The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 19, 1917, Page 5

g s the Money, Doesn’t It? It Makes a Difference Who Get I SERIDUSLY OBJECT TO ! LEAVING THIS MONEY IN ' THE STATE TO BE SPENT ON MARKETING FACILITIES FOR THE FARMERS! - "BUT I DON'T OBJECT TO HAVING BIG BUSINESS TAKE $83,000,000.¢° OUT OF THE STATE EACH YEAR! s LS tid “You'll throw the state into bankruptcy”, shrieks the corporation lawyer and the protector of privilege, when it is suggested that the state bond itself for five or = p ten millions to build state-owned central market facilities, even though the bonds are to be met OUT OF WHAT 1S SAVED. But he doesn’t object to the fact B that the farmer gets only about HALF WHAT HE SHOULD GET FOR HIS WHEAT, judging by the prices the consumer pays. THIS MEANS AN ANNUAL Uil many things against our program, but they never called it a thief before.) As Divet put it, “They stole the machinery of the Republican party”. It was Fred «Cuthbert of Devils Lake, who has lately announced himself a-Republican can- didate for congress to siicceed the late H. T. Relgesen, who made the speech that might have been expected, assert- ing and proclaiming the glory and the beauty of government by parties. The list of speakers is an illuminat- ing picture of the sort of meeting it was. There was “Forty-four” Hyland; Paulson; Treadwell Twichell, who says he ‘didn't say “Go home and slop the pigs”; Jerry Bacon; Thorson of Normanden; Cuthbert, the defeated candidate for congress, and one or two others. THE REAL GRIEVANCES OF ANTI-LEAGUERS D These and most of the men who gathered there were all men with a | Guaranteed Prices for Farmers. I A Profit On Every Acre and Men to Harvest the if OR the first time in the history [ of the TUnited States, the 3 farmers are to be guaranteed 2, by the government . against g an over-production of crops ‘ and consequent low prices, if the pur- poses of the farm and food conference at St. Louis last week are put into law. S Dr. E. F. Ladd, president of the North Dalkota Agricultural college, and Dr. Thomas Cooper, chief of the extension department, returned last Thursday after attending the conferenc:, at which 81 states were represented, with this good news for the farmers of the en- tire Northwest. And there is reason enough for such drastic action it.appears. The United States is already short of food owing to last year's short crops and the big exportation to ISurope. For many years this country. has produced but little more food.products than it con- \ sumes at home. This year prices of wheat, potatoes and grains of all kinds are high, and the farmers have been loath to put such valuable products in the ground and take chances on get- ting a profit for their material and their work, after fighting the usually losing battle against the ‘organized middle men, food gamblers, and Big’ Business in general. So the planting has been short in all the South where planting has’ been finished. , ST 3 FOOD GAMBLERS NOT : TO GET THE BENEFITS : It remains for the Northern states, particularly the hard spring' wheat 2 states, to come to the rescue of the en- A A LS D Rt tire nation with a big acreage, a care- - personal grievance, and they succeed- ed in making that grievance fairly plain. It was, in the first place, that the farmers had organized without consulting THEM or asking them how to do it or permitting THEM to run the organization after it had been formed; and, next, that the farmers “stole the machinery” of the Republi- can party and practically put an end to national party partisanship and the opportunities it affords for control by a little clique of politicians. An effort was made at the meeting to gloss over the fact that the Old Guard in the senate originally organiz- ed as “Republicans” and the fact was eagerly pointed out that there were one or two “good Democrats” in the audience. It was comical to see the tearful joy with which a few G. O. P. Old Gangsters wept on the necks of the handful of Democrats who were with them. There were three sessions of the conference held, one in the morning, Crop, Says ful seeding, and a harvest efficiently garnered. The time is short, the need is great. For that reason the influen- tial men gathered at the first national food conference to face the first crisis of this kind ever faced by a Western nation, proposed an unheard-of thing —mno less than that the government must make good to the farmers for their seed, their work and a reasonable profit, and the government promised. Speculators will be cut out of their chance to make a big harvest in ficti- tious values by a minimum price to producers for farm products to be es- tablished by an expert, non-partisan board, at a high enough figure to male it an inducement to the farmers to do their best. The boards of trade and the chambers of commerce for this time will not be allowed to fix the price and beat down the producer who is trying to escape the clutches of a mort- gage. The government will fix the price, and protect the farmer. It must do this to save the population of the United States from