The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 14, 1918, Page 21

. seven-eighths water. Loftus and the Fight in ‘Minrvl_'esota, o (Continued from page 5) - 5. Dome and entrance of Minnesota’s $5,000,000 state capitol at St. Paul. Pro- ducers—farmers and working men—have never had a majority of their own members there yet, but they expect to after the elections this fall. minor favors and told to go home and behave themselves. Is a nonpartisan election law a good thing? Minnesota farmers think so. There is no chance of it being repealed. It \is an advance step. But Minnesota farmers and progres- sive, forward-looking citizens general- ly have come to a conclusion about it. ___.And this is that a nonpartisan elec- tion law in itself is not enough. There must be, to go with it, some solid or- ganization of the progressives—some force to bind the farmers and workers and common pecple generally into a political power. For their opponents, the Big Business interests, are al- ways well organized. There has been in Minnesota poli- tics the era of the Alliance, which forced reforms through its organiza- tion, although its own candidates were defeated. There has been the era of George Loftus, who forced reforms through. the power of his personal fight. And there is coming now the era of the Nonpartisan league, which will - fuse progressive elements in Minnesota into a closer, firmer organ- ization than-the state has ever had before. ; Quit Partisan Politics That farmers should beware of politicians and quit fighting each oth- er through sticking to old parties, was the keynote of the address of President Riley Rice of the Washing-~ ton Farmers’ union, when it met in annual session in Spokane recently. -Among other things, Mr. Rice said: ‘“The professional office seeker and shyster politician have too long gar- ‘nered the votes of farmers, only to betray them. Let us seek carefully, scrutinize critically and select with dilligence those upon whom we en- dow the sacred functions of public trust. % : “Partisen politics have continually got us into worse conditions. © Elim-~ ination of partisanship and the selec- tion of honest, competent officials, should raise our political standards as an aid in the solution of our economic ‘problems. ¢ There is one thing that should be borne in mind all through our de- liberations and in our every day ac- tivities: The farmer must be ever vigilant'if he hopes to sustain his own rights and prevent both the producer. and consumer from being overbur- dened by the system of those who continuaily seek to prey. clearly recognize that burdensome or wrong conditions can exist through the sanction, administratior or inter- pretation of the law.” ¢ Keep the House Cool Endorsing the campaign of tliq “~ United States fuel ‘administration against overheated houses, Dr. James J. Walsh, the eminent physician de- clares, “Man is a marine animal He needs cool air and moisture around him. Over- heated dry air-makes him too suscep- tible to disease. 'In ‘a temperature of over 68 degrees, it is difficult for men and women to live healthfully.” . Dr. Abraham Jacobi ®xpresses the opinion that, “if persons c¢an be ' taught to keep their houses cool enough for health, life as well as coal will be saved.”! . ; : 5 ‘We should | : ; d [====—==—SEND US THIS COUPON TODAY ——mmn=m~ e S e s A B B et S S ADVERTISEMENTS A Farmer’s Revol Out on the North Dakota plains a man—young, ambitious and strong—dreamed a dream. He dreamed of a ranch home all his own earned by his own efforts.. He dréamed of comfort and plenty for his family in a house of their own on the Dakota plains, And he worked to make his dreams come true. He plowed and : harrowed and planted and figured and schemed to make ends meet till har- vest time, But he met what every farmer meets about every twice in a while—a crop failure. It was a year of drought, and all his work and schemes and dreams had no influence with the rain-maker. Then he met what every farmer meets every year—the interest fell due—the principal fell due. The money had been spent in high-priced machinery, high living expenses, high- priced seed, high-priced everything—and it was gone, With a crop he could have met it all and made good. With another year’s chance he could make good in spite of his year’s crop failure. But he did not get his chance. This was somebody else’s chance to reap, and they proceeded to do it. The man who had dreamed and worked for a ranch home found himself closed out— no land—no ranch home—not anything left but debts, callouses and memories. But he was still a dreamer and still a worker. And he dreamed a new dream of a world where a farmer had a chance, of a world where a farmer wasn’t ruined and thrown off his land because of crop failures. He looked around and saw that the farmers who had crops were not much better off than he was. No matter what kind of a crop—big or little, they grew, they were all just struggling along. Then he looked at the men who handled the farmer’s crop, the millers, the packers, the commission men. They were making money—plenty of it. Crop failures didn’t worry them. So he figured some more. How did it happen to be this way? Finally he decided that it didn’t just HAPPEN. It was done by organized effort. These men who “farmed the farmers” weren’t born into that position, nor were they put there by the grace of God. They were organized politically and industrially for the job, and they were surely doing it well. So A. C. Townley, the farmer who was driven off his farm, re- volted and determined to fight his way back. But he determined not to make the fight for HIS right to go back on to HIS farm—but to make a bigger fight for the rights of all farmers. And he talked to other farmers about it, and he found them cager to get into the fight, too, and thus the Farmers’ Nonpartisan League was born. And they did fight—and they won in North Dakota. They cleaned out the old gang and gave the state back into the hands of the people. And then the farmers in other states waked up, too, and wanted to go into the fight, - But Big Business wasn’t asleep either. They took the farmers’ revolt as a huge joke at first. The idea of a bunch of rubes—hayseeds— thinking they could run the government and their own business! But they quit laughing pretty soon. Then they began fighting. They called the rubes everything under the sun—anarchists, 1. W. W.’s—pro-German—disloyal, They’ve used the press, the power of their money and position—every force they could muster to fight the farmers’ League. hurl all their forces against the League in the coming campaign. So A. C. Townley revolted, and the Nonpartisan League was built. Here is a big successful organization he has built for you. It’s all |K. ready to your hand. He has proved to you that it will work: It HAS worked.” Now it’s up to you to get into the fight with him. " He has'demon- strated. He has put up a good fight. Hgw about you? Do you think you can sit back and wa’-} this fighting farmer lick Big Business-for you? "He could work out the plan and prove to you that it would work. But it’s up to you to put it across now. It’s up to you to roll up your sleeves and get into this fight. Will you do what Townley did—get off the farm-awhile and fight these vampires? If you’ve been kicked off, too, will you come in and fight for the right to go back under decent conditions? If you haven’t been kicked off yet, don’t you think it would be a pretty good plan to fight now while you still have a foothold on the land? If ever there was a time when every man who believes in this fight against Big Business should get on the firing line and help—it is NOW. We can win if we can get enough men in the field to get to the farmers and explain to them what the League is doing. Are you ready to do your part? Can’t you put in some time organizing among the farmers this winter until time for spring work and then get back into the field for the campaign during the summer and fall? Can’t you put somebody on the farm for the next year and help put this fight across? You can better afford to lose some money next year than to lose this fight. Write us for full particulars of organization work—tell us how much time you can spend in the work. The League doesn’t ask you to work for nothing. The farmers realize that this organization work is most impor- tant—the place where we ‘win or lose—and are paying well to get it done. You can make a good living and at the same *ime help win the biggest fight ever waged for the people of the United States. Now sit down and figure this out. Consider seriously what vie- tory means in this campaign and what you can do to help win it. ; : NATIONAL NONPARTISAN LEAGUE, Educational Department, Gilfillan Block, St. Paul, Minn, I want to do organization work for the League. Send me full particulars of the work and your plan for training organizers. .Areyoua.ALéague ...... I R AP L el SRR They are getting ready to - ) R S