The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 1, 1917, Page 7

This is a snap shot of the gang in'the North Dakota senate aft corporation lawyers and the Big Business lobby, was on guard. er the adjournment of the legislature, which interests it served to the best of its ability, but didn Well, We Should Worry; It’s Only a Year and a Half to the Next Election NOTE:— 27 more FOLLOW THIS marching ‘home in the wake of the gang politicians, the 't get very far, because the farmer majority in the house Defeat Lower Interest Rate for Montana Other Items of Interest as Gathered at Helera, Where the By Staff Correspondent ELENA, Mont.,, Feb. 24.—That m a direct legislation associa- tion will be under way before RRtRbdl the sitting legislature has ad- el journed is the promise as this correspondence is being written. That when formed it will co-operate in many ways political with the Farmers’ Non- partisan organization of Montana is very certain. And that the “Corpora- tion Nonpartisan League” that has been running things with a high hand for the past six weeks will in future have the fight of its existence is as cer- tain as that seed time and harvest shall continue to follow in order. For the city folks have at last come to understand that corporation control is just as relentlessly against their in- terests as it has been against the in- terests of the farmers of the state. Every bill that sought to open a way for relief from the exactions of the public utility corporations has been given the ax. The legislative repre- sentatives of the Municipal league have been flouted and scorned. And so they have determined to do as did the farmers of North Dakota— organize on a dues-paying basis, and thus be enabled to initiate the legis- lation denied them. Of course, those city people do not more than faintly glimpse the problems of the farmers; but the leaders in.the movement are coming to understand that there must be something radi- cally wrong with farm conditions to have caused the revolution that is un- der way among the tillers of the soil. They see in this revolution the promise of a political strength that, added to the force they can muster, will be able to dominate the politics of Mon- tana for a long period of time. One of the big leaders in this revolt of t!}e city voters expresses a common senti- ment among his class thus:, KNOW CHARACTER d OF THE OLD GANG “We city fellows do not know exact- 1y what these farmer folks want, but we do know the character of the fel- lows who are defeating the farmers’ bills, and that should be sufficient for us. The same crowd has murdered all of our bills for selfish corporation purposes and very probably they are fighting the farmers tqr purposes equally selfish. By standing together we can free ourselves from the same political masters.” Montana will continue to bear the burden of a maximum interest rate of 12 per cent—unless there sha_ll be initiated a bill reducing it. More correctly put, the sma_" farm- er, business man or working man will continue to bear that crush- ing burden, for the big fellows all get a much lower rate. The senate saw to that when it defeated the house bill reducing the limit to 10 per cent. More than half the sen- ate members are bankers or bank directors, which accounts for the greedy action taken. To their credit three bankers — Senators Browre, Edwards and O’Shea, re- fused to stand for the 12 per cent graft. The old-time elevator crowd put a slick one over in the house the other day, but fortunately for the Equity elevators in Montana the scheme was discovered in time to hold the bill in the senate and pass a substitute—much to the chagrin of the cunning schem- ers. The house bill pretended to pre- vent unfair discrimination in grain buying, as it purported to prohibit line elevators from paying a high price where there was competition and thus State Legislature is in Session make competition unprofitable. Only careful scrutiny found a joker tucked away In the heart of the bill. This really effective bill, and the farm loan bill previously described in this correspondence, will be about all the farmers of Montana will get from this legislature in the way of purely farmers' legislation. Concerning the latter measure there will be a story of absorbing interest to tell a little later on. P NO AMENDMENTS. ON COMPENSATION LAW The pie-crust shortness of corpora- tion promises has never been more forcibly illustrated in Montana than in the defeat of all attempts to amend the existing compensation law, passed two years ago. At that time the rep- resentatives of the organized labor bodies protested vigorously against Up to Brother Englupd Another Constituent Writes Him a Few Facts— Farmers Tired of Words—Want Action Coulee, N. D., Feb 9, 1917. Senator J. A. Englund, Sir: I have received booklet you sent and have carefully digested it. “A Social- ist constitution for North Dakota; do you want that.or the-constitution that has stood the test tor 25 years?” this pamphlet asks. Yes, Mr. Englund, I am highly in favor