The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 18, 1917, Page 5

b e el o et T P F A g e et - h;y,_v,fl.m“w!wba- TRt v o o “ad S ’ : . eround with them, and asked mer- chants who ‘wanted the " farmers t have their meeting to sign it. 3 WHO ATTENDED THAT CLUB MEETING, ANYHOW? That committee had an awfully hard time trying to locate the men who had attended that Commercial club meet- " ing. “No, I didn’t attend that meeting; I am willing ‘to have the farmers come to Litchfield,” man after man said. There were quite a few business men who were out at lunch when the farm- ers called on them, but they found mighty few who weren’t willing for the farmers to have their meeting. The farmers got the idea that the meeting of the Commercial club that wanted-to bar the farmers out, must have been a pretty small and select crowd. The farmers kept coming in. They completely filled the opera house and stayed there for three hours. It-was the usual meeting — discussing the problems of the farmer, the conscrip- tion of war profits and the need of sup- port for the government. Besides the farmers there were a couple of sheriffs in the audience—the sheriff of Meeker county, who had headquarters in Litchfield, and the sheriff of Kandiyohi county, from Will- mar, where the League was scheduled to hold a meeting October 16. These sheriffs had seen the bitter and unfair attacks upon the League in the Twin City newspapers—statements that the farmers were unpatriotic and disloyal ‘- and opposing the Liberty bonds, and they came to the meeting, as was their duty, to see that there was nothing disloyal about it. 2 And they saw. But such was the in- fluence of the old gang press upon their minds, that they could hardly believe, even after they had heard the speeches, that these were not disloyalty meet- ings, but real loyalty rallies. “THAT'S WHAT WE ALL BELIEVE IN” “Will you promise to make.the same kind of a speech at Willmar that you made here today ?” the Kandiyohi sheriff asked * President Townley after the meeting. “Brother, I'll make just the same kind of a speech that I made today, and that speech that I made today is just " the kind of a speech that I've been making for the last six months,” said Townley. “Well, that's all right,” said the sheriff. “What you said there to- day is just what we all believe in.” The next day the meeting was scheduled for Mankato. The farmers had secured a hall and paid for it. But a day or two before the meeting the hall owner came to the farmers and gave back the money. Business men and local politicians, he said, had threatened him with loss of business if he let the farmers have the hall. D. L. Williams, owner of an 800-acre farm near Portland, set about to get another meeting place. He offered the owner of the Mankato opera house $100° of his own money for the opera hou§e. The owner agreed to takeyjt if the city authorities would allow the meeting. ' Williams went before the city authori- ties. They refused point blank to al- low the meeting, “These League. men are led by just a bunch of I. W. W.s,” said | L. L. Champlin, a real estate man, i| mayor of Mankato. All the Mankato papers harped on : the fact that the farmers would not be allowed to have their meeting and gloated over it and warned the farm- ers it would be no use for them to come to town.- = FARMERS ARE TREATED WITH DISCOURTESY v This was the condition that faced the League speakers when they arrived at Mankato. But in spite of the an- nouncement of the city politicians and business men that they would not allow the meeting, the farmers came to town, about 500 of them, They thronged the city streets, all over the town, but most of all in front of the city hall They were treated with scant cour- tesy. The police, evidently with orders _from the mayor, hustled them along the streets. “Move along,” | heard them say. “Get back onto the sidewalk,” (this when the crowd was so dense that they overflowed into the street). “We won’t allow any war talk here.” The only “war talk” that the writer heard, during an hour spent mingling with different groups of farmers on the streets, was talk of what the farm- ers were going to do with the petty politicians who had prevented them from holding a meeting. I heard re- marks like this: “They 're laughing now, but weHl have the last laugh.” “The only thing I'm sore about is my This shows exactly what is happening in Minnesota—and elsewhere—today. politicians to fight the farmers without any help from the neswspapers. to influence these men and the public at large against the farmers, Big B is serving him and guides his hand while he writes libels against the far wife spent $4 here today, but I didn’t spend a cent.” “Wait till election comes around an we'll show these fellows.” ’ But the best thing of all that was said, was an observation made by one man, who had driven in from nearly 40 miles away. When he heard that the farmers weren't to be allowed to hold their meeting, he summed it all up in a question of just three words. He asked: “Ain't farmers legal ?”’ - .LYING REPORTS PREJUDICE OFFICIALS AGAINST LEAGUE Meanwhile arrangements were being made for a meeting elsewhere and * finally it was announced that it would ——— AR YJIAQ SAIHYWY —Drawn expressely for the Leader by W. C. Morris. mers. It developed right away that Herman Olson knew nothing against the farm- ers’ League. He had merely gathered the idea that the meetings were “sedi- tious” and “disloyal” from lying ac- counts in the Twin City papers. Levi ‘W. Samuelson, a farmer of Lafayette and a good friend of Olson, told him that these accounts were false and that the farmers were misrepresented. He invited both Herman Olson and Sheriff Olson to come to the Nicollet meeting and see for themselves. On the assurance of the farmers that the meetings were loyal and patriotic, Herman Olson and Sheriff Olson agreed that the Nicollet meeting might be held and promised to attend. Remember, that the Nicollet meeting ‘“‘Everything is monopolized in this country today. A few men control the steel industry, a small group controls all the great railroad lines. It is the same way with coal and lumber and leather and grain; everything is monopolized except the air and they cant corner that. And during the last few days in Minne- sota we have come to learn that there are some men in this coun- try who would even monopolize the right to be patriotic.’’ —From Minnesota speech of A. C. Townley.. be held at Nicollet, 16 miles away, that night, : But difficulties were not yet over. On the way to Nicollet word was received, that the authorities of that county would not allow the meeting. So a stop was made at St. Peter, the county seat. Sheriff August Olson said that the safety commission would not allow the meeting. It developed that the warning came, not from the state safe- ty commission but from Herman Olson, a banker at St. Peter and director of the county safety commission. So the farmers went to see Herman Olson. was arranged only a few hours in ad- * vance. Remember that there were only about 500 farmers in Mankato for the regular meeting. /THE FARMERS STAGE A REAL “COME BACK” Remembering these things, one wouldn't think that there would be much of a meeting at Nicollet that night. But instead of 500 farmers, about the number that came to Man- kato, there were more than 1000 farm- ers at Nicollet that night. The farm- ers had come back with a vengeance. PAGE FIVE / Big Business can depend upon some peanut Put some local officials mean to be honest, and iz takes on his knee the editor of the paper that It reminded the writer of the old Greek fable about the wrestler. This wrestler had the magic quality that every time he was thrown and came into contact with the earth, he came back twice as strong as before. That is the way with the farmers. Peanut politicians may as well learn now as any time, that when the farmers are thrown down, they come back stronger than ever. There was no hall available at Nicol- let that would begin to accommodate that crowd, so an open air meeting was held. It was colder than blitzen, the wind swung around in icy gusts that cut into faces and through thick cloth- ing. President Townley, in beginning his speech, mentioned the difficulties that the farmers were facing, driven from place to place to hold their meetings. He spoke of the new national organ- ization, the National Citizens Union, that big business has organized, ready to spend millions, if necessary, in the effort to beat the farmers. “Now, since we’re having such a hard time, wouldn't it be a good thing to sell out to those fellows?” asked Townley. “What if I could get you $1600 for each $16 membership, would you sell?” “No,” “No,” “No,” came the shouts from the crowd. Then somebody struck up the old North Dakota battle cry: “We'll stick.” And everybody in the crowd joined in. SAFETY DIRECTOR PRAISES PATRIOTISM OF FARMERS And they did stick, too, for nearly three hours in the open air, on that cold night, while President Townley talked about the attempts of autocracy to rule at home while the United States is fighting for liberty and democracy (Continued on »ae2 16) e i e e (S s L1 IO Sh IR RS TN