The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 6, 1917, Page 11

3] SOMETHING bt MUST BE DONE ANDIM GOING | TO D16 HERE THE FARMER'S MUST FIGHT AND T'M GOING Here’s the farmer digging himself In—building a trench and breastworks to defend himself from the enemy. the armored ‘cars of Big Biz. But who are these little fellows busily engaged in scratching the ground and making the dirt fly like gophers? Well, well! “Low price of wheat” is about to attack in ‘“tanks”, Sure enough, they. are the farmers’ “friends” in North Dakota—Jerry Bacon of the Grand Forks Herald, mouthpiece of the gang; and Norm Black, “president” of the Fargo Forum, purchased recently to fight ithe farmers; and Treadwell Twichell—yqs the same fellow who fought the farmers’ are there little fellows so busy? Why, they have discovered,"as Treadwell said, that “the farmer must fight.” D. C., to ask for a fair price of wheat for, the farmers—and the Fargo Forum and the Grand Forks Herald giv of the farmers they are. But the farmer, who knows what all this means keeps on building his trench. program in the 1915 legislature. Why So they sent a commission down to Washington, e them great headlines explaining what “friends" " The Gang Plays a Silly Game B careful if you have a cracked lip, because we are going to have a good laugh in a minute. The.Old Gang in North Dakota has e shown signs of life! Yes sir,'it’s a fact. And the Leader car- 3 toonist has drawn a picture of it. (See above). The farmers were threatened with a low price of wheat. The great machinery of the Nonpartisan league got busy. Congressman Baer, elected by the farm- ers and on the job at Washington, got busy. Dr. Ladd, member of the wheat price-fixing committee, appointed through Baer’s recommenda- tion, got busy. Thousands of League farmers sent telegrams. William Lemke and others of the League staff went to ‘Washington in the in- terests of a square deal for farmers. The League and Congressman Baer bought space in Washington newspapers to carry on the fight. But the Old Gang in North Dakota thought it saw an opportunity. It also would ‘‘help’’ the farmers. It thought it could do something to get back in the good graces of the farmer, The Commerecial clubs appointed committees to go down to Wash- ‘Ington and work for a fair price of wheat. This was a fine spirit. The farmers were glad to get the help of the business interests of Fargo and Grand Forks—that was the kind of co-operation the farmers wanted. But—and here is the point—this move by the business inter- ests, doubtless conceived in honesty and in a spirit of good-faith co- operation—was immediately seized upon by the Old Gang to make capital for the discredited, anti-farmer newspapers and anti-farmer politicians of the state. The Old Gang and the gang press wanted some eredit for ‘‘helping the farmers’’—and who do you suppose the Gang had sent down to Washington on the business men’s committee ¢ ‘Well sir, they sent Jerry Bacon for one—Jerry Bacon, owner of “the discredited Grand Forks Herald, mouthpiece of the politicians— Jerry Bacon who has ruined a newspaper, discredited_ a city and made himself the most contemptible character of the state in the eyes of the farmers by his insane, sensational and utterly dlshon_est attacks on the farmers, their organization, their governor and their leaders. Jerry Bacon to the rescue of the farmers! How he understands the farmers’ roblems and sympathizes with them! How ye has stood_ up for th.em gl the past! See him in the picture, scratching in the dirt, throwing ( es for the farmer. < : ; B (.lfiflfgl ivorse than sending farmers’ ‘‘friends’’ like Bacon to Wash- ington, was the way the Fargo Forum! purchased recem_;ly for the urpose of fighting the farmers’. organization, went at it. It was fiumorous. The Forum almost choked to death shouting in black type how the discredited politicians and Jerry Bacon were the only real in-. fluence working for the farmers in this crisis. The Forum dug up a statement from Treadwell Twichell, floor leader of the 1915 legislature ° and chief obstacle to farmers’ legislation in that session, since then a bitter opponent of the Nonpartisan league. Twichell was played up as another great friend of the farmers, demanding fair wheat prices, Treadwell said we had to fight. For a week the Forum tried in every issue to convince the people that it was the Old Gang that was really going to get the farmers justice. The Forum did what it was purchased to do. All activity of the farmers’ organization in the matter, all reference to the farmers’ congressman, Baer, was suppressed. The Forum even suppressed a part of a telegram from Congress- man Young, because Young gave eredit in his telegram to the organi- zation of the farmers in the League as the MAIN FACT that was ine fluencing officials at Washington to give farmers a fair deal. The TForum pretended to print all of Young’s telegram but it omitted that part which made it plain that it was not the Old Gang—men like Baco{rfi - Twichell and the ‘“president’’ of the Forum—who were doing the re effective work at Washington for a fair Pprice. Congressman Young said that the men in charge of price regula- tion had become alarmed ‘‘at the possibility of trouble with these ups standing farmers, who are well organized and who are becoming better organized every day, who demand their rights and who are not ex. hibiting the instincts of cattle.”’ -But if the Forum printed THAT it would show that there was somebody besides the Oid Gang at work for the farmers, and the Forum wanted to get all the prestige possible for itself, Bacon and men of his stamp. So the Forum suppressed that part of Young’s telegram which did not suit its purposes. The effort of the Forum and the Herald in using the good faith efforts of the business men to reflect glory and credit on the politieal gang of North Dakota, and to gain prestige for the enemies of the farmers like the Forum and Grand Forks Herald, was so illy concealed that it was laughable. Business men who were used in this silly game to shed credit on the farmers’ enemies and suppress credit due to the farmers’ own organization, perhaps see their mistake now. Their ef. fort on behalf of the farmers would have been more appreciated if they had not sent Jerry Bacon and men like him to Washington and if they had not allowed papers like the Forum to use them for political purposes. After giving due credit. to the business men who honestly wanted to help the farmers and really wanted to see a fair price for wheat, we can have a laugh over Jerry Bacon, Norman Black and Treadwell Twichell, seratching dirt like gophers (see picture) while the farmer is perfecting his real line of defenses—his organization that has made him a power and given him a united voice and the respect of those in power in Washington. PAGE ELEVEN L Sy O EEU S N e B S G PR