The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 12, 1917, Page 8

oH! |IT'S AWFUL-THE B FARMERS ARE GOIN’ § TO THE DOGS AND ¥ WE can'T sTopP 1T !! There was a terrible fire at Grand Forks the other day. Big Business saw one of his finest buildings going up in smoke. TOO MUCH FOR THE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT soLyU CoNoEM’fi;x~§-izj. <o ., GRAND FORKS »H’E'IP'AZD : o o o7 GUESS 2 PPOSITION éolNG UP IN THE HAINT GOT. MUCH POWER LeEFT ! | TORNED ON THE WATER' WHAT'S THE. “MATTER It was the structure of Boss Rule of North Dakota, an edifice in which he has taken much pride. The fire department was on hand, but all it could do didn't seem to accomplish anything. The thing was too hot for them to handle. Their efforts were about like squirting into a volcano with a garden hose. To c!rt?wn out a big fire you have.to‘have a lot of power behind the stream and in this case the power failed. The fire department is going to have to do a lot of explaining to the owners of the building. 1 A. C. Townley speaking: (President Townley had just told of going out with Howard Wood, later speaker of the house, in Mr. Wood's car, and enrolling in the neighborhood of Mr. Wood’s home near Deering the first members of the Farmers’ Non- partisan Political League of North Dakota. This happened in the late winter of 1915.) I said to Howard: “There is a way to buy automobiles.” At one time out at Beach I had bought two steam plows without a cent in my pocket; and I had that ex- perience to back me up. I ran them about six weeks, until I used up all the water there was in the country; and then I'let the machine companies have them back again, be- cause I could not run them. That was a good thing, because it helped me in this case. Howard one morning—or was it one evening?—and said, the best way is for you to sign a $1200 note! And I will take it to the bank and get the money to buy a couple of cars. A simple thing you know. (Laughter). Nothing to it at all! And by golly, he signed the note! And I took the note to the bank and got the money and bought two cars. Howard, have you got that note with yvou? I askRed you to carry it around, because some time they might think I am lying. But I want to show it to you. (Mr. Wood here handed the note to Mr. ‘Townley and it was exhibited.) All right; here is the note. ‘He sign- ed the note to me. Now it didn’t bother.. me any to sign a note. I had been at it about eight years out in the Golden Valley, and it didn’t bother me at all. I had signed so many more than he had, there was no comparison. But I had to teach him a little bit how to do it. But he signed! And there it is—the paper for $1200. That is a real note— worth more than the $1200 now today for just the paper that is in it. HIRING FIRST ORGANIZER OF THE LEAGUE “MACHINE"” Well, Mr. Wood signed the note and we took it to the bank and borrowed the $1200, and bought two cars. And then I began hollering for somebody X 4.\5-—“:«(;’ 08 L A 4 e T MR Y to ride in the car. I knew a man out in the west end of the state who hadn't any more money than I had. ‘I sent him a letter or a telegram, and $10, and said come down here and help me do this thing. He came. His name is Cooper. I went to . How and Why the Farmers' League Was Built as Told by President Townley at Grand Forks see that face? (Applause.) I put him to work as an organizer because of the *face on him. (Laughter.) ‘We had two cars going now; and I got Mr. Wood’s brother here, and his father, to go with me over to Glenburn, another little town not far away; and Stand up, Cooper. Do you Herewith is printed the continuation of the address of President A. C. Townley of the Nonpartisan League delivered at the historie meeting at Grand Forks on Friday, March 30. A portion of the address was printed in last week’s Leader. President Townley here is continuing the detailed story of the birth and growth of the League. Enemies of the League have been prying about and printing many false and foolish stories. about the League’s finances. Here President Townley tells exactly what financial methods were adopted, why they were adopted and with what ~.result. He tells how the money was collected and spent and then interviews his audience to find out how highly they value what they have bought for their money. He proceeds from this to a remarkably eloquent justification of the acts of the men who have built the League and a picture of what it will mean to the Northwest. Those who have pictured President Townley as having some hypnotic power over the farmers, who have charged him with ‘‘demagogery’’ and with unprincipled methods, will do well to read this address and make what they can out of it. It will be well also for those who may have been influenced by enemies of the League to form a false picture of its activities to read this remarkable address carefully, not merely to find things in it to criticise, but to catch if they can the real spirit behind the League which caused the entire audience which heard Presi- dent Townley in Grand Forks, consisting of many townspeople, to indorse the organization and its leaders—only two members of the company of 2,000 persons voting in dissent. This is not a manuseript speech. ' It was not written before it was delivered. ‘What is printed here is a stenographer’s transeript. Courage, sacrifice and perseverance of the farmers of North Dakota built the -greatest political organization the Northwest has ever seen. Do they not own what they have built? Shall they give it up or let it be torn down be- cause some man who did nothing to help build it doesn’t like the way it is built? SEVEN there in one day a little group of farmers raised nine hundred and twen- ty-five dollars in cash, and we bought two more Fords; second hand ones. Then we went up into Mr. Stair's territory. Stand up, Stair! I want to make this a real story you know— human interest in it. There is Stair, Well we went up into Mr. Stair’s terri- tory, and in two or three days—there was some kind of a convention going on there at the time—we raised four- teen hundred dollars there to buy cars with. % I want to know whether there is any farmer in this audience this afternoon that thinks that he would have signed a note for $100 for me, with the repu- tation I had as a farmer. I don't think there is a man here who would have signed a note for five dollars for me, THE MEN WHO MADE THE ORGANIZATION POSSIBLE If this organization is worth any- . thing to the farmers of this state, you owe it to this man Howard Wood and his father, and men like Stair, Be- cause they financed it; they made it possible; we would never have gotten down into this country without the support of men with the nerve, and the courage, and the intelligence that these men have. So we went on. We raised up in the Northwest corner of the state, in two or three counties, about forty thousand dollars in the first two months to buy automobiles to build this organization; and raised it on the confidence that you would pay your postdated checks so that we could pay them back their money. That was all the assurance they had. And if it had not been for the notes that were signed at that time to finance this organization, it would never have grown across the street. There were, however, some men in the eastern part of the state also who helped us. Where is Carl Swenson? Didn’t come, eh? A voice: ‘“He missed the train.” Missed the train? Well, Swenson bought a car, simply bought a car, and turned it over to Bowen, and says, go to it! It will get worn out pretty quick, but go to it! And up here (Oh Lord!) at Conway! Is that the place? Look at Junkin! (Laughter.) TUp here at Conway, is a