The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 5, 1917, Page 6

have never ceased to work for the program of the League. They have never abandoned one item of it. Its worth was proved by the 100 honest men who went to the legislature and were true to.the interests of the farmers, who stood fast as a unit and worked without ceasing for the things they were sent to work for. No, the farmers of North Dakota are not quitters. They’ll stick. Don’t fear about that. And don’t be disturbed if a few men in each of the new states work themselves into notice as members of the League and then because they can’t make it serve their own per- sonal ambitions or because they are too weak-kneed and white-livered to stand a fight, desert the cause. Don’t be alarmed about that. You ean expect that experience. We had it in North Dakota. We have a choice list of traitors—AND WE'RE PROUD OF EVERY ONE OF THEM. We’re proud of every traitorous hair on their heads. They help to prove our cause. They help to prove that this is a fight for good and honest and brave men— and that that kind stick. We don’t want the others. The sooner they are out of it the better. ® % % PROOF AT GRAND FORKS . HE Grand Forks Herald can go on printing all the attacks it tory, which includes a part of Grand Forks county and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, now know better. So do all the other farmers of the Red River valley. So do the citizens of Grand Forks. They all had ocular evidence that the League is stronger than ever when three big mass meetings were held in the Grand Forks auditorium last Friday. More than the fact that the falsehoods and misrepresentations of the Herald were answered; more than the fact that unanimous confidence in the leadership of President Townley was expressed ; more than the fact that the full truth about the League was told—more significant and important than all these was the wonder- ful devotion, the wonderful spirit of loyalty to the cause of the work- ers, the wonderful sentiment of zeal for the welfare of the state and the welfare of the nation that were apparent at that meeting: Is the League ‘‘breaking up?’’ 'Is it growing weaker? You would have laughed at the question if you had been there at the Grand Forks meeting, when the enemy was defied in his own stronghold and his own weapons, turned against him. Men who came to scoff at the meeting in Grand Forks on Friday afternoon were on the platform after it was over to shake President Townley by the hand and to tell him that he had brought them a new vision. Others were merely silenced and confused. Even the paid enemies of the League went back to their work of attack with a faint wants to 0n the Nonpartisan League, all the scurrilous abuse of President Townley and the others of the League officers it pleases. It can use all the contemptible tricks it desires in the interests of powers outside the state that employ and control it. But hereafter it can’t print the story that ‘‘the League is break- ing up”’—and get away with it. The farmers of its circulation terri- HE farmers of North Dakota “will stick ” The enemies of the League again have been given their answer. The an- swer is summed up in the set -0f resolutions printed on this page adopted at a great meeting in Grand Forks, heart of the enemy’s country, on Friday, March 30. The resolutions themselves but feebly interpret the spirit of the people of the state of North Dakota and their atti- tude toward the Nonpartisan League as expressed at that historic meeting. The Grand Forks meting, climax of the great series of meetings held throughout the state since the legis- lature adjourned, was a magnificent triumph for the cause of the producers of the Northwest. It did more than show the indomitable spirit of the farmers of the Northwest. It created a new determination and a new confi- dence of ultimate victory; it created, moreover, a new and patriotic vision of the future of the League movement in state and nation; it showed that the purpose of the farmers is bigger and broader and better than anything their opponents have been able to under- stand.. A GREAT ADDRESS The farmers of North Dakota under- stand and approve their leadership. They are with the movement to the end. That was proved at Grand Forks in a way that can not be disputed. It was proved ‘“under fire.” President Townley chose this occa- sion, in the presence of the most hostile critics the League has known, to lay bare the secrets of the League, to give the most searching analysis of its pur- poses and the most completely frank and thorough account of the means by which it has been built up that has been given anywhere. By revealing all in the presence of the League’s bitterest enemies President Townley proved that the League has nothing to conceal. Ie told a story that answered every question and every innuendo with the facts. And when the facts were known the “sensations” which the chief agent of the political gang and the chamber of commerce were printing became laughable and foolish. President Townley told very frank- 1y on just what terms he became presi- dent of the Nonpartisan League and on what terms he has held that position. He made an important announcement on this subject. It is this: When the next state convention of the League in North Dakota is held, in the early spring of next year, to- indorse candidates for .state offices, a new set of officers and a board of directors for the League will be chosen by the state delegates And that, said President Town- Resolution Adopted at the Grand Forks Meeting We two thousand ecitizens of North Dakota in mass meeting as- sembled this the thirtieth day of March, 1917, at the auditorium in Grand Forks, do hereby express our confidence in A. C. Townley, President of the Nonpartisan League, in the management of said organization; and we do hereby resent the misrepresentations and falsehoods published in the press, especially the Grand Forks Her- ald and the Normanden, which press we believe to be controlled and directed by large corporate interests within and without the state, against A. C. Townley, and we wish to warn such press that any insult to Mr. Townley or the Nonpartisan League will be con- sidered a personal insult to all of us, and we earnestly request the people of Grand Forks, and all the citizens of the state, to fully inform themselves on the aims and purposes of this farmers’ or- ganization. This we do for the good and welfare of all the people. (Only two person in a throng of 2000 including a large number of citizens of Grand Forks, voted against these resolutions.) heart. The cause in which they were engaged had suddenly become distasteful. The veil had been lifted. They had been permitted for a moment a real glimpse at the spirit of the farmers of North Dakota. ‘““How can we defeat such men?’’ they asked themselves. And their own inner consciousness answered : ‘‘It can’t be done.”’ In the Enemy’s Own Camp Historic Meeting at Grand Forks Show Spirit and Purpose - Behind Great Movement of Northwestern Farmers ley, ought to satisfy even Jerry Bacon. LEAGUE FINANCES STRAIGHT Besides this important announce- ment there was another, the reading of a report by W. M. Thatcher of the Equitable Audit company of St. Paul, detailing the income and expenditures of the League for the first organiza- tion period, to December 1, 1916. This report in detail will be printed in an early issue of the Leader.) After read- ing this report Mr. Thatcher challen- ged enemies of the League to unite with his company in an audit of the League's books and to show that any penny of the League’s funds had not been properly spent. He challenged them to show that President Townley had received one cent from the League beyond a very meager salary and ex- penses, much less than minor employes of many small corporations receive. The money drawn by Mr. Townley for salary and expenses together was shown to amount to 13 cents a mem- ber—about % cent a month—for the entire organization period of twenty- one months. The full and complete story-of this great series of three meetings at Grand Forks last Friday would more than fill this issue of the Leader. Only the out- standing features can be told. Chief of these was the magnificent sentiment of loyalty and high purpose shown by the League members pres- ent. Perhaps next in interest was the sympathy shown by the large number of intelligent and open-minded citi- zens of Grand Forks who came to hear the real story of the League and who took the occasion to testify that they do not approve of the attacks made upon the League by the Grand Forks Herald and the Normanden. CITY PEOPLE WITH LEAGUE There were a large number of Grand Forks people in the audience on Friday afternoon when the vote of confidence in President Townley and censure for" the hostile publications was taken. A display of hands on the resolution was asked. -At first four were raised in opposition. A second time those in opposition were asked to raise their hands and only two could be seen. This was about as thorough a re- pudiation as any publication ever had in its own territory. 3 The high point of the meetings was reached in an epoch-making address delivered by President Townley. It is not exaggeration to say that this was the most wonderful speech ever heard from any platform in North Dakota. Cities of North Dakota have heard great orators from the east and great national leaders in eloquent addresses, but here was the leader of the greatest political movement of the day, a man of North Dakota who has‘come up from the soil itself, speaking to the people of his own state a message that of right should become historic. It was an occasion that serves to be remembered while the state endures and it was an address for eloquence and for simple earnestness unmatched in the state’s history. -OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES Men were present who had come more than half-way across the state to attend this meeting and to hear this speech. Not one of them but consid- ered himself more than repaid.- It was an event of a lifetime for many. There were other notable features of FOUR the meting. W. H. Talmage of South Dakota brought a message of ‘co-op- eration and suport from the League in South Dakota. Frank Bohn of New York, war corresponde}lt and magazine writer, told the audiences of how the movement for direct dealing between producer and consumer was welcomed by the hugry thousands of the great cities, who are longing for the day when the thieving food speculator shall be eliminated. O. M. Thomason held up to ridicule and scorn the men who are fighting the League for hire, who are seeking to tear down the structure the farmers have built, but themselves have nothing better to offer. Short talks also were made by Speaker Howard Wood of the house of the Fifteenth assembly, who explained the League caucus as “the school where the farmer legislators learned more about their duties and conferred on the bills coming before them”; by A. M. Hagan, who introduced the famous House Bill 44 and by L. L. Stair of Bottineau, also a member of the Fif- teenth assembly. ; At the last meeting of the series A. E. Bowen, who was chief clerk of the house, analyzed and explained House Bill 44. : v Probably three thousand persons in all heard the addresses and attended the meetings at Grand Forks. Many at- tended all three meetings, but there were a large number of citizens of Grand Forks at the evening meeting who did not attend in the morning or afternoon. WHY THE LEAGUE IS Jessie, N. D., Feb. 27, 19117, Editor Nonpartisan Leader: In answer to the article “The Mean- ing of the Movement” on page three. This movement means emancipation for the common people. It was brought about by the abuse of the rights of the ©people who have had no rights for 30 years or more, but did not know it. However, they are now waking up to the serious- ness of the situation. The people of America, for better than 30 years -ac- cepting the aristocracy, have Tbeen slaves, I.think much worse slaves than the negro slave of the South many “years ago. They were well housed and fairly well fed. Not so with our peo- ple of today, who are left to starve in thousands of cities next door to the millionaire plutocrats. They think they are so much better than common people that they can not see them. ° The plutocrats send ship loads of pro- visions and money to foreign war stricken countries, which I admit need their aid; but when they have so much to spare, why not help our own people? I think it is time the people of America wake up and take the helm. JAMES A. M’CULLOCH.