going hungry next winter—perhaps before the summer is over. The Northwest can produce the wheat if it has a good season and pres- . ent prospects are the best they have been in many years. It may be a bumper crop this season. The govern- ment hopes so, and intends to see that the farmers get out of it what is com- ing to them. But if the Northwest pro- duces a bumper crop in 1917 where is the labor coming from to take care of it in the short time in which it can be saved? ROBBERY OF NOT LESS THAN EIGHTY-THREE MILLIONS, according to figures compiléd by men who know. one in the afternoon and one in the evening. At all of them there was profuse oratory, much prearranged “motioning™” and cheering, and a fervent display of the shouting brand of pa- triotism. In fact, a well-planned effort was made to make it appear that the pur- poses of the Nonpartisan League and its leaders are “unpatriotic” and to ap- propriate love of country and flag solely to the lawyers and politicians . and the few bankers who made up the anti-League gathering. ATTACK ON BOWEN MADE BY DIVET ‘With this was combined a vicious personal attack "by Divet upon A. L. Bowen, League speaker and chief clerk of the house, who was pres- ent. To do justice to the character of the men present it should be said that a number openly expressed regret at the character of the words used by Uncle Sam The government has taken care of that too, so Dr. Ladd and Dr. Cooper were informed at St. Louis. The policy has been decided upon, and the unani- mous recommendation of the 65 dele- gates who were there, including Secre- tary Houston of the department of agriculture, it is expected will become law. The government will furnish the labor to the farmers, furnish it ef- ficiently, where it is needed, when it is needed, and will transport it from field to field as each comes into harvest. LADD AND COOPER SAY IT WILL BE DONE This too is an innovation, and the farmers will get the benefit, although it is being undertaken for the welfare of all the people. An industrial army, organized on semi-military lines, fed, clothed (perhaps uniformed) directed by competent, practical men, will be- gin the harvest in the winter wheat belt andy work northward cutting, threshing, ‘and putting the grain into storage. The government's part will be to mobilize the harvest crews, keep them organized, pay them while being transported, and set them down at the farmers’ doors ready for work. The farmers will pay the men, and they will not object to that. The only ob- jection the farmers have ever had was that they were unable to get the right kind of men at the right time in suf- ficient numbers. This year, no matter how heavily they seed, they will get them. One of the best guarantees that this will be done, is that it must be done as a prime measure of safety for the na- FIVE lately . Divet and at some of the muttered cursing of League leaders which help- ed to show the spirit of at least some of those in attendance. Because it had been announced that the gathering was to be an/“anti-So=- cialist” conference it was necessary t@ make it appear that the League pro= gram and leaders were “Socialists” and socialistic. This was attended to by Divet in his morning tirade and by Cuthbert in a talk in the evening dur- ing which he said “I hate socialism" and went on to say that the League program was ‘semi-socialism”. An interesting feature of the day was the admission by Treadwell Twichell that he “and some friends of mine" were responsible for the printing and distribution of 35,000 copies of the pamphlet “A Socialist Constitution for North' Dakota’”. This is the same pamphlet that Judge Young, the Northern Pacific attorney, has been mailing out from his offices in Fargo. tion. Starvation is as fatal as war. The government is convinced from a study of statistics of the past and a survey of present grain, vegetable, and other food reserves, that starvation faces this country within the year if every kernel, crumb and scrap is not saved. That is why the farmers are coming into their own with a guaran- teed minimum price sufficiently aigh to make farming profitable, and with a guarantee of all the harvest hands they need to handle their crops. “That is about what the conferenca assured us, wasn't it?” said Dr. Cooper, turning to President Ladd, as they sat talking over this important matter with a Leader representative. “That is exactly it, and there is no doubt but that it was said in good faith, and will be fully carried out,” replied Dr. Ladd. WHY THEY OBJECT Wimbledon, N. D., March 28, 1917. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Seeing your request in the Ilast Leader, I am mailing under separate cover five copies of the “Socialist Constitution,” of which I had a dozen. Oh yes, what the opposition points to as most objectionable are the provi- sions we most want. The only thing is to stand together. According to some - people’s story the League members somewhere else are dropping out, but I know that in this vicinity we are get- ting new members. WE'LL STICK. Yours truly, R. C. ZIMMERMAN,