of the dangers hidden in this dark. cloud of socialism, unlimited debt, and de=- But, obviously, it would be necessary that you make known to the interested people of that city (as you have not made known to me) who it was sought to inject into their midst for the occasion. The man would, obviously, have to be such a one that his participation would insure that the great questions would be dealt with a dignity befitting their importance; he would have to be such that a self respecting citizen would not find himself humiliated by discussion with an anarchist, discredited socialist, or I. W. W. worker, with which you are so richly endowed, seeking only an occasion to rant about his own particular grievances against God and society. Should you have a ‘“Representative” meeting the requirements of character and respectability suggested as necessary I will be pleased to use my good office to bring about such a discussion in Fargo. I remain very truly yours, A. G. DIVET. Its-Soul Goes Marching On! Tune, John Brown’s Body By O. M. Thomason Bill forty-four lies a-mould’ring in the tomb, Daisies will be blooming o’er it's grave very soon: Stand aside ye fossils there, and give the people room, For it's soul goes marching on. Marching on, and on to vict'ry, ) Marching on, and on to victry, Marching on and on to vict'ry Its soul goes marching on. ‘We'll bury standpatters ’neath.a fiile of angry votes, by ‘We'll never cease to battle 'till we get their nanny goats. ‘We’ll 'stablish independence where the flag of freedom floats, As we go marching on. ‘Woe unto the standpat who becomes a corp’rate tool, The masses have determined that the people they shall rule, And whoso thus opposses them shall find himself a fool, For we’ll go marching on. You told the honest farmer to go home and slop his hog; Your feet are in the sunlight but your head is in the fog; He'll send you to oblivion and chuck you in the bog, For he'll go marching on. You've heard our patient p]eading_s and you've treated them with scorn; Youw've had a timely warning and you've heard the coming storm; You've seen the daylight breaking of a bright and better morn, As we go marching on. You think you killed the spirit when you murdered forty-four; g It's soul will surely rise again—march on for ever more, 2 And drive the standpat fossils far away from freedom’s door, It’s soul goes marching on. : -~ Need New Constitution Soon (BEditorial in New Rockford (N. D.) Transcript) The resolving -of the present legislature into a constitutional con- vention would simplify matters and get a constitution before th ! a shorter time. - Furthermore, the present legislature being co:tx?:fig}le!g the League, with its membership well versed in the Dolicies of the League it follows that if it resolves itself into a constitutional convention, the new; constitution will cover all the points contained in the League p,rogra.in-— unless some joker slip through, and that is barely possible, ; . Many of those opposing the movement 'of the state legislature re- solving itself into a constitutional convention fear that a new constitution framed by it would be too socialistic, and that it would contain many fea- tures which would prove of‘a lasting detriment to the state. We believe -tl_‘-‘:x :_};ia fear is-nriomndad S gafisand so e counsellors will be on the : ,{%b a.nd(itllle fclav; ra.‘;ligal membershof the legislature will be outweighed by ; 6 good level-headed men who have been sel ' - drafting of the laws. = . oetsd by the peoplgyfor @q As the constitution must be changed, let us do it in the = sible time and with the least possible expense. And as to ;::&r:fittpfiu be entirely satisfactory to us all—we must trust to the good judgment of - those constituting the convention, whether it be the present législaluré or delegates chosen at a later period. g . -