The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 27, 1917, Page 11

Conference Ends in Cheers Eight Thousand Present at Closing Session of Mighty Meetings of Producers and Consumers, Called by the Nonpar rtisan League---Senator LaFollette Ge_ts Great OVatlon--Audlence Would Throw Out Three or Four “Hecklers” in the Gallery, But Townley and Frazier Maintain Order This is a photograph of the main floor af the municipal audit.ufiuzfi’»:‘at Fargo,N. D., during ther"c,o_nference of producers and corisumers which took place: there September 17, preliminary to the great three-day sessions at St. Paul. Neérly 2,000 delegates from Montana, Northern Minnesota, Idaho and North Dakota attended this metting, and many of them went on down to. St. Paul for. the main conference: there, Rtsolutwns similar to those adopted at St. Paul were adopted at the Farge meeting.. BY STAFF CORRESPONDENT T. PAUL, Sept. 20.—An audi- ence of more than eight thou- sand people crowding the great St. Paul auditorium to the doors, tonight cheered frantically addresses by Governor Lynn J. Frazier, Mayor Thomas Van Lear of Minneapolis and United States Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin. It was' the closing session of the great Producers’ and Consumers’ convention, held for three days under the auspices of the National Nonpartisan league. . LaFollette was accorded a stirring demonstration as he entered the hall. Xt continued after he mounted the plat- form and for five minutes after he had appeared at the railing ready to: deliver his speech., The entire audience rose, waving' flags and shouting. The audi- ence was similarly enthusiastic in its . reception to President Towniley and to ‘Mayor Van Lear of Minneapolis; who appeared by selection of the Minneapolis labor unions: as their representative. Senator LaFollette started to de- liver a lecture upon “Representa- tive Government.” Before he had become fairly launched' in his sub-_ ject, however, he was interrupted by a heckler in the gallery, who challenged his course in the senate . prior_to the dgclaration of war. La Follette replied in his own defense. As other queshons came fram the gallery he:' thraw down his type- written’ manuscrlpt and abandoned his set speech entirely to discuss war problems.; Apparently most of the crowd 'present approved his course. After he had ended with a plea for raising at least half of the cost.of the war by taxes, a tremendous ‘ovation was given him, and it was necessary to form. a fly=- ing wedge to get him out of the building ta catch his traim, so closs was the throng that pressed around him to grasp his hand. WHAT REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT MEANS Senator LaFollette opened his: speech by declaring: that the growth of. the Nonpartisan league proved that gow-'' ernment: by political partiess was no longer representative. He likened the growth of the' League to the Granger movement, and denounced attempts to, intimidate speakers by constant refer- ence by unfriendly papers: to the pres- ence of secret service men. LaFollette . spoke of the beginning of his own po~ litical career 20 years ago at Ferndale, Wis,, and said he was making the. same plea then as now, that corpora- fions be forced to pay their just. sha.m of taxes. _ %I do not need to speak for this or- ‘“When it comeés to the great public utilities—railroads, telegraphs and: telephones—xt is useless to. talk of government control. Gov- emment control is. not enough. operatmn is what is'needed.” : the Port of Seattle, Wash. ganization:-of farmers,” said Senator LaFollette in the beginning of his speech. _ “It speaks: for itself. It is a Nonpartisan league. Why? Why has such an organization been found nec- essary in this and other states? Be- cause political parties: have failed to give the people of this country real, representative government. What does it mean that men died in 1776 to give this. government life? In order that it should. be a.real representative govern- ment. What is a representative gov- ernment? It is one that represents the people.. - Some have. forgotten .these struggles.. Some: are testifying a.devo- tion to: representative government that they do. not feel. Who is now crying. the: loudest for democracy:?. It is: busi- ness: These new converts. to: democ- racy are masking themselves in: the. livery of democracy while serving the devil. 