The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 17, 1917, Page 6

HE shortly another hig series of illus- Leader will start publishing trated artieles. No work that the Leader has done will surpass this new serjes in interest and importanee. We propose to publish an intimate history of farmers’ political and economic movements and struggles for justice in every state where the League is organizing! Think what this means, and you won’t want to miss a word of any of these coming articles. It means that the almost forgotten story of the old Farmers’ alliance, which at one time had 60 congressmen in congress, will be told—how it organized and worked, what good it accomplished and finally how it was broken up. Old timers will remember the Alliance and will be intensely interested in this retelling of the story, while younger readers will be anxious to know how that grcat movement started and what mistakes it made and how these mistakes ean be avoided. The story of the old Populist party, which at one time was the political ship containing the farmers’ hopes, will be told. The Populist party did great things—cap- tured many states—but finally broke up. Watch for This Big Feature Why? You will want to know and be sure that organized farmers now are avoiding the old mistakes. ; Lvery state where the League is organiz- ing has been the scene of battles by the com- mon people and the farmers for econmomic and political justice. You will want to know the back history of these struggles in your own state, and also how your fellow farmers came out in their political and economic struggles in the other states. ; Do you know who Loftus was and what he did? His fight for the farmers, as leader of the Equity movement, is comparatively recent, but many readers outside of the Northwest states where this fight was staged do not know all about it and what it meant. Those who worked with and sup- ported and helped Loftus in his great fight will like to recall the details through these Leader stories. Remember, every state where the League is organized or organizing will be represented in this great series of articles—North and South Dakota, Minne- sota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Coelo- rado, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, ete. As you may well believe, it is going to be no casy matter to get all the fac'ts,":and get them. accurately, for.use in this account of ‘the farmers’ political and economie strug- gles of the past in all these states. We are . net going to depend on matter others haye - printed, or on reference books or dusty, offi-; cial files. A Leader staf” man, Mr. E. B. Fussell, with whose work Leader readers are already familiar, is going to make a trip to each of the states where the League is at work, and he is going to get these stories from the old timers who personally were in these struggles, had a part in them and know the intimate details. The articles will be profusely iltustrated in the Leader’s usual style by original photographs. ‘We expect to start this series soon. Mr. Fussell is already on the ground getting the facts. Watch for the story of the farmers’ fight in your state, but read all the articles and keep them on file for reference. This series of articles will constitute the first- complete history of farmers’ economic and political organizations and it will be a work of value to preserve: : scribed our allotment in the sécond loan by 73 per cent, and most of the men borrowed money to do it.” The New York Herald in a special interview with Mr. Townley quotes him as follows: “When we arrived today,” said Mr. Townley, “we were met by the old yarn that the Nonpartisan league is a sedi- tious organization opposed to the war and swayed by pro-German influences. We want to nail this lie now. “The only proof offered to support this charge is that the members of the League have failed to support the Liberty Loan. The first issue came at a time when the farmers of the North- west had used all the money they had or could borrow to purchase seeds for a big crop, just as they had been asked to do by the government. The farmers, therefore, could not afford to buy bonds. “When the second issue was placed on the market the farmers of North Dakota oversubscribed the quota for North Dakota by 73 per cent. And the farmers of North Dakota are members of the Nonpartisan league. That ought to stop the disloyalty canard.” NEW YORK TIMES ONLY DISCORDANT NOTE About the only discordant mnote in the New York papers in connection with Mr. Townley's visit and speech was sounded in the New York Times, ancient enemy of everything that ‘in any aspect appears to be a move of the. people against entrenched privi- lege. The Times denounced the T.eague as a “class party” and warned the peo- ple of New York against having any- thing to do with the League. The Times dug up the old lie that Mr. Townley fought the Red Cross and Liberty bond campaigns, and