The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 2, 1917, Page 14

e prgr ] Scrapper Speaks His Mind Tells Editor and Town Fellers a Few Facts About Who Builds the Cities BY 1. B. RIP, THE REPORTER Deer Mistur Editur: I am spendin’ a few daze out in the country an’' stoppin’ at a typical small town hotel, whur you pay 50 cents ef you eat at the table with the bokay on it an’ sleep at nite on.a pair uv springless sags that air so springy that your hed an’ heels remain in close proximity all nite, an’ am enjoyin’ my- self immensely an’ hope you air the saim. An’ it wuz in that very saim hotel that I heerd the dingfizzeledist argy- ment that I have heerd in menny days. I wuz settin’ over in one corner readin’ the Thomas Cat an’ enjoyin’ the thrills in a story that tole about how a young telegraf operator, with hiz han's tied behind him an’ blindfolded, by the robbers that had robbed the telegraf stashun, had climbed a telegraf pole an’' by clickin' his teeth on the wires had sent a message about the robbery. Thar wuz quite a bunch uv fellers set- tin' around an’ talkin’ about jinin' the army, among them Mr. Halfstarved, editur uv the Weekly Spazzam an’ also mayor uv the village, Az the conversashun drifted along a farmer, Mr. Hard Scrapper, cum into the hotel to put up a winder card ad- vertisin’ a Nonpartisan Leeg picknick at Yon Yonson's grove, eight miles northeast uv town. No suner did the editur an’ mayor see the card than he pricked up hiz ears an’' begin to ast questions. “Say, Hard Scrap’ why in the dad- blazzes didn't you fellers have that picknick rite here in town,’ he said, walkin' over an’ reedin’ the card over. EDITOR WANTS MEETING HELD IN HIS TOWN “Well, in the )fix‘st place that hain't no good place close here fur it an’ in the secon’ place that's more centrally located out thar, an' hesides it seamed most uv the farmers wanted it out thar, whur thar’s plenty uv shade an’ water.” ~ “Why, grate centemeters an’ little popguns, aint we got shade rite here in town an’ aint thar a well back uv the livery barn”— “Yes, you've got a shade tree in Bill Dunnigan's yard an’ thar’s plenty uv dust along the streets”— “An’ scads uv ice cream in Quick Pennycatcher’'s drug store,” piped up Dan Funnybone, the village cut-up. Ever body lafed but Halfstarved, editur uv the Weekly Spazzam. “I don't see what you want to taik your darned ole picknicks away out in the country fur,” he went on, gittin’ white around the gills. ‘“We bizness men would like to attend it but we can't leve our bizness an’ go away out thar—an’ besides its the day 1 git out the Spazzam—how can I go?” Hard Scrapper had leened up agin’ the seegar case an’ wuz a-standin thar with a buhch uv winder cards under one arm, one han’ in his pocket an’ a kind uv a smurky smile chasin’ a sickly lokin’ grin around hiz mouth. “O most of you town fellers don't care ennything about the Leeg—you don't want it to suckseed, ruther you want it busted up, so why shud you be so inturrested in havin’ our pick- nick here in town?” SCRAPPER SHOWS PAPER AGAINST LEAGUE “0O, we're willin’ to show a friendly spirit,” sed the editur, “when—when’’— “When thar’'s a chance to sell a few nickeles’ wurth uv sumthin’,” butted in the Funnybone, again! Most everybody lafed agin’+—— “Now jist hole on a minnit, hole on jist a minnit,” sed Scrapper, turnin’ around an’ layin’ his bunch uv winder cards down on the showcase. That kinda milk an’ mush sounds nice, Mr. Halfstarved, but the trubble with it is it aint the truth. It d@on’t square with what haz happeued in the past. It don't jibe by a four-gallon jug ful with what you have sed in your paper in the past few munths—not by a dog- gone site.” Everybody waz az quite az a bunch uv mice when the Tom Cat appearz on the seen. “How long haz it bin sinst you had a long article in your paper callin’ the Leeg leeders Sochalists, carpetbaggers, infidells, I. W. W.5 an’ ever uther thing you can put your pencil to?—Not three weeks ago, Mr. Halfstarved, fur I have the paper rite here in my pocket, here it iz, read it fur yourself,” an’ he pulled a soiled sheet outem kiz pocket an' helt it under the noze uv the very muchly flabbergasted editur. FARMERS BUILT TOWN— THEY CAN'T DENY IT “An’ rite here in this very article you say that ef we farmers had gumpshun anuf to cum in outen a hale storm we wudn’t have heen tuck in by that ‘bunch of swindlers.” An’ now you git up here an’ belleyache becauze us gumpshunless farmers won'’t bring this gang uv ‘swindlers’, infidels, carpet- baggers an’ I. W. W.s down here to polute the refined atmosfear uv your butiful city. Bah! you're joakin’, Mr. Halfstarved, you're joakin’.” Things wuz gettin' serious by this time an' everybody wuz all ears an’ attenshun. “But even at that we bizness men air willin’ to let you hold your meetin’ and Villages in a Farming Community in town—we're willin’ to furnish the city hall without pay—didn't we do it last winter? “We're willing to furnish this an’ we're willin’ to furnish that,” mocked Scrapper. “You talk like you fellers bilt this town. You talk like you fur- nished ever sent to maik theze side- walks an’ put up theze street lites an’ bilt that city hall—an’, an’ everything.” “Well