The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 8, 1917, Page 3

In the interest of a square deal : for the farfmer _ VOL. 4, NO.6 - . THE PEOPLE WI Tonnartisan Teader National Paper of the Farmers’ Nonpartisan Political League FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1917 ) A magazine that dares to print the trath WHOLE NO. 73 WILL ACT Constitutional Changes Provided for in House Bill 44 Will = Be Initiated by Petition for Vote at Regular Election in November, 1918 Your senators and representatives at Bismarck are not defeated. House Bill 44 is not dead. The people by initiative petitions will call this bill up out of the grave the senate dug for it, and it will be voted upon and adopted at the next general election. Another whirlwind campaign such as the farmers have learned to put on is going to wipe out the last vestige of the old political gang. A handful of these reactionaries, by reason of the fact the farmers could not retire them last fall, because they were elected for four years, indefinitely postponed House Bill 44 in the senate. Read how the farmer members of the legislature are going to make that bill law, with your help. —Long live House Bill 44.” The North Da- kota senate, dominated by the gang, did - not put House Bill 44 forever to rest. Not only will its soul go marching on; it’s substance also will go marching on to victory! Farmer members of the house and senate in conference tonight decided, amid unprecedented enthusiasm, to appeal to the people of North Da- kota to put the constitutional changes included in House Bill 44 through by the initiative petition process. : .The League members of the legislature “stuck” and did their best. They were balked by - a handful of hold-over senators. But the way is still open to make the substance of House Bill 44 the basic law of North Dakota. It means another BISMARCK, Feb. 5.—“House Bill 44 is dead fight. It means more work and more “sticking.”” But it can and shall be done. PEOPLE CAN DO IT, BY THEIR PETITIONS The best plan that the North Dakota senate will- concede for constitutional amendment is either the McBride bill, involving several elec- tions, an expensive constitutional convention and three or four years time, or amendment of the constitution by the “regular’ proecess, involving two sessions of the legislature, a vote of the peo- ple four years hence and a third session of the legislature to carry out the constitutional provi- sions. . - , - League members of the legislature propose ‘to have the necessary constitutional changes ~ initiated by the people by-petition under the initia- tive clause of the present constitution. This clause -is’hard to work under, as it is not a liberal initia- tive procedure. It requires 25 per cent of all the voters in a majority of all the counties of the state to make the petition effective. But with the people almost unanimous for the enactment of constitu- tional changes as embodied in House Bill 44, and ~ with the farmers solidly organized as they are, the necessary petitions can be obtained—in fact - 50 or 75 per cent-of the voters in over half the counties of the state, with a little work, can be ob- tained on the petitions before it is necessary to file them with the secretary of state. : - The petitions have to be filed in the summer of 1918, and the constitutional changes initiated - make money. by them Wili-be voted on at the regular 1918 state election, at which time the farmers will again elect their own candidates to the legislature, wip- ing out the last gangster in the senate. The legis- lature two years from now will then be in a posi- | Cuts Off His Nose to Spite His Face \HE success and prosperity of the cities depend on a prosperous, contented and economically and politically free rural ‘population. This proposition ought not to need any argument. A mean, poor or enslaved peasantry does not—can not—furnish the foundation for the development of large, busy and prosperous cities. This-is illustrated when a crop failure occurs. In such years hard times prevail in the cities. Men are out of work, houses and stores are for rent, merchants make no profits. In good crop years, all men are employed and wages are good in the cities, houses and stores are all occupied, merchants Yet there are men narrow enough—selfish enough—in the cities to oppose those measures, political and economic, that are necessary for the upbuilding of a happy and prosperous rural citizenry. The cartoonist has drawn a true-to-life picture of the opposition to the farmers in the cities, cutting off his own nose out of spite, with the shears of prejudice. This cartoon does not fit all city men—it is not even applicable to a majority of them, the Leader believes, but it is a true picture of a certain type. The Leader advises them to read Gold- smith’s “Deserted Village.” | : 9 ; THRER — T e e ~— e r—— e ———