said that the League conference last September in St. Paul, attended by 5000 patriotic working men and farmers, was in re- ality a “pro-German,” “disloyal” meet- ing. It said that the loyal resolutions adopted at those meetings were only “camouflage” and that the farmers and working men who attended were really traitors. Carl Beck, one of the New York men who helped arrange the Cooper Union meeting, was blackguarded by the Times because he has a German sound- ing name, although Mr. Beck was born in the United States of Scandinavian parents. Mr. Beck wrote the Times a letter answering the unfair, slanderous attack, but the Times of course refused to print it. Among other things Mr. Beck said to the Times was this: “PDon’t fool yourself too soon. The Nonpartisan league is bedrocked on the shores of victory. It is built to win. Shame and dis- grace alone are the portion of the politicians, the commercial clubs and the press which cast them- selves upon the shore of this great cause. “If mnone had had more brains than you in look- ing into the wrongs that made the farmers come together, there tion, no doubt, in the Northwest, in- stead of a farmer government. Wood- row Wilson, however, is not so aloof, not so stupid. . “He knows what these people are about and he is not letting you people fool him any more than you fool us. “There is a law in Belgium requiring any paper which assaults persons or an organization to give those persons Wibaux county, Montana, with an area of 25 townships, contains 18 Equity locals, three federal farm loan associations, and 60 per cent of its voting population are members of the. League. Equity locals, all of whom are members of the League. Most of the other Wibaux farm members. or organizations equal space of equal prominence for a reply. Thus the viper press is robbed of its sting. ‘“We shall add one new plank to our platform: We shall work for such a law here. Will you anticipate our vic- tory in a nonpartisan legislature of workmen and farmers, by printing this protest against your opinien of our LEAGUE INCLUDES THEM ALL Which Shall It Be? " Shall Papers Please a Peeved Politician or the People? (From the Montana Equity News) Two country newspapers—which de- pend upon farmers for a circulation that will entitle them to advertising patronage—last week decided that they didn't care for this circulation. From the tone of their editorial expressions, we infer that they had rather be “in solid” with the old party machines, than reflectors of farmers’ opinions and leaders among the farmer-class. The two newspapers referred to are the Fergus County Argus, Lewistown, Mont., edited by J. A. Gilluly, and the Judith Gap Journal of Judith Gap, Mont., edited by Lyle A. Cowan. These two newspapers, evidently taking their cues from the Minneapolis Journal (the paid organ of the Grain Combine), the Helena Independent (the would be revolu- official mouthpiece of the Democratic party) and the Butte Miner (the recog- nized organ of the Copper Interests) say that the largest farmers’ organiza- tion in the state—the Nonpartisan league—is “disloyal” and unworthy of their support. Despite the fact that the " Fergus county farmers are this minute—al- most to the last man—members of the Nonpartisan league, the Lewistown’ Argus challenges these men with be- longing to an “I. W: W.” contingent. Where does the Argus get its infor- mation? From the Hutchinson Gazette in Kansas, ; Who controls the Hutchinson Ga- zette? - Arthur Capper, ‘Who ig Arthur Capper?:: Governor of Kansas. % ‘Why does Arthur Capper oppose the Nonpartisan league? Because it inter- PAGE SIX —The Editor In the front row of this picture are 10 secretaries of , feres with his own political machine. For years he has been building a polit- . i ical machine that would make him .| either 'a United States senator or a ‘- presidential possibility. movement and your Germanistic sinvations as to myself? “Ang if you had only had the good- ness to print as ‘fit to print' Mr. Tewnley’s remarkable speech at Cooper Union, which appeared in every other morning paper, instead of suppressing it, you would have had some reading that weuld have done you good.” in- mers in the picture_also are League So, because Arthur Capper, ‘'way down in Kansas, who sees his political ambitions tottering, is ‘peeved at the Nonpartisan league, Brother Gilluly of Lewistown, Mont.,, tells his readers, most of whom are members, of..the, League, that they are L W’ W/s"&, dupes of a radical, socialistic -ofgani- zation, “‘which means in these days, in most ‘cases, an anarchist and disloy- alist? ~ Tox iy S WARM WATER SAVES FEED : Warm drinking water for the dairy stock will save feed and also benefit the.milk flow. It saves feed because it does not draw on the vitality of,the cow as does cold water. It benefits the milk flow because a cow will not reach her maximum production unless she drinks - water abundantly. This she will not do if it is ice cold.