The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 14, 1917, Page 6

lesic end applause)—so that when you gentlemen, you tillers of the soil, shall produce an immense crop, you will be sure that crop will ar- rive at the camp where your boy is fighting for his country without your having to pay for it at that end four times what you received for it at this end. (Applause.) “For unless you do away with the gambler in food and the neces- sities of life you will produce your wheat and get two dollars a bushel for it and then you will bond the nation and.pay across the water $5 or $6 a bushel for your own wheat for your own boy! “That is the line-up now. It is wrong. It is national suicide. It is ' national suicide in times of peace; it is multiplied national suicide in times of war, and we are not so crazy as to believe we can succeed unless this govern- ment shall ‘'do what every Euro- peam government already has done—take over, absolutely take over, the business and kick out the gamblers in clothing and food and machinery and munitions and ar- mor plate and everything else that they are using now to make seven times . as much money as they made before the war — and God knows they made plenty then! (Applause.) “Is this treason? Voices—*“No.” “No.” “I should say not!” “Demanding a measure that will enable us to succeed in the war can not be treason, can it?” A Voice—“It is patriotism!” Another Voice — “That is what it is!” “1S THIS NOT A PATRIOTIC MEETING? A Voice—“Yes, sir!” “Isn’t this our first duty? Why should you labor to raise a big crop until you have attended to the dis- tribution of that crop? . “If you lived a thousand miles from market and there was no way to get y¥our crop to market, would you pro- duce a crop? And if you live a thou- sand miles from market, and there is no way to see that the crop gets to the people that you want to get it, what is the use of raising it? “Well, they have charged us with treason, but I want to say to you that this nation of farmers are 80 patriotic that even the govern- ment today may be in the hands and the absolute control of the steel trust and the sugar trust and the machine trust, even tho it is, we are going to do our best by producing all we can. (Applause.) * All as it is, if we can’t do better, we will do that. “And so, whenever you see anybody out here in your districts volunteering it will be all right if they are volun- teering for war service but whenever you see anybody volunteering to serve you politically, you suggest that they prove their sincerity by volunteering to go to war first; because the one great danger to this movement is in falling a prey to the volunteer politi- cian. HOW RAISE MONEY TO HELP BOYS FIGHT? “Well, you understand we are for conscription whenever we need men for any public purpose. “These boys that go across the water cannot win unless you send after them, powder, shot, shells, bedding, clothing, bandages, nurses, doctors, ministers, priests, corn, ham and bacon. These boys can never win unless you send with them and continue to send every month and every day and every hour, tons and tons of munitions and provi- sions. “And that costs money;_ costs money; costs thousands upon thou- sands; it costs millions, millions; it will cost billions of dollars to defend this war, and win this victory, Billions of dollars¥ “The five billion already appropriated and provision made to be raised by this nation amounts for this county about a million and a half dollars. I am not talking this way to discourage you in financing this war, but to im- press on you the necessity of financing it in_a tremendous measure or keep your boys at home, because they should not go there without money only to starve. “Now the question we have is how best to raise the money that is needed to fight our battles and win this war. I want you to listen now, carefully, very carefully. JF MONEY IS BORROWED, DEBT MUST BE \-AID “If this nation borrows twenty bil- lion dollars during this war, if it goes in debt twenty billion dollars, that debt is going to have to be paid after the war. All debts are paid by the people that work, that produce. It means that your boys that go across the water to . T T A T N 3 St T AT e st From Townley’s Speech “Unless you do away with the gambler in food and the nec- essaries of life you will produce your wheat and get $2 a bushel for it and then you will bond the nation and pay across the wa- ter $5 or $6 a bushel for your own wheat for your own boy. “That is the lineup now. It is wrong. It is national suicide. It is national suicide in times of peace; it is multiplied national suicide in times of war, and we are not so crazy as to believe we can succeed unless this government shall do what every European government already has done—take over, absolutely take over transportation distribution and kick