The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 13, 1917, Page 9

’ to carry the flag at the head of the parade today to come forward here.” “Here is he,” farmers in the crowd shouted, and they pushed forward Charles J. Lindstrom, a big strapping fellow who must have been six feet and a half tall and weighed something " like 250. TOWNLEY REMEMBERS - HIS SCHOOL DAYS “Lindstrom, on behalf of the Non- partisan league, and to show the ap- preciation of the farmers for the farm- -ers’ band, I want to present the band this flag,” said Townley. ‘“Hold it up.” And he handed Lindstrom a great, eight-foot flag on a ten-foot pole and as Lindstrom held up and waved Old Glory the crowd cheered again. * _ Townley recalled some more memo- ries of Alexandria. He got up in high school, he said, to make the first speech of his life. He had spent two hours and a half to learn a speech on prohi- bition ‘and when he got up to- deliver 'it, he forgot it. = After that, Townley said, he never tried to make a speech, —he just talked. “I remember another citizen of your town,”' said Townley. “That is Senator Knute Nelson, who has used his posi- tion in the United States senate to in- sult the farmers and attack their move- - ment. There is this difference between Senator Nelson and myself. I am just starting out;. but Knute is about through.” Mingled applause and cheers, the . heartiest the speaker had yet received, {ndicated that not all the farmers were friendly to Senator Nelson’s ambition _ to be re-elected next fall. Mr. Townley spoke about the need of farmers learning to co-operate and . work together. politically to save, for : the benefit of both producer and con- gumer, the enormous profits now lost to both classes and taken by the mid- dlemen. At this point a man in the eudience behind Mr. Townley started to make a disturbance. “How are you going to do it?” he shouted. COUNTY COMMISSIONER BUTTS INTO MEETING «gomebody asks me how we're going ' to do it,” said-Townley. “I sqid aw}.xile ago that the farmers of .t‘ms nation produced about mnine billion dollars worth of foodstuffs and they got—" «wThey're getting it all right now,” broke in the disturber. “The farmer is the best treated man in the world to- day.” “Who is this man?” asked Mr. Town- ley. }"‘John O’'Brien,” came voices from the erowd. . «phat's John O'Brien, a county com- missioner, and he’s a political fighter.” “Oh, John O'Brien, a politician,” said Mr. Townley. “He wants your votes next election.” - The crowd laughed and cheered. “He's a member of the Commercial club,” another voice said. “Oh yes. A member of the Commer- cial club who helped furnish you with the music today,” said Mr. Townley. "~ O'Brien became angrier. «[ don't want your votes,” he shriel- ed at the crowd of nearly 6000 farmer citizens. “Don’t worry, John, you won't get them,” suggested Mr. Townley and fur- ther remarks that O’'Brien tried to make were drowned in the laughter of the crowd. Mr. Townley then went on to discuss seriously the action taken by the gov- ernment in fixing the- price of the farmers’ wheat at less than the market rate, while failing to fix fair prices on any of the commodities that the farmer has to buy. Following is the principal part of his address on that subject: COST OF RAISING WHEAT DISCUSSED Mr, Townley: I want to talk to you a little bit about the price of wheat; and about the business of fixing prices. Governor Frazier, our farmer governor, made a trip to Washington last winter, and there he met a committee. That committee discussed with him the food problem. One member of the commit- tee, a senator I believe, when the:gov- ernor said that $5.50 was too much for the people of New York to pay for. 80- - cent potatoes, this gentleman said $5.50 was just about right—because if the price was any less the people would eat up all the potatoes, and there would not be any left for seed! (Laughter and applause). Now by the same kind of reasoning— following the same lines—I am inclined to think that the members of the Chamber of Commerce and the grain trade on the price-fixing board, have put over the same line of action. The flag bearer here, told me of a township out here where the wheat crop was very good. Our average crop in North Dakota this year, is about six bushels to the acre. It . cost us in North Dakota this year $3.54 a bushel to raise our wheat, on an average. Last year you got six or seven bushels to the acre of 85 or 40-pound wheat, and sold it I guess for less than a dollar. But this year out lere in a township I am told there is a tremendous crop of wheat, even running as high as 30 bushels to the acre. Now wheat in this country is scarce. The law of supply and demand, operat- Here is a most interesting account of a re- markable Nonpartisan league meeting that every reader of the Leader, whether he lives in Minnesota or not, should read. What took place at this Labor Day celebration of farmers and working men of the towns, what was said by the