who in thunderashun did, ef we didn’'t?” roared the editur, gettin’ upon hiz high-hoss ~an’ manifestin’ much indignashun, - Hard Scrapper haw-hawed rite in hiz face. WOULD BE NO TOWN, SCRAPPER POINTS OUT “Say, Halfstarved, “he went on after he got hiz lafin’ under control. “I'll tell you who bilt this town—bilt ever bit uv #{—pade fur ever brick an’ ever The Public Praises Farmers New York Publication Finds Vision, Enthusiasm and Determination Instead of Dejection in League’s War Attitude > (FROM THE PUBLIC, NEW YORK) HE election of John M. Baer as congressman from - the First North Dakota district to fill a vacancy caused by the death of the incumbent is of the deepest significance. Coming a3 a climax of a sensational campaign in which he as the candidate of the IFar- mers' Nonpartisan League was de- nounced as a traitor and un-Ameri- can, his election is clearly an indorse- ment by these northwestern farmers of the League's attitude toward the war. That attitude .was radical, but of an affirmative, positive radicalism having nothing in common with the negative opposition which is the best the Socialist party has had to offer us. rresident Townley and other of- ficers of the League who participated in the Congressional campaign made no secret of the reluctance with which they had accepted American partici- pation. But they did accept‘it, and they accepted it with a determination to get behind President Wilson with all theit power in order to make good his declaration that we are fighting in the cause of democracy. FARMERS AGGRESSIVE IN THEIR CAMPAIGN These North Dakota farm leaders have been- more than aggressive— they have been pugnacious and even - threatening in their in- sistence that big business and special privilege are not to remain in the saddle and use the war as a means of -increasing their power. They have demanded and reiterated the demand of conscription® of wealth. Their jour- nal, the Nonpartisan Leader, is con- ducting an intelligent, aggressive and effective campaign for high income and excess profits taxes and against the Simmons-Penrose-Seligman, plan of raising only about one-third of the'war fund from taxation and borrowing the other two-thirds thru bond issues. The Leader is insisting that congress adopt President Wilson’s recommendation that at least half of the expense be met by taxation. The temper of the north- west farmers can best be shown by quoting an editorial from the Non- partisan Leader of July 5, printed on the eve of Mr. Baer's election. It Is typical of the speeches and printed ut- terances to which the voters respond- ed. Says the Leader, discussing Prof. Seligman’s propaganda: ~ “The rank and file of the people have willingly submitted to the selective draft to fill the army. Or- ganized resistance would be trea- son. Yet here is the mouthpiece of big business apparently threat- ening an organized rebellion of the rich if their dollars are drafted, Do the war profiteers want 1t understood that/ they will resist with force efforts to take their profits to fight for democracy in Europe? “The individuals and publica=- tions: who are resisting President ‘Wilson‘s policy of war financing and using such men as Seligman for their propaganda are the ones who today are raising the cry of “treason’” against every individual who ventures to. express himself ‘ PAGE FOURTEEN freely on the war, if his views hap- pen to be a suggestion to the gov- ernment that these papers disap- ‘prove: Thus, the man who says that autocracy in America should be fought at the same time that autocracy in Europe is, is a traitor. If anybody proposes conscription of wealth he is a traitor. Every effort of patriotic persons to keep this a war of democracy by per- mitting the people to have a voice in it apparently is to be throttled, _on the ground that he is not “stand- ing by the president in this crisis.” Yet the press that is “hollering” the loudest about “putting a united country back of the presi- dent and shouting “traitors” in every other breath, is the press that is fighting the president on his plan for financing the war, It is treason to suggest terms of peace. It is treason to sugsgest that the Liberty Loan was a mistake. Yet it is not treason to under- mine the president -by a paid propaganda against taxation of swollen incomes and war profits. “The American people are get- ting suspicious of the persons who wrap themselves in the American flag and accuse everyone who dis- agrees with them of being a trait- or. They are not forgetting that patriotism is often the last refuge of a scoundrel. The plutocrats of the United States will not succeed in trying to make their cause look™ patriotics and the people’'s cause look treasonable.” FARMERS INSIST ON VOICE IN WAR Here we have health, courage and determination enlisted in the demo- cratic cause. These North Dakota farmers are- men of action. Discour- agement and dejection are not for them in this national crisis. Seeing the dangers as clearly as the most pessimistic Socialist, they refuse to fold their arms in futile dejection and ad- mit defeat. They are sending their sons into the army and buying Liberty Bonds. But every farmer’s boy in uni- form, every