The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 12, 1917, Page 3

T e In the interest of a square deal for the farmers Tlonpartisan Teader ‘ A magazine that dares to print the trath Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League Y OL5;4NO. 2 FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1917. WHOLE NUMBER 95, The Farmer Swats Some “Flies” ta ‘““swatted’’ the farmers’ enemies hip and thigh. The farmer got out the trusty swatter that served so well in North Dakota last year and in one swoop accounted for a number of pesky ‘‘flies,"’ as the cartoonist in the accompanying picture so graphically shows. It was perhaps harder on the Grand Forks Herald than any other member of the anti-farmer gang. For six weeks the Herald has been reeking with nasty cartoons and poisoned news, put forth in a desperate, almost insane effort to defeat John M. Baer. The Herald, T HE election of John M. Baer to congress July 10 in North Dako- by its devotion of almest its entire paper for weeks to the. fight on the farmers, on Baer and on President Townley of the League, risked its all on this election. The defeat of its candidate and all it stands for by so decisive a majority is a ‘‘swat’’ the Herald can probably never re- cover from. Its confident predictions of the election of Burtness, its refusal to print the news of the campaign favoring Baer or to give the League, President Townley and Mr. Baer the slightest vestige of a fair deal, in the face of the returns has made a monkey of this nasty enemy .of progress. Baer’s election was also a swat for another class of papers, of which: the Grand Forks Normanden and the Fargo Forum are exam- bles. These papers supported Burtness, though the Forum's support (L L7777 T 7ZZ 220 '11 A 7 2w A A 59 Sy O s i ) NG 40407100 A Y NNl 11 Ve s v e Vet el 1 7T s 27 7 7 AN IN LY A T T £ LGS wrary s W Vasllsg, SRS SRS A KT s, o S 7 Kowre 22 % 1A O T S A e XA 4/ 3=/ A P’ VY V77 2N Y T 771 R SIIONO I L7 ) q UM 2387 b/ ARGO PO AN q “"'A.gggu ; % - ol ENEM D LADD — Ak R G B\Z ” / was half-hearted. The Forum knew it was beaten. It supported Burt- ness without hope of victory merely because that was what the Forum was acquired for recently by enemies of the farmers. The Normanden was utterly dishonest. It pretended not to be fighting the farmers, though it was trying to defeat the farmers’ candidate. It was doing all it could to disrupt the League by trying to diseredit its officers and leaders, and yet pretended not to oppose the farmers’ organization. * * * DISHONESTY OF BURTNESS ANGS, the stalwart Democratic candidate opposing Baer, made B a campaign solely of opposition to the League. His speeches, in which he lied about the League, its officers and its purposes, contained no constructive material whatever. His swat from the farmers made him finish a poor third. When he ran for congress last year he got 13,000 votes. He won’t have much over 3000 when the totals are all in on the present election. Bangs is utterly discredited. The case of Burtness is not much different from that of Bangs. He allowed himself to be used by the stalwart ring of the Republican party and by the anti-farmer gang of the First district, and, while pre- tending to be progressive himself, was the candidate of reactionaryism. If he.was progressive he failed utterly to show it in his speeches, which dealt largely with dead issues like the tariff at a time when vital issues in regard to the war and food supply were occupying Baer and the real thinkers and fighters on the side of the people. Burtness allowed his supporters, like the Grand Iorks Herald, to . fight the Nonpartisan league and the farmers, while he himself main- tained silence on the League. In his advertisements he made a weak and insincerc attempt to bid for League support, declarintg he was not an enemy of the League, although he was trying to beat the League candidate. I'or these reasons the swat the farmers gave him was well deserved. : R THE OLD GANG FOILED HE election was also a decisive set back for the forces which I hoped the defeat of Baer would encourage the enemies of President Ladd of the Agricultural college, and would make it easier to accomplish the removal of Ladd. The same gang that is after Ladd and would humiliate and discredit this friend of the people, were backing Burtness in the anything-to-beat-the-League campaign. Baer's election shows the League stronger than ever. With the farmers stick- ing together and solidly organized, as shown by this election, Ladd has a backing that will make his enemies hesitate. Not the least of the ‘‘flies’’ swatted by the farmer with the vote of July 10 was the Grand Forks convention that put Burtness in the running as an alleged Republican candidate. ‘The stalwart, anti-farmer gang in the Republican party was kicked out last year by the voters. This convention was an attempt by this gang to recapture the party, and through the party the First district. The miserable failure of these plotters as shown by the vote of the people proves that the farmers are still alert to their own interests and in the cause of good . government. The farmers’ good old swatter did good work all along the line, It lived up to its reputation last year in North Dakota. The farmer can carefully lay it away for use again next year. On July 10 it swat- ted effectively. The flies, attracted by the political control molasses, did not dine as they expeected. PAGE THRER e AR i . S k o