speakers, the spirit of the great multi- tude that participated, whole thing—taken altogether it is one of the most remarkable stories the Leader has ever printed and it shotild not be missed by anyone. President A. C. Townley of the National Nonpartisan league and a small portion of the crowd of farmers that he addressed on Labor Day at Alexandria, Minn, ing even under the handicap of the grain gamblers, indicated that the farmers were going to get about $3 a bushel for their wheat. Southern farmers did get that. The price of wheat was $3.06 when the price fixing committee went to work, and they fixed a price for the highest grade wheat at $2.20 at the Chicago terminals, making it for average grades about $1.90 in North Dakota and a little over $2 down here. They did it, I presume, be- cause .if they hadn’t, you fellows out here, getting 30 bushels to the acre, wouldn’t know what to do with the money! (Laughter) I don’t know any other reason! Un- less it was for the same reason that it was a good plan to put up the price of potatoes last winter—so we would have seed enough left to plant potatoes this year! ‘We are going to hold a mass con- vention in the city of St. Paul on the 18th, 19th and 20th of this month; and the significance of the —THE EDITOR we are going to say that the farmers of the Northwest are. very well satis- fled to have the price of wheat fixed at $1.90 for the average kind of wheat they have to sell—we are going to say that the farmers of the Northwest are willing to have 80 per cent, not of their war profits, but of their war prices taken in this time of national crisis— but we are going to demand that the steel trust and all the rest of them do the same thing! (Cheers and applause). TELLS OF MEETINGS AT FARGO, ST. PAUL Voice in the right!” : Another voice: “Equal rights to all and special privileges to none!” Mr. Townley: We are told that it was necessary for us to cut down the price of wheat to the farmer so that the poor devils in the city could get a b-cent loaf of bread. And that is a worthy purpose. God knows they need it at 5 cents. We were told that that was the purpose of fixing the price of wheat fo the farmer; and members of that committee were fooled into think- ing that that was the purpose. The price fixing committee have cut audience: “That's PAGE NINE down the price of wheat—the wheat that goes into making a barrel of flour —they have cut it down more than four dollars! Has the price of flour come down four dollars? A voice: No.! THE PRICE OF BREAD AND THE FARMERS Mr. Townley: We were told that that cut was to be made so that the people in the cities conld get a 5-cent loaf of bread. Now I want to show you something. Here is a copy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press of last Saturday. I want to show you a news item sent out from Washington after the price of wheat had been fixed, to the people who eat bread. Getting them ready for a drop in price of bread, you know. So that when the price came down it would not kill everybody. (Laughter) So that when the price came down everybody would not be so thoroughly surprised that they would die. And they have accomplished that. No- body is going to be killed because he is surprised. (Reading from newspaper): “Bread prices 10 cents a pound likely.” (Laughter). - A pound of bread is 16 ounces. The day before all the papers carried dis- patches saying that bread was going to be 5 cents for 14 ounces. The next day it is 10 cents for 16 ounces. (Reading from newspaper again): “Food Administration announces that further cut is not to be expected, under the PRESENT DISORGANIZED DIS- TRIBUTION!"” Well what do you think of that? Professor Ladd got back from Wash- ington last night, and we immediately got him into a room and kept there till 12 o’clock, talking to him about the business of making bread. ADMINISTRATION SAID FLOUR TO BE LOWER You know Professor Ladd knows more about the making of bread than all the farmers in this audience, and more about the raising of wheat, than all the farmers of Minnesota, and like- wise of North Dakota. I think he knows more about raising wheat and making bread than any other man in the world. He was on that committee. He gave me some figures; and I want to tallk about these figures of Professor Ladd’'s a little bit. Now I used to bake bread when I was on the farm; but if I had weighed it, it * would have weighed a good deal more than 16 ounces to the pound. (Laugh- ter). You could not arrive at any con- clusion based upon the bread I baked, except how long a man could eat it and stay alive. (Mr. Townley went on and quoted the figures given by Dr. Ladd, show- ing the immense profits that would accrue to miller and baker, with 10- cent loaves of bread made under the present prices of wheat. The statement of Dr. Ladd will be found on another page of the Leader. Mr. Townley con- tinued:) Mr. Townley: Now the whole coun- try has been led to believe—the ime * (Continued on page 16)