The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 15, 1917, Page 2

e T - - N League WATCH THE DATES League members should look over the list of meetings every week, be- cause new ones are added to the list weekly and often changes and carncellations are made. CANCELLATIONS North Dakota: Sykeston. MEETINGS ADDRESSED BY A. C. TOWNLEY: Wahpeton, March 27, New Rockford, March 28, Grand Forks, March 30. NORTH DAKOTA MEETINGS Important business meetings of the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota are scheduled for the following places. These meetings are of great import- ance and League members should not fail to be in attendance: Grace City, March 15, 2 p. m. Lakota, March 15, 2 p. m. Coal Harbor, March 15, 2 p. m. Rolette, March 15, 2 p. m. Ambrose, ¥March 15, 2 p. m. Oberon, March 15, 1:30 p. m. Beulah, March 15, 2 p. m. Lidgerwood, March 15, 2 p m. Warwick, March 15, 2 p. Millarton, March 15, 2 p. Mercer, March 15, 2 p. m. Dickey, March 16, 2 p. m. Breman, March 16, 2 p. m. Clifford, March 16, 2 p. m? Petersburg, March 16, 2 p. m. Garrison, March 16, 2 p. m. ‘Westhope, March 16, 2 p. m. Noonan, March 16, 2 p. Hankinson, March 16, 2 p. m. Tokio, March 16, 2 p. m. Adrain, March 16, 2 p. m. Flora, March 16, 1:30 p. m. Turtle Lake, March 16, 2 p. m. ‘Warner, March 16, 2 p. m. 3 Heimdal, March 17, 2 p. m. Northwood, March 17, 2 p. m. Larimore, March 17, 2 p. m. Max, March 17, 2 p. m. Towner, March 17, 2 p. m. Berthold, March 17, 2 p. m Fairmount, March 17, 2 p. m. Devils Lake, March 17, 2 p. Montpelier, March 17, D Goodrich,, March 17, 2 Hazen, March 17, 2 p. Stanton, March 19, 2 p. m. Rutland, March 19, 2 p. m. Cartwright, March 19, 2 p. m. Hurdsfield, March 19, 2 p. m. Anamoose, March .19, 2 p. m ‘Webster,-March 19, 2 p. m. Palermo, March 19 2 Arvilla, March 19, 2 p. Brampton, March "0 2 Inkster, March 20, 2 p. Kulm, March 20, 2 p. Alexander, March 20, 2 Bowdon, March 20, 2 p Balfour, March 20, 2 p. Starkweather, "\Iarch 20, Van Hook, March 20 2 p. Upham, March 20 2 p. m. Powers Lake, March 20, 2 Starkweather, March 20, 2 Ft. Clark, March 20, 2 p. m. Esmond, March 20, 1: aO p. m. Egeland, March 21, 2 p. Sanger, March 21, Guelph, March 21 Manvel, March 21, Bantry, March 21, Lehr, March 21, 2 p. Arnegard, March 21, Heaton, March 21, 2 Bergen, March 21, 2 p m. Parshall, March 21, 2 p m. o B . m. P. m. P. m. 2 2 2 2 Lostwood, March 21, . m. Harmon, March 22, 2 p. m. Rock Lake, March 22, 2 p. m. Forbes, March 22,1 p. Fredonia, March 22, 2 p. m. Abercrombie, March 22, 2 p. m. 2 Granville, March 22, 2 p. m. { ‘Watford, March 22, 2 p. m. Velva, March 22, 2 p. m. Plaza, March 22, 2 p. m. Battle View, March 22, 2 p. m. Irwin Twp. Consolidated school, northwest of Churches Ferry, March 22, 7:30 p. m. Ellendale, March 23, 2 p. m. Barney, March 23, 2 p. ‘Wishek, March 23, 2 p. Schafer, March 23, 2 p. Melville, March 23, 2 p. Sawyer, March 23, 2 p. Hansboro, March 23, 2 Ryder, March 23, 2 p. Deering, March 23, 2 p. McGregor, March 23, 2 Hansboro, March 23, 2 Center, March 23, 2 p. m e Arne Twp. south of Maddock Con- golidated school, March 24, 1:30 p. m. Yucca, March 24, 2 p. m “”sflvsssss Viking, south of Maddock, March 24, * %:30 p. m. Meetings and Announcements Pingree, March 24, 2 p. m. Mantador, March 24, 2 p. m. Napoleon, March 24, 2 p. m ‘Wildrose, March 24, 2 p. m Minot, March 24,2 p. m. Simcoe, March 26, 2 p. m. Marmon, March 26, 2 p. m. Falsen, March 27, 2 p. m. Venturia, March 27, 2 p. m. Tunbridge, March 27, 1:30 p. m. Aylmer, March 27, 7:30 p. m._ Pioneer Hall, March 27, 2 p. m. Rugby, March 28, 1:30 p. m. Selz, March 28, 1:30 p. m. ‘Williston, March 28, 2 p. m. Ashby, March 28, 2 p. m. Karlsruhe, March 28, 2 p. m. Burnstad, March 29, 2 p. m. Guthrie, March 29, 2 p. m. Spring Brook, March 29, 2 p. m. Drake, March 30, 2 p. m. ‘Wheelock, March 80, 2 p. m. Temple, March 31, 2 p. m. IN TWO STATES Following is a list of Nonpartisan League meetings to be held in Minne- sota and South Dakota: South Dakota Frankfort, March 15, 2 p, m. Raymond, March 16, 2 p. m. A Great Farmers’ Movement South Dakota Daily Paper Gives Whole-Hearted “ Indorsement to the League (Editorial in Mitchell (S. D.) Daily Republican) South Dakota is soon to learn more of what promises to be the greatest movement of its kind ever begun in the United States—a movement dedi- cated to the tremendously important task of providing the American farmer with FREE MARKETS. The name of the organization that is promoting this new and immensely significant movement, is optional and incidental. It is known as The Farm- ers Non-Partisan League of America. Already it has swept the state of North Dakota. It has enrolled no less than 55,000 men in that state whose only livelihood is that of farming. It elected nearly all the state officials chosen last November and completely controls the North Dakota legislature except for the hold-over members wof the senate. The