The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 5, 1917, Page 2

Your Cause and This Crisis By President Townley During the last few days before election all the enemies of the farmers’ League in the First distriet will make a tremendous effort to defeat Baer. These enemies in the First district will be aided in every possible way by their friends and your enemies outside the district and outside the state. The grain gamblers, the beef trust, banking monopoly, poli- ticians, food gamblers—every friend of special privilege and enemy of people—is in this battle against you. From outside the state the pirates of industry send messages of courage, directions and money to their paid agents inside the state— the elevator men, bankers, lawyers-and some professional men and mer- chants—to the Fargo Forum, Normanden, Bismarck Tribune and irand Forks Herald. - All these long known and self-acknowledged friends of special privilege and enemies of government by the people, are making the biggest fight in ‘the history of the state against Baer. THEY ARE MAKING THIS TREMENDOUS FIGHT NOT BECAUSE THEY HATE BAER, BUT BECAUSE THEY HATE THE ORGANI- ZATION BACK OF BAER AND THE PRINCIPLES BAER STANDS FOR. . Special privilege and the politicians and newspapers who serve special privilege do not want to be put out of business—the food gamblers and their friends die hard. A congress made up of men elected by the League would put the food gamblers and their agents out of business. . . THEY WANT TO PROVE LEAGUE IS NOT AS STRONG AS BEFORE The pirates know they must defeat Baer or the farmers may fill congress with men like Baer. Big business is alarmed and panic stricken at the thought of what might happen to their four billion dollars a year of war profits, if the farmers should send many men io eongress. b ¢ ; THE BIG GRAFTERS OUTSIDE THE STATE AND THEIR FRIENDS AND AGENTS INSIDE THE STATE, ARE NOT SO MUCH AFRAID OF BAER’'S ELECTION AS THEY ARE OF THE SUCCESS OF THE FARMERS’ LEAGUE. They will do anything and | say anything to defeat Baer, so they can ery to all the world that the farmers’ League is dying. This is not a battle between Baer and Burtness. It is not a battle between Baer and any other candidate. Neither is it a battle between the farmers and their friends in the First district and the politicians and newspapers who oppose them in the First North Dakota district. THIS BATTLE IS BETWEEN BIG BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE FARMERS OF THE UNITED STATES. THE FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA IS THE PLACE WHERE THIS BATTLE IS RAGING. The politicians, busi- ness representatives, lawyers, the Fargo Forum, Normanden, Grand Forks Herald, Jerry Bacon and his friends are the agents of special privilege in this fight. Bangs and Burtness are their tools. THE WHOLE COUNTRY LOOKS TO YOU TO WIN THIS RATTLE The farmers and all progressive people of the nation are waiting and watching and praying, that you farmers of the First North Dakota distriet, will defeat special privilege in this election. The consumer . who pays Big Business $17.60 a barrel for flour, made from 41-2 bushels of your wheat, wants you to win. So does the factory worker who has to pay $3.50' for one bushel of your potatoes. And all the farmers of all the states are looking to you to win, because if you win now the day will soon come: when they too will send men like Baer to put the food gamblers and their kind where they can not rob starving ‘men ‘and women. ’ If you fail to win, both yéu and they will be discouraged and the i final vietory avill be longer delayed. - o ] Your brothers in other states can not come and help—they can only wait and hope and listen for the cry of vietory. But you do not need their help. You are strong and there are many of you. You defeated the grafters once and you can do it again. You can beat them worse than you beat them when you elected Frazier. You can make the vietory so overwhelming that other districts may not reach the mark you set for years. . But you must get out and work—every man of you. Your ene- mies are confident of victory, and if you weaken in the battle they will win. Meet them at every turn—get out every voter. Be on your ‘guard for the tricks of the political grafter. Remember that the grafters have always defeated the people by keeping them divided— divided by party, by race, by religion. They have said to the Repub- licans, ‘‘You must not vote for this man because he is a Democrat,’’ and to the Democrat, ‘‘don’t vote for that man for he is a Republican.’’ Then they told the German not to vote for a Scandinavian and the Irishman never to support a Swede. And if that was not enough they [ divided the people on religion. Party, nationality, religion—by build- ing prejudice in one party against another, in one religion against another, in one race or nationality against another—always the people have been kept from voting together and voting for men who would serve them in office. YOUR ENEMIES DO NOT CARE FOR PARTY, RACE OR RELIGION It was only by refusing longer to be divided by party, religion or nationality that North Dakota farmers won a tremendous victory a year ago. Unless we still refuse to be divided by religion, nationality or party the League is doomed to failure. Your enemies care nothing _about religion, nationality or party of a candidate—they use wmen. of any party, religion or nationality. All they require is that the candi- date be willing to do what they want done. " We want to warn ‘you that the ‘grafters are at their old game again. They go sneaking about trying to divide the people. They tell the German he should not vote for Baer because he is an American and they tell the Scandinavian that he must not vote for Baer because he is not a Scandinavian. They tell the Republicans they must not vote for Baer because he is a Democrat and the Democrats that they must have nothing to do with him beeause he is Nonpartisan. Remember that you heard all these things and more last fall, as you will hear them again the next few days. You will hear them again ‘from the same sources—the lying press and professional politician. Do not be disturbed by anything you hear. Liarslong have ruled the land. . It’s time now for decent, common folk to have a hand in government. Work and work hard. See that every vote is cast for Baer. And when the smoke of battle rolls away the North Dakota farmers will emerge again—leaders, champions, victors in this battle for democracy and liberty. All the nation looks to you to set the pace—for leadership in, this gigantic struggle for the rights of the people. See that you do not fail. ; %/oul’resident What Coder Says " Home of the IDEAL ANGUS CATTLE H. P. Coder & Sons Calvin, N. D., June 25, 1917. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: . I want to say that the men or papers who condemn our leader condemn us members of the League. Such have no part with us. I hope you will make that plain in the Leader when writing about the opposition and knockers of our cause. As to A. C. Townley, I admire a man who comes out in the clearing to say what he has to say. I think he is an ideal leader. 1 will, as a member of the League, vote to give him a salary large enough so he may live and do his best without fear of the devil or anything on earth that is not for the good of the common peo- ple. I firmly uphold his attitude as to the war. Hoping our organization wins the fullest success and that Baer is elected to congress, I am, ? : ~ Yours respeefifuily : H. P. CODER, Headquarters Addresses The Leader herewith gives mail addresses of the national and various state headquarters of the National Nonpartisan league. Communications dealing with organization work, payment of dues, securing speakers or meetings for various localities, ete., should be addressed to the proper League headquarters and not to the Nonpartisan Leader. : NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, Box 294, St. Paul, Minn. MINNESOTA HEADQUARTERS, Box 655, St. Paul, Minn. NO. DAK. HEADQUARTERS, Box 919, Fargo, N. D. S0. DAK. HEADQUARTERS, Box 464, Sioux Falls, S. D. MONTANA HEADQUARTERS, Box 1625, Great Falls, Mont. - “KANSAS HEADQUARTERS, Ellsworth, Kansas. COLORADO HEADQUARTERS, Box 538, Denver, Colorado. IDAHO HEADQUARTERS, Box 1127, Boise, Idaho, PAGE TWO 5\ PR