2 A FEW “HECKLERS" MAKE DISTURBANCE! “The plan of this/ government was that there should be senators. for each state and one: representative: for each unit agreed: upon.. It was. never plan- ned: that. they should represent anly themselves nor that. they should repre- sent: the. United: States: Steel corpora- tion.” One:or two:minor interruptions. came: as. LaFollette mentioned the existence of war and his' own: oppositiom to its declaration on the ground that the Government - ownership and —Robert Bridges, Commissioner of main: grievance of this. country was that “Germany had interfered with the rights of our citizens to. sail the- high seas—on ships loaded -with- munitions. for Great Britain.” LaFollette at this point was depart- ing from his prepared speech: which he was: scheduled to- deliver.. A man. in the gallery called out “yellow:”” “A man who yells: that from a crowd, where he' conceals: his: own identity is himself yellow,” LaFollette replied. Cheers .came from: the crowd and a few hisses. ' The crowd in the gallery from' which the voice had come started to yell “Throw him out.” The audience in the'main floor of the: auditorium rose. For & moment panic threatened but Governor Frazier; A. C. Townley and others rushed forward and with LaFollette's help order was’ restored. From this point on LaFollette made no: attempt to follow his speech and launchied into a defense of his own at- titude. THere were only minor inter- ruptions. The speaker went.from this to a plea for a pay-as-we-go policy in. finanecing the war. “SHAME ON' CONGRESS” SAYS THE GALLERY “Wars have always been financed after a. struggle. by wealth. on. the one. hand, for the taxation method, and the people on thie: ather, for the pay-as-we- go method,” he said, “and wealth has THANKS FOR CONFERENCES! St Paul, Minn., September 12. Hditor Nonpartisam Leader: As we, delegates: from Canby; Minn,, to: the hight. cost of liv= ing' conferences: at: St. Paul, are ready to leave the city, we: wish: ..to thank all .the speakers at. our convention. for delivering. .addresses to the people that will never be forgotten. Here at. this convention was sowed the good seed that will sprout in every | hberfty—lowug man’s heart, and’ hearty thanks-are due the reso- lutions. committee: for the splendid resolutions that were adopted. - Long. may the: National: Nonpartisan league livel, QSCAR. 8. ANDERSON: €: ROEHNBURG: JOHN M. MAIER generally triumphed.. I pray God that after this; Nonpartisan league gets un- der way, this won't be the case.” Great Britain was: lauded by LaFol- lette for always having depended large~ 1y on taxation in the past. Great Brit- ain,. he said, was ‘the only warring European nation which' had not passed the point of safety in its war borrow- ings. Great Britain had financed the Napoleonic | and ' Crimean wars on a 50-50 ‘basis, said LaFollette, borrowing half the money and raising the rest by taxation. When he added that the war finance bill' recently’ passed by the TUnited States senate was only a 31 per cent measure a.voice from the house shout- ed, {‘Shame on congress!” “Yes, and shame on the administra=- tion, too,” said: LaFollette; “for the ade ministration approved the bill.” LaFollette charged that the exe- cutive branch was seeking to override. congress, and defended the right. of congressmen to ques- tion. the wisdom of war by citing the opposition of Abraham Lin- coln, Daniel Webster and other congressmen of that period to the Mexican war, He ended his speech abruptly, when: " notified that he had only time to catch his: train, with a final plea for proper taxation' of wealth, and’ was rushed thirough a tumultuous, friendly crowd to a waiting taxicab, while the major part of the audience was still' applaud- ing and' cheering his speech. LABOR' IN. FEAR OF POWER CONCENTRATION Mayor Van. Lear’s address dwelt on. the subject of coroperation. between labor and the farmers. “These are strange times,” he said. “The country cannot go from peace to. war without some changes. I heard one of. the speakers.here say that there must be concentration of power in a few. hands. in time of war, evidently a. sort. of dictatorship. We of ‘he working. class.are always afraid of this. sort of concentration. We grow sus- picious when we are told that power must be concentrated in the hands of one. or two.or a dozen men. We are suspicious: Because we have fought autoeratic. power since we were chil- dren, and' because the boss has always told us. the same story, that there must be only one head if the industry was to succeed. What that leads to is' shown in the operation of the steel trust, whose workmen are oppressed and’ toil: for beggarly wages. “They say to. us, stand back and everything, will be all right, but when Continued on page 17)