Republican has been investigat- ing the movement for some weeks. It has looked into its program, its method of operation, its leadership, and its probable ability to bring about the re- forms it wishes. As a result of “ that inquiry the Republican is glad to have the priv- ilege of giving its unqualified indorse- ment to the Farmers’ Nonpartisan League of America and will hereafter give all of its assistance to the promo- tion of the League's organization in this state and to the consummatxon of its program. The Farmers’ League proposes prac- tical means of bringing about economic changes for which this paper has been pleading ‘for many years. As it is now, the farmers of the state send their wheat to Minneapolis or Milwaukee, where they are obliged to sell under a system of grading that is made by grain exchanges, for the interest of those who are buying from the farmer. Then the wheat is ground into flour and much of it is shipped back into this state for the use of_the peaple of South Dakota. That is fundamentally and everlastingly wrong. The Republican has said many * times that the people of South Dakota ought to be permitted to do business with themselves. They ought not to be compelled to furnish the material wherewith to keep industries going in distant cities. Of course, the railroads are in on the general scheme under which South Dakota wheat is shipped hundreds of miles to be ground and then shipped hundreds of miles back again. The railroad rate schedules have been built up to encourage the long haul, because that gives the rail- roads the maximum of freight charges. It also tends to concentrate industries in the larger cities and to make the public pay a great transportation toll on that account. / Similarly, the state sends its cat- tle and hogs hundreds of miles to St. Paul or Chicago, to be cut up into pieces and then shipped back into South Dakota to be eaten. We are obliged - to pay the railroads for two unnecessary long hauls. Again, the railroads have had a finger in the conditions to bring about so undesir- able a result. They could handle dress- ed beef cheaper than live stock. But it means more money for them to transport the stock one way,and then the dressed beef back again. The way it ought to be done is to kill the stock near where it is grown, and ship the finished product diregt to the consumer. Now, under such a system, the farm- ers do not have free markets. They are compelled to sell in monopolized markets. The North Dakota Agricultural col- lege has shown ‘in figures that can not be denied, that the farmers of that state have been cheated out of no less than $55,000,000 by the arbitrary rules established for grading wheat. If they have lost this much on a single cereal in a single state, how much have they lost in the whole country? In the Farmers' League department of this issue of The Republican, Prof. Ladd of North Dakota college explains just how the manipulation of grades has bilked the farmer. IT IS ALL WRONG. We know it is wrong, and we know it be- cause grain markets™ produce, many very rich men, WHO PERFORM NO REAL SERVICE TO SOCIETY IN RETURN FOR THEIR MONEY. They should be eliminated. Again, every farmer knows that, when he ships his livestock to market, whether it is Sioux City, Omaha, St. Paul or Chicago, he is given just ONE BID for his shipment. In other words, the man who buys dictates, under com- plete monopoly -of the market, what will be paid for the farmer’s livestock. Nobody can make The Republican be- lieve that under such an arrangement the packers are going to give the farm- ers a square deal in buying his cattle and hoge and sheep. Now comes the question, what'are we going to do about it? That has always been the question, and a big one. In the first place, the grain mar- Ekets and livestock markets have been so thoroughly intrenched behind untold millions of capital, with infirences ex- tending into every avenue of industry and exerting no small power over even the mational government itself, that it were folly for any one or any group of men to attempt, by a privately-owned concern, to give the farmer a really free market for his preducts. BHow long would it take the formidable pack- ers’ combination fo_put, them. out.ef vusimess? Now the Farmers’ League comes for- ward with a practical solution and, The Republican believes, the only ane that can promise success. They pro- pose that the state build and maintain terminal elevators and wareheuses for the handling of grain and packing plants and stock yards for the handling of livestock. A radical solution? Perhaps. But where is the man who can suggest any other way to liberate the markets in which the farmers of South Dakota sell the products of their farm. And, The Republican contends, it is' the inalienable right of every farm- er to sell his products in a FREE MARKET. 