bond in their banks, every additional acre of wheat, signifies for them the validity of their claim to a determining voice in the:direction of ° the war, the method of its financing, the terms of which it shall end. Here, in the farmers of North Dakota, we find radicals who are not demoralized and impotent because- the turn of events was not in the direction they wished. Mr. Baer’s election served no= tice on every politician in Washington that something besides the defeat of Germany must come out of this war. It was properly enough that the New York newspapers friendly to “wall Street hailed it editorially as an evil - omen, A DIFFERENT KIND Governor Frazier spoke to an im- mense gathering of people at the Mouse River Chautauqua the Fourth. His address was of a different brand as compared with the soft soap stuff usually handed out by political orators and “there was no mistaking the fact that his talk met with the approval of Jhis audience. —DONNYBROOK (N. D.) COURIER, ¥ : shingle an’ ever nale an’ ever board— we farmers did, that's who did. Wate a minnit, wate®a minnit! You fellers wudn’t a cum to this town—or ruther the place whur this town iz, ef we farmers hadn’t furst have cum to the cuntry. Ef you had you wud have starved to deth, becauze we farmers have supported you. We furnished the munny to bild that bank over yonder— also the banker’s nice home up the street thar. We furnished the munny to put up them elevators down thar— an’ that department store up thar on the corner—an’ this hotel here, an’ we furnished the munny to grade an’ pave theze streets an’ put-up theze street lites an’ buy your automobijes. “Ef this hadn’t bin a purty good farmin’ cuntry around here an’ ef thay hadn’t bin sum farmers on the land to maik it productive you fellers wud never have cum here. Yes, we fur- nished the welth to maik it all—an’ moreover we have helped to bild finer homes than theze down in Minneapolis, up at Duluth an’ over in Chicago. We have help to bild bigger elevators than theze down at the Twin Cities, we have help to bild bigger banks than that one over thar an' we've pade anuf uv dividends on ralerode stock to bild a ralerode uv our own frum here to Nuyork, We've maid millunairg upon millunaires an’ not only bilt this town but ever uther town in this stait an’ help to bild a lot uv bigger ones outen this stait.’—— “But how cud you git along without the towns?” ast the editur, tryin’ to dig hisself outen the pile uv argymint. “What wud you fellers do here in this town?” went on Scrapper, ignorin’ the question. “What wud you fellers do ef all the soil fur " fifteen miles around wud turn to sahd? Spoze it wudn’t rane fur five yeers in this sec- tion uv the stait. Whoze gladder 'n you fellers air when we have a good crop an' who gits bluer than you fellers do when a drouth, a hail or a rust hits us? Nobody—not even the farmers themselves.” “But” “O, I'm not sayin’ but what we need the towns—not & bit uv it. ' What I'm sayin’ iz what I've sed an’ I don’t need to repeat it. An’ mind you I'm not kickin’ on that—not a bit uv it. We ain’t got nuthin’ aginst you fellers— in fack we sorter like you an’ we like to see you.prosper an’ wud like to see you prosper more'n what you air. We're glad to furnish your bred an’ butter fur the service you render us— but we'd furnish you more bred an’ more butter an’ even put jelly on it ef you help us togit rid uv the big guys outen the stait. Them's the guys we're after. We know your value to the stait—we need you an’ you caint ,get along without us an’ you're entitled to— a better support than you're gittin’ but we can’t give it to you as long az we've got to support Big Bizness too. FARMER WANTS HELP IN HIS BIG FIGHT “We want you to help us unlode them big fellers an’ kick ’em offen our backs—your backs an’ our backs. Bf we cud accomplish that your naim wudn’'t be Halfstarved—it mite be Gotrocks or Whatawad or Hugerolle. But you won’t do it. You listen to the puny. whine uv the watery-mouthed " politishun. You let him line you up aginst your best inturrest. You call us bad naims an’ you sing hiz praizes. He's the ‘Honorable Mr. So an’ So’ while we're suckers. That's whur you're rong Mr. editur. We haint mad at you an’ we don’t want to hurt your bizness—only as we air compelled to protect our own bizness. We want the whole cuntry more prosperous soze yowll be more prosperous an’ we'll be more prosperous-an’ this wud all-be s0 ef you wud quit listenin’ to the swan song uv the dyin’ politishun who don’t give you nuthin’ but bumcumbee an’ balderdash an’ wud listen to the Vvoices uv the men whoze han’s feed you.” Scrapper stopped suddenly an’ turn« ed around an’ picked up hiz winder cards. “Now think them things over, Mr. Editur, before you have anuther spazzam uv callin’ naims,” an’ he went out ‘and started across the street to put up a card in the bank winder. “Now take that over to your sarfetum sanctorium an’ cram it in your imita- shun meershum an’ then act ac- cordin’ly an’ maybe the time'll cum when you can smoke seegars. instid,” sed Funnybone, an’ the editur departed amid much sniggerin’ an’ gigglin’, Yoors trooly, : RIP. ] d YO0 eeeeaee—— AN ST e - Y e A o SUNS S ER AT, 1 A A T