of the “Socialist” constitution, as you and the rest of the hold-overs prefer to call the constitution that was drafted by the majority of the voters of North Dakota and for the benefit of all the people of North Dakota, re- gardless of class. The constitution that has stood the test for 25 years may be all right, but do you realize. how the real estate of the state is changing hands? Why does the old constitution permit that? Why not change the old constitution a little? I tell you, Mr. Englund, we farmers are getting tired of 12 per cent interest and “feed” price for our wheat and un- just taxes, and hail insurance concerns that take our money and never show up, even if the hail storms give us a total loss, and lots of other things that the old constitution seems to permit. You may say we have done fairly well for 26 years under our present consgi- tution. Why not put it, “Blg Biz has made fairly well on us the past 25 years, but if the people of this state had all the millions of dollars that have been drawn out of the state through unjust dockage and grading of grain the people of this state would have done fairly well, too.” Yes, Mr. Englund, we want the con- stitution changed and we want it changed right now. We don't want it changed four, six, eight or 100 years from now and we want it changed in the manner the House Bill 44 calls for. You know as well as the rest of the hold-over senators that the people of North Dakota want the constitution changed in the way Bill 44 calls for, because what we produce on our own soil in our own state belongs to us, the people of the state, and not to the Big Interests outside the state, and we want a constitution that permits us to be owner of what is ours. ‘Why this haste to rush through and _ fasten upon us people this production of secret caucuses before it has been read or studied? Don’'t you think, Mr. Englund, that we have had a big pile of reading and studying and voting, and digesting of all kinds? What we want now is action in favor of Bill 44; in favor of the people of this state; in favor of the majority of the voters of the state and districts that sent you down to Bismarck to carry out the will of the people of the state, so as to act in favor of House Bill 44, HAROLD GRENVIK. URGING US ON. Hatton, N. D., Teb. 8, 1917. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Inclosed find a clipping from the Grand Forks Herald. What about it? I say give it to 'em if you have any ink to spare. N. E. BERGE, " the retention of certain features of the bill, but the corporation leaders prom- ised faithfully that the bill would be amended in two years, in whatever ways that experience had demonstrat- ed the necessity for. These pledges were not only given to the labor repre- sentatives, but to the members of the legislature and to the people through newspaper interviews given out by the managers of the corporations that were large employers of labor. Both mem- bers of the _assembly and public senti- ment were. thus chloroformed into acquiescence. In actual operation the bill had been found to bhe gravely defective, and to cure these defects a bill was introduced early in January. It slumbered peace- fully in committee for several weeks, and had to be dynamited out by some red hot speeches. " But that was as far as it got. The promises of two years before were ruthlessly trampled under foot. The vicious features stay in another two years. Labor leaders are up in arms—that is, the real ones are, and they are al- ready at work on the provisions of a bill to be initiated. The other kind of labor leaders—the fellows who have all the time been on corporation payrolls —are in panic. For a second time they have made a mess of things. The rank - and file are fiercely denouncing them, and are organizing to take a lot of scalps at the ensuing election of offi- cers of the State Federation of Labor in July. PUT AX TO BILLS FOR STATE INSURANCE The big lobbies of the insurance and bonding companies did some excedd- ingly effective work when they put the ax to bills for state insurance of pub- lic buildings and the bonding by the state of public officials. These two big grafts will now be worked another two years, .and many thousands of wun- earned money be poured into the cof- fers of the insurance and bonding companies. Last year the old political parties took especial pains in drafting their’ platforms concerning legislation desir- ed by the farmers. Both party plat- forms were profuse in promises. But these promises, like those made to the labor organizations on the compen- sation bill, were of pie-crust shortness. and nearly all of them have been, as ruthlessly broken. Not in 2 single instance have either of the parties held a caucus to make party rneasures of their promises to the farmers. Only in the protesting speeches of farmers themselves have party pledges been recalled. And those farmer members, to their credit be it said, have seen, as did Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus, a “great white light,” St AR e S e J