7 Now, if organized wealth has so com- pletely monopolized the farmers’ mar- kets and so formidably that the gov- ernment itself cannot regulate them to secure_that inalier;:lc farmer, then why is it net appropriate that the state should undertake the task? Of course, there are other planks in the program of the Farmers’ League. Byt its first and greatest mission is to give' the farmer a chance to get a Bquare deal when he sells the output of his land. And, as farming is the one great industry in South Daketa, the source of -all the state’s development, . why should we not all unite with the farmer in this reasonable demand to secure for him a fair return for what he has to sell? And as he is given more of justice and more of prosperity; the whole state will feel the impulse in a new and sturdy growth mto a bigger South Dakota. LEADER INTERESTING Stowman, Mont., Jan. 22. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: The first copy of the Leader received and will say that the assembling of the first farmers’ legislative body is very interesting to me. e I realize that the farmers’ legislators will have a very hard fight to accom- plish the farmers’ deserving Tights. 1 also wish to say that the Leader will be a great educator to the farmers along the lines of legislation. If farmers take hold of the move- ment all over the state as they have around here Montana's next governor will ‘be elected by the farmers. Wish- ing our North Dakota brothers the greatest success, I am, ‘R. E. STOWMAN, TWO . Fight to-the Clark, March 17, 2 p- m. Cresbard, March 19, 2 p. m. Chelsea, March 20, 2 p. m. Ordway, March 21, 2 p. m. . Henry, March 22, 2 p. m. South Shore, March 23, 2 p. m. Barnard, March 24, 2 p. m. Minnesota Belgrade, March 15, 2 p. m. Lake Crystal, March 15, 2 p. m. Elrosa, March 16, 2 p. m. Eagle Lake, March 16, 2 p. m, Freeport, March 17, 2 p. m. Mankato, March 17, 2 p. m. Farwell, March 20, 2 p. m. Lowry, March 21, 2 p. m. Villard, March 22, 2 p. m. Westport, March 23, 2 p. m Sauk Center, March 24, 2 p. m. ENGLISH AND GERMAN Both German and English spoken at the following North Dakota meetings: Timmer, March 15, 1:30 p. m. Ft. Rice, March 16, 1:30 p. m. NOTICE ‘We occasionally hear of members not receiving their certificates of member= ship or the Leader. If, when you-read this notice, you know of any member joining the League who did not get his certificate or is not getting the Leader, please notify us. Organization Department, Box 919, Fargo, N. Dak. SIX MINNESOTANS JOIN Hubbard, Minn., Feb. 18, 1917 Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Our speaker, Mr. Gilbert, spoke at Park Rapids February 17 and at Hub- bard, February 15. He handled his subject well. We had a fair crowd and took in six nmew members. Keep the good work going. We need some more Mr. Gilberts. Some of us met Mr. W, C. Coates, farmer from North Dakota, (also organizer) and we are proud to have met such a man. - C. F. WHITNEY. IN DALE TOWNSHIP. Flaxton, N. D‘j Editor Nonpartisan Leader: rzan- izer S. M. Jensen Xcl2-a meeting in the Myren school house in Dale town- ship on February 26 and while a bad storm. kept many at home, five new members were enrolled. Several others joined befere the meeting began. Mr, Jensen explained the object of the League and made an eloquent plea to those present to join. ; RALPH INGERSON. EIGHT SIGN IN BLIZZARD Badger, Minn., Feb. 18, 1917, Editor' Nonpartisan Leader: Considering the blizzard last Friday the 16th, the League mieeting held in Badger at 2 p. m. was a grand success. Mr. Williams, the speaker from Grand Forks.county, is a very able speaker and handled the subject perfectly. The hall was well filled in spite of the bad storm outside. Mr. Williams signed up about eight members after the meet- ing. He also informed me that he had & big crowd at Greenbush the day be-+ fore. Wishing success to the League, I am, *~Ferytrmy yours, E. L. THOMPSON. Notice to German Readers. The Nonpartisan Leader publishes a four-page German supplement, con- taining in German the chief articles and announcements in the English. edi- : 3 ¢ e This German section is sent free S¢ith the regular English edition each week to any German subscriber who desires it. It is only necessary for a German . reader of the Leader to ask for it to get it sent to him. $el‘nnntmad)1mg an deutidle Sefer, Der Noupartijan Leader gibt fie bie deut{dipredjenden Emliglrebex: der Nonpartifan League eine bierfeitige dertfdhe Beilage Beraus, foeldje alfe Hauptartifel der in furzgehaltency fviedergicht. Die deutfde Ausgabe wird frei mit ber englifden verfandt, und’ jedes beutfde - Mitglied der Nonpartifan Seague. erhilt diefelbe auf; Bunid Toftenfrei mit bem ,Qeader” augefandt, Jebes deutide Mitglicd Hat bas Redit, in ber Ddeutfden Beilage feine Mei= nung au Yersifentlicden witd ift I;xerau fteunb!xcf)ft cingeladen. Die Redattion. fjadilicger Form t"‘.fiulu}Lfl Z’,Ill?rg(mg" . 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