The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 7, 1917, Page 3

% TNonparti$an Teader In fhs interest A magazins of & squars deal that dares t» fer the farmers print the truth ‘ Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League ¥DOL 4 NO. 23 FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1917, WHOLE NUMBER 90 B PRODUCER e THE FARMERS ARE (fwe sreLo PUTTING A PRICE (|PATRIOTISM ON paTRIOT ISM! A League Enemy’s View of the Situation WITH A ——— TGATES OF THE Dh%N—PRODUC ERS LEAG Cartoonist Baer has pictured Judge N. C. Young of Fargo, railroad attorney, making his famous speech on “The Price of Patriotism.” He insults the farmers by saying they are not patriotic when they wish the government to set a p to producers. But he says nothing about these other fat gentlemen who are getting fabul6us profits out of the war. Bue he doesn’t want to go broke while Judge Young is making his three and one-half per cent on Liberty bonds. rice on wheat this fall that will pay cost of production and net a small profit The farmer does not want fabulous pricess The Price of Patriotism HE farmers of the Northwest were treated to another gross insult last week. They held a conference, in Fargo, attended by delegates from four states. It was decided, after much deliberation, that wheat ought to be $2.50 this year at the terminals, if the farmer is to make both ends meet and make a small profit. Judge N. C. Young of Fargo later at a meeting to boost the sale of Liberty bonds charged that in taking this action these men have ‘‘set a price on their patriotism’’—in other words that they agreed to be patriotic if they are paid well for it. Judge Young is a railroad attorney. He is also the man who ecireulated anti-farmer league pamphlets. He is also the man who was a prime mover in the ‘‘Good Government’’ league, the organization formed last year to fight the Nonpartisan League, but which blew up last winter. : ‘‘Behold me,’’ says Judge Young, in effect. ‘‘I'am a patriot. I buy Liberty bonds and ‘encourage other people to do so. We get 31-2 per cent interest on our money by buying these bonds, and do not pay any taxes on the money we invest in them. My patriotism can not be challenged. But look at you farmers who attended this conference! Your patriotism is merely a matter of money. You will be patriotic if you get paid for it, but not otherwise.”’ : Patriotism is the last refuge of a secoundrel. If you want to clear your own skirts, yell to the world how patriotic you are and challenge the other fellow’s patriotism. Judge Young’s statement is a gross insult to the sturdy sons of toil of the Northwest on whose shoulders the burden of winning this war has been placed. The farmer is not shouting his patriotism from the housetops like Judge Young is. He is busy 16 hours a day in the fields, praying for enough rain now and enough farm labor next fall, that the nation may be saved. He is producing the biggest crop, probably, that the nation ever had. He is on the job. He is expressing patriotism in action, not words. ‘‘But you have set a price on your patriotism,”’ says Judge Young with a sneer. The Leader could answer this expression of noble patriotism by Judge Young but it has been done so well by Howard R. Wood of Deering, farmer and active Nonpartisan League worker, that Mr. Wood’s answer is sufficient. The Leader herewith prints the news-account of Judge Young’s statement and Mr. Wood’s reply. Read both of them—it will be a good lesson in patriotism. ‘What Young Says Accusations that the delegates chos- en at a conference of.grain growers held in Fargo last week and sent to Washington to speak for the North- west on the need of government ac- tion to bring about better conditions in the handling of their products are not représentative of the farmers ol the state were made by Judge N. C. Young in an address to a gathering of business men at the Fargo Com- merical club Saturday night on a cit- izens duty to his country in time of war. The meeting was' called by the _publicity’ ‘committee of the " clearing housé committee on the sale of Lib- erty Bonds, primarily for the purpose of explaining in detail the object of the bonds and how the committee has proceeded to dispose of them.. “Last week a small group of men representing themselves to be grain growers of the Northwest,” declared Judge Young in speaking of the dele- gation sent to Washington to confer with the national government on con- trol of farm products, “met in this room- and decided that it cost the farmer $2.50 to produce a bushel of wheat. This conference sent to Wash- ington a small‘delega.tion to tell con- gress that that is the price that they . want for grain. They hold that up. as the price of patriotism, and say you buy our grain for $2.50 a bushel and we will be patriotic. “Now I know that this is not the true spirit of the farmers of North Dakota, and I know that these men, who represent themselves to be the producers, are mnot farmers. They deal with the farmers but they are not actually producers. “I am contident that the farmers ot North Dakota . when ‘the Treal test’ comes will show. their ‘patriotism as will:all"the other people 'of*North Da- kota. It was the farmer that bore the brunt -of the burden of the Revolu- tionary war, and again it was the far- mer that bore the brunt of the burden [in the Civil War, and I am sure that you- will find the farmers doing their part in this world war.” ¢ Judge Young took up the greater part of his address explaining the pur- pose of the Home Defense League and the Patriotic Bureau of the Com- mercial club, and brought his remarks to a close with an explanation of the Liberty Bonds, THRER ‘When shown the report of Judge Young’s remarks on the Fargo farmers’ conference, Howard R. Wood of Deer- ing, N. D., one of the big grain farmers of the state, was indignant. Mr. Wood was originally on the committee ap- pointed to go to Washington for the farmers, but withdrew in favor of another, “In the first place,” he said, ‘“the conference was strictly one of farm- ers. . The committee 'that has gone to ‘Washington is merely to.carry out the wishes of the ' meeting here. . The resolutions - committee, ~which ~in- - structed the Washington committee, purposely was made to ‘contain a ‘big majority of farmers. RAILROADS REAP BIG WAR HARVEST “Judge Young is g railroad attorney, Yet what is the price of the patriot- ism of the railroads, to use his. ex- pression? They were getting net earn- ing of from $275 to $300 a mile before the war, Now they are making $337 to as high as $5560 a mile, under war conditions, and. they are not satisfied with that, because they have asked What Wood Says a flat increase in rates all over the country of 156 per cent. Y “The farmers fixed $2.50 as the price they ought to get at the Northwest terminals for the crop this year only after much thought. Their seed cost them twice as much this year. Farm machinery is soaring out: of sight. Binder twine, repairs and everything the farmer uses in his business, to say nothing of what he eats and wears, ' has doubled in price and is’ still going up. Armour & Co. was satisfied with a profit of:$7,600,000 the year before the war on .the farmers’ products this company: packed. Last year, under ©war conditions, the company took down a profit of $20,000,000, and its earnings this year will be more. The American Woolen company, handling and manufacturing a farm product, has more than doubled net profits the last year. The Central Leather com- pany, also using a farm product—hides —earned last year over three times its profits of the year before the war, and will earn more this year, “Judge Young's statements are an insult to the farmers. The farmer is the big man at this time. He must (Continued on pageé 18). L4