The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 14, 1918, Page 5

ONE OF MINNESOTA'S A log jam in a Minnesota river. The lumber industry is one of the large industries of the state and the Weyerhaeusers and other timber barons have always been found lined up politically with the Chamber of Commerce and against the farmers. the point is that Loftus and the farmers won. The majority of the legislators were pledged in ad-, vance. There was trouble in a few cases to get them to stick to their pledges, but finally agreement was reached on the laws for which Loftus was working and they were passed. Although railroad officers - had promised to accept the laws as they were finally prepared, they broke faith after the session and started suit in the name of the stock holders. But the laws held through the test of the courts. The people, under Loftus’. leadership, had gained a victory over' the bi-partisan machine of the railroads and Big Business. It was the first im- portant victory of the people since the victory that the Farmers’ alliance had forced 15 years before. . The progressive movement went on. A few years later Minnesota became the first -state to enact a nonpartisan election law. Its passage was some- thing of an accident. The men who drafted it in- tended it to apply only to county -officers. The enemies of the bill tacked on an amendment mak- ing it apply-to members of the legislature as well and tried to put on another amendment to cover executive state officials, thinking that this would kill the bill. But the measure found some, new friends and was passed in such form as to make the legislature nonpartisan, in name at least. But Loftus died. The loose organization = of progressive fighters that had been built around his leadership was not the force that it had been: And. when Equity farmers, in 1915 and 1917, appeared before the nonpartisan Minnesota legislature, they did not find the same willingness to pass laws for the benefit of the farmer that there had been be- fore. NEW ABUSES SPRING UP IN THE MEANTIME Earlier in this article it was mentioned that the grain and warehouse inspection law passed during the Alliance -days cut down the “leakage” of grain ~from 12 to 15 bushels to little more than a bushel - ~per car. But as time ‘went on the *leakage” in- creased, gradually, to 6 ‘or 7 bushels again: The elevators had found means to get around the law, Testimony ‘of . 0. E. Bakke, assistant state weigh-’ master, betore a Ieslslative investigating commit- tee, showed how this was possible with the sys- tem of weighing grain in the cupolas of the ele- vators. For one thing, on the way to the cupola the dust is sucked out by a fan, known in elevator slang as the “little devil.” Sometimes the fan sucked out more than dust—some grain that never found its way to the scales. But, more-than this, Bakke told the committee, it was possible with the cupola scales to hold part of the grain back.in the ‘“garner” above the scale hopper, before the weight was taken by the inspector, or to let some of the - grain out of the scale hopper before the weight was taken. Bakke also_'exposed the political control of the railroad and warehouse commission, by which em- ployes, working at small .salaries, were compelled to contribute from $25 upwards apiece to the cam- paign fund of their bosses, the commissioners, each time one ran for election. The inspectors,. it was natural to presume, would try to make this up . The next article in this-series, in next week’s issue, will deal with Wisconsin. It includes the fight for the people and the farmers of the state made by La Follette—a remarkable story of bril- liant and successful personal leadership. But personal leadership—without OR- GANIZATION of the people to back the leader—does not assure permanent success, for the people. "Wisconsin has ‘‘slipped back.’’ By organization the farmers today are avoiding the Wiscon- sin mistake. After the story of Wiscon- sin ‘will follow the stories of the states of Montana and Washmgton. All these articles were written from facts obtain- ed on the ground by Mr. Fussell, mem- _ber of the Leader staff. In most in- stances Mr. Fussell got his facts direct ' from. the people—some of them old and gray—who ‘went through the struggles. AT T T LT AT BV PRSI AR AT BIG INDUSTRIES in some way. Some of them might not be above receiving bribes from the elevators. 'NOT ORGANIZED, THE FARMERS PULLED APART . .The farmers wanted a system of track scales in- stalled, so that the grain would be weighed on the tracks instead of in the cupolas. And they wanted the grain inspection work divorced from the rail- road commission, so that it would not come under the political influence of the railroads. They also wanted grain gambling (future trading) prohibited by law and a co-operative law like that of Wisconsin farmers to authorize co-operative trading companies. Did they get any of these laws? They did not. The Minnesofa farmers in 1915 and 1917 found that.the “nonpartisan” legislature was nonpartisan in name only. They found that the same lineup existed that had existed in the Alliance days and in Loftus’ time, the farmers and people generally on one side, the railroads, mill- ing interests and Big Business generally on the other. NONPARTISAN ELECTION HELPS—MORE NEEDED And the farmers had no such organization as their opponents had. “In fact, in the middle of the 1917 session, the farmers, through lack of any political organization, began to work at cross pur- poses. - Two of them had introduced bills intended to do away with grain gambling, one by imposing a tax on future trading, one by doing away with it altogether. There was no caucus, no organization of the farmers to decide which bill should be fol- Jowed. Jealousy grew up between ‘the supporters of one bill and the other. It gave occasion for the enemies of the farmers, presenting a united front, to beat both of the bills. They also killed the track scales bill, the so-called “divorce” bill to separate the railroad commission and grain inspection de- partments, the Wisconsin co-operative law, and ‘everything else of any considerable importance that the farmers wanted. They were handed a few - (Continuged on page 21) TR S NS, T e A e e e T T s AN = AR GE O i & 1