The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 22, 1917, Page 7

A T R R 3 A VT B A 9t 5 2 e e s o0 Judge oung Gives Interview Counsel for Northern Pacific is Fighting Ghost of 44, But, Understand INE thousand copies pamphlet, “A Socialist Con- = stitution for North Dakota,” ) . printed at the Bismarck Tri- bune office and anonymously circulated thrughout the state, arrived: at the office of Watson & Young, at- torneys for the Northern Pacific rail- road company, in Fargo a few .days ago and are being mailed out to busi- ness men and others in North Dakota. The pamphlet ‘is an attack wupon House Bill 44, passed by the house of the Fifteenth North Dakota assembly and defeated by the Old Guard in the ° senate. N. C. Young, member of the firm of ‘Watson & Young and former supreme court judge, admits that he is sendfhg ‘out the pamphlets. He says he is do- ing this as a private citizen and not as attorney for the Northern Pacific.- He wants it to be clearly understood, he .s8ays, that while his firm is counsel for the Northern Pacific he does not repre- sent the railroad in a “political capa- city.” He is engaged in fighting the League, he says, puYely as a private citizen. - Judge Young, probably also in his “private citizen” capacity, was one of those most active in the late lamented #“Good Government League,” which— officially, at least—disbanded during the legislative session after spending a good deal of money in attacking the Nonpartisan League. “I'M AGIN IT” : ANNOUNCES JUDGE. YOUNG “They can’t put a Socialist constitu= tion over on the people of North Da« kota—and I am agin the whple ‘thing, and you can quote me if you like,” he said. Judge Young said that other men are likewise sending out these pamphlets. He did not give the names of any others but he said there were “probably ~ 3000 or 4000 of them,” back of the movement. The consignment received by Judge Young is marked “fourth edition,” and he paid $13 a thousand for them, he said, or $117 for this batch® The Bis- marck Tribune is utilizing its plant in slack hours keeping up this supply of patriotic print paper, with which railroad attorneys, commercial clubs and some business men are trying to fight the League. ' Who compiled and edited the pamphlets, Judge Young professed not to know. He just happened to dis- cover one of them while on ‘a trip to Bismarck during the legislature, and finding them exactly what he wanted,. he began to order them. But persons in Bismarck, who had occasion to visit the Bismarck Tribune printing office for copies of printed bills, said they saw the managing editor of the Grand Forks Herald, read- ing proof on the “Socialist Constitu- tion.” Everyone at the legislature knew Thomas Barker Junkin, Bismarck war correspondent for the Grand Forks Herald. His being thus recognized at work in the late hours of the night, a few days before the first pamphlets were found in circulation, taken to- gether with his eager inquiries regard- ‘ing every feature of House Bill 44 as it was being drafted by the Nonparti- san League caucus, indicates the source of this new outburst. 2 The pamphlet being circulated has never. been revised, and its compari- sons are based on the first printed bill, which is very different in many points from the amended bill which the house passed 81 to 28 with four not voting, . an@ which the Old Gang senate Kkilled 29 to 20. THE “PERSONAL” ATTITiJDE OF THE FORMER JUDGE Judge Young’s antagonism, however, is not merely directed against Bill 44 in an impersonal way, as may be judg- ed by these words he addressed to the Leader representative: “I want to tell you that there are leaders in ¢his movement who will be inside the penitentiary within two years.” Then, swinging around from his desk, his eyes snapping and his manner tense, he responded: “Yes sir, there are men leading this movement who will be in the peniten- tiary inside of two years—and there are 100 who ought to be there. The farmers are all right. They are honest, but the men who are directing them are not, and the people aren't going to stand for it. They are going to get their eyes opened. These men are taking their $16 under false pretenses, and they are not going to get away with it 3 of the —Merely as a “Private Citizen.” “And I want to say right here—and I don't care who hears it—that House Bill 44 is rotten, rotten. It's the rot- tenest piece. of legislation that was ever attempted. They think they are going to put it across, but they're not. I don’t think North Dakota will stand for-a Socialist constitution, and that’s what it is. There are about 6000 So- cialists in this state, and they are not going to run it. The people are going to get next to them.” y The former justice was growing heated. The interviewer had gone to get an answer to the question, who The three railroad commissioners of North Dakota [N “No they didn’t” snapped the attor- ney. “No they didn’t. I'll tell you who framed it—a little coterie of Socialists —Charles Edward Russel and Coates from Washington and Thomason,—and —"(here the sentence drifted into ob- livion, but appeared in the final state- ment) “—a little coterie of Socialists. Who is' Thomason, who {s Coates? Bah ! No man can defend that bill. JIt's state Socialism, and I'm agin it. Why did they make an attack on the school funds? Who cut out that clause that ~ made it +a felony to misappropriate school funds? Tell me who it was cut ern Pacific, defeated it with the aid of a few Old Gang hold-over senators. Judge Young is willing to debate the metits of House Bill 44 if he can pick his opponent. MUST BE “REPUTABLE” ‘TO DEBATE WITH YOUNG “No sane man can defend House Bill 44, but if you want to get up a debate upon it, you will have no trouble,” he said. “There are plenty of high class men in the state who will debate the issue, but they will not discuss it with the ‘men who have been going around elected on the indorsement of the Nonpartisan League, in their office .in the capitol at Bismarck. They are, from left to right, Charles W. Bleick of Elgin, Chairman S. J. Aandahl of Litchville, and M. P. Johnson of Tolley. was really back of the pamphlet “A Socialist Constitution,” but willingly stayed ‘to hear the further opinions of the former supreme court justice. Then he gave some legal views. “KNOCKS ON THE RAILROADS” WHY WERE THEY LEFT OUT? “No man of any sense can defend House Bill 44. Who framed that docu- ment?”’ Here the interviewer replied that it was framed by the majority of the North Dakota house of representa- tives, who drafted it section by section in caucus, and then took a week to per- fect it, adding many amendments in open session. > out all the knocks on the railroad? No one can defend it.” The clauses whose omission from the constitution have aroused the excite- ment of this railroad attorney were written into the constitution of 1889 to fill a blank, because there were then no statutes. Since that time statutes have been written aiming at regulation, and the few old clauses in thé -constitution have become dead timber. The Non- partisan League tried to write another statute in the legislature of 1917, House Bill 298, to regulate freight rates, but the railroad lobby, headed by Judge Young's employer, the North- When He Saw the Light This Minnesota Farmer Decided it Was Time for Him to Get Busy Aldrich, Minn., March 1, 1917. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: ? "I do wish I had the ability to express my thoughts in regard to the aims of the Nonpartisan League. But as I have always been too busy using my back at hard work have never before given my head much of a chance to work. Although I have known for some time that there was something terribly wrong, I did not know just what it really was. For over twenty yvears I have done a ‘man’s work, mostly working for others, and I started in when I was seventeen years of age, working at $12.00 per month. Have always been free from expensive habits and saving so have managed to save perhaps $2000. With the property and my. experi- ence, good prices for all I sold in 1916, my real gain was not more than, it was for the year 1897, when I worked for $12.00 a month., But now I can see a light. On December 14, last, W. C. Coates camé to my place and explained the League to me, of which I had read very little.- But it was so plain that I was glad to join and agreed to {ravel the trip. with him in my neighborhood and so I did. I did not feel as though I could devote my time for no pay so I charged '$1.00 per day for my time with .and “without team and we got a/ lot of mem- bers. Prospects are good for a lot more around here. The first speaker I heard spoke in Aldrich about December 20. I forget his name. He explained it well then. I heard Mr. Gilbert at Maple Leaf school. He sure could explain. the truth in good shape:. Yesterday, I had Randall in Verndale, and although I the pleasure of listening to Mr. N. S. had driven thirteen miles against the wind to hear him, I did not begrudge Verndale farmers did not seem to grasp the opportunity at once, though I think they will all see the good in store for them in the near fu- ture. v / _ With my sincere wishes that all farmers and common laborers will take example after the business men, and do a little looking out for themselves in the future, I hereby promise to do my little best. Yours for the League, GEORGE S. PEERY. the state making speeches. Bring out any man who has lived-in the ‘state 15 years, and intends to remain here, and is intelligent, and he can get up a de= bate any time. But men who are busy and have regard for their reputations won’t waste time on adventurers. Yes, I will debate it myself” (this in reply to a question) “but I would want to pick“my opponents—I would want to know that they were reputable citizens of North Dakota.” Then he named the list of men, whom enemies of the Nonpartisan League, would be perfectly willing to meet In " debates upon the merits of House Biil 44. Not one of them is“a League man. They are: Congressman Helgesen, Senator Gronna, Senator McCumber, President McVey of the University of North Da~- kota, former President Worst of the Agricultural college, Dr. Ladd, its pres- ent head, “or any other reputable citie zen.” HERE’S AN OPINION ABOUT PRESIDENT TOWNLEY President Townley of the Nonparti- san League was suggested, as a man who would meet the last requirement, and whose views were well known and often forcibly expressed upon House Bill 44, But Judge Young threw up his hands, and swung around to his desk as though to resume dictating, then paused and swung back again. “Do you call him reputable?”’ he shouted. “Quite so—don’t you call him repu~ table?” / “No,” roared the corporation atior- ney, “No,”—and President Townley’'s opportunity to debate with “a high class man” went glimmering. Judge Young changed the subject. “If you want to know who is getting out ‘A Socialist Constitution’ and will malke out a list of the men who framed House Bill 44, I'll take enough of my time, although-I am quite busy, to find out for you who it is that is back of ‘A Socialist’ Constitution,” he said.” But the Nonpartisan Leader thought it had found out who are back of “A Socialist Constitution”—and as anyone can get a list of ‘the men who framed House Bill 44 by sending to the secre- tary of state, there was nothing more to be said. : 13 g SEVEN