out the gamblers in clothing and food and machinery and munitions and armor plate and everything else that they are using now to make seven times as much money as they made before the war—and God knows they made plenty then! “Is this treason? “Demanding a measure that will enable us to succeed in war can not be treason, can it ? “Last Tuesday about ten million young men went to the reg- istration booths and there pledged their lives in the defense of their country’s honor——— “This is the acme of patriotism. No blatant demagogue ap- proaches within a million miles of the sacrifice these men made last Tuesday when they went to the registration booths. “And it is right that they should have done it. I believe in the conscription of life in time of war, because it is not right that the burden should be shouldered upon those few who have the courage in their blood to go out and fight. “I believe so thoroly in conscription of life in time of war that I believe the age limit should be raised to take in all thvse that advocate war but do not go. “In time of national crisis and necessity it is the only meas- ure and the only way to raise an army. To try to raise.an army . by the volunteer system is insanity. Only by conscription can you get the best for war and only by conscription can you get the best to serve you in office, in state or nation. “Well, they have charged us with treason, but I want to say to you that the farmers of this nation are so patriotic that even tho this government today may be in the hands and abso- lute control of *the steel trust and the sugar trust and the ma- chine trust; even tho it is, we are going to do our best by pro- ducing all we can. All as it is, if we can’t do better we will do THAT. “You (those who profit from war) must make this arrange- ment, that when we give our lives, all that we have, this nation will take first of your profits and then of the property you have got if the profit is not enough; and after the war is over we will give back, as you give back of our lives, as much as is left and no more.” fight these battles, when they come back home will have to labor years and years and years to pay off the debt; lubor to pay for every pound of shot and shell and food and clothing - that you ship across the sea—and in- terest upon the debt. “And if the war lasts long the bur- den will be so heavy that maybe thay never can pay even all the interest en " this war debt. This is not a pleasant prospect for men that are to go across the water fighting for the honor of this country. “And if there is another way and i our judgment a better one—better be- cause it will more securely protect the lives of these boys, better because it will get the money_ quicker, and spells more of the justice to every man and woman in the ¢ 'ntry, and will sooner end the war; I say if in our opinion there is another and we think a better way because of thcse reasons, we cer- tainly in this country have a right o0 propose that other way, and thct ve are going to do this afternoon. The Grand Forks Herald and Bismarck Tribune have been tell- ing that | oppose the sale of bonds. } don't. If we can®t find another and more efficient way to finance the war, then we will h-ve to fi-_. nance it by the sale of bonds. REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STEEL TRUST “Representatives, not of your gov- ernment, but representatives of big business, are in the audience always looking for something I might say that they could use against me. I have been pictured hanging to a telegraph pole here already in the state of North Dakota. They have pictured me hang- ing to a telegraph pole, a traitor to my country. _ “But you should not be alarmed, be- cause the newspaper that published that picture is in the services not of the government, but the steel trust. I am & traitor to the steel trust, - “Last Tuesday about 10,000,000 young men—I see them in the crowd here, and here, and here—about 10,000,000 young men went to the registration booths and there pledged their lives in the de- fense of their country’s honor, went to -the registration booths and there said in effect: ‘I will serve my country in any capacity that she may demand. I pledge you here my life. Take it and use it as you will . It is all I have. My life is everything to me. It is every- thing to my father, and my mother, and my sister, and my brother,"and my children, or my sweetheart. It is all I have; it is®all they have. In this world crisis you, my country, take this, all I have, and as much of it as you need for the defense of our homes and our country.’ “This is what these young men said in effect: ‘Thils is all that I can do.’ THE ACME OF PATRIOTISM, THE OFFER TO SERVE “This is the acme of patriotism. ‘No blatant demagogue approaches within a million miles of the sac- rifice these men made last Tuesday when they went to the registration booths. And it is right that they should have done it. 1 believe in the conscription of life in time of war, because it is not right that the burden should be shouldered upon those few who have the cour- age in their blood to go and fight. CONSCRIPTION ONLY WAY TO DEFEND THE NATION “I believe so thoroly in conscription of life in time of war, that I believe _the age limit should be raised to take in all those that advocate war but do not go. (Applause and cheers.) (A voice—“Good boy!™) “I would take in first the big strong fat advocates of war; because they will stop more bullets than these thin little fellows here; and I believe in it further because if they had to go when the young man goes, we would not go quite S0 often, SIX < “But at any rate I am for conscrip« tion of life. In time of national crisis and necessity it is the only measure, and the only way to raise an army. To try to raise an army by the volunteer system is insanity. “Only by conscription can you get the best for war and only by conscription can you get the best to serve you in of« fice, in state or nation. PAY AS WE GO ALONG OR PAY WHEN IT IS OVER “If we can not pay the war debt as we -go along, then we will have to pay it when we get back. There is no doubt about that. If I can’t pay to- day for what I need to take home, then I have to go pay for it when I get tack. But if I can pay today, I am in duty bound to, and as a busi- ness man and a man of common sense I will pay today. And if a nation when entering to war, can pay today, they ought to pay today, so that the boys can start a new life when they get back again. “There is a way to pay today. This nation is worth some 200 billions of dollars, and the fathers and the moth- ers and grandfathers and the grand- mothers, of these ten million of young men that are going to war, they pro- duced that 200 billion dollars worth of wealth. They produced it. And they have piled it in heaps so large and magnificent that they themselves dare not approach the wealth they have produced. They would stand in awe of the mighty institutions that their industry has reared. “And I propose that first of all we apply some of the proceeds of the la- bor of the years gone by to the pay- ment of this war debt, and pay it as we go. EXORBITANT PRICES BASIS OF STEEL PROFITS “The steel trust here today made 281 million of dollars in 1916, 281 mil- lion of dollars of profit when three years ago they made less than 100 million. Made that profit, ladies and gentlemen, by charging your friends the allies across the water an exorbit- ant price for munitions of war. Not only that, but by charging you for plow shares and binders and threshing machines an exorbitant war price— rob you at the same time! “They used this war as an excuse to pull into the coffers of the already rotten rich 10 million where before they could only rob vou of one million. In the heat and haste and confusion of war, they multiply their millions many times at your expense. You now sending your boys across the water must pay the steel trust added ever- increasing millions of profit to keep your boy from being destroyed after he gets over there. ; “That is the way it appears to be going now—and we have a DIFFER- ENT way. - TAKE THE TRUST. PROFITS TO PAY WAR EXPENSES. “The streel trust here makes two or three hundred MILLION dollars of profit. The sugar trust makes profits; the harvester trust makes profits; the railroad trust makeés profits; the lum- ber trust makes profits; the shoe trust; the whisky trust; the grain trust; the beef trust—every trust makes an enormous war profit. | “Today and tomorrow and every day they are sapping—these vultures upon the industrial life of this nation—are sapping the life blood not only of your allies; but of YOU, a thousand times more than ever! When you need that blood most, they sap it most. Now in this world crisis, theéy pile up during the war more THAN IT WOULD TAKE TO PAY THE EXPENSE OF WAR; and I say to you that the first thing this government should do is te take the profits they are making to- day to pay the expense of war.” (Loud cheers and great applause.) “Is this treason? (Many cries from the audience of “No!” “No!”) . “Anarchy?” (Cries of No! No! No!) TAKE HOARDED WEALTH IF PROFITS GIVE OUT “More than that, if by the duration of this war, those war profits are not enough to pay the cost of the war; if by their management we are so far ‘led into war—and we WILL GO AS FAR AS IS NECESSARY to defend this nation—if we must go 80 far as to exhaust those profits, and need MORE money, there is still another reservoir: and that is THE MILLIONS THAT THEY PILED UP BEFORE THE WAR. We will take that, too! (Great applause.) “And when the war is over we will not be in debt, and when those boys come back they may start life then (Continted-on page 15)