The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 25, 1918, Page 11

had a perfect right to-belong to an organization and to recommend candidates for office and to stand together. for their election. They - were violating no law and the enemies of the farmers knew it. So all that happened was a lot of scare stories in newspapers, intended to dis- credit the League and frighten the farmers away from their own or- ganization and candidates. X But. this old charge of violating the corrupt practices act was not too ancient for Minnesota politicians to dig up recently. The Minne- sota gang press announced that the attorney general was listening to complaints that the farmers were violating the law in trying to elect farmers’ candidates to office by organization. The same story will be sprung in other states. But remember, the ‘eorrupt practices acts of ~all the states are almost the same, Minnesota’s and North Dakota’s being practically alike. It couldn’t be used against the farmers in North Dakota, EXCEPT IN THE NEWSPAPERS, and it can not in other states. It can not because the farmers, as American citizens, under our free political institutions, have the right to organize; they have the right to recommend or indorse candidates for office, and they have the right to stick together and put those men in office, as they.did in North Dakota. Did you ever hear of the corrupt practices act used against packers, millers, railroads or newspapers? Of course not. These interests are in polities all the time and have been guilty of the grossest corruption. But when the farmers get into politics in a straight-forward clean way it is different—the politicians and the newspapers that serve . them shout that the law is being violated. But it is only another trick to scaré the farmers. It didn’t work in North Dakota. It won’t work in Minnesota and other states. NO WAR WITHOUT PRODUCERS ECAUSE this war can not be won by fighting men alone; be- B cause ships and food and money and shells are equally impor- tant, this war can not be fought and won without the full co- operation of producers—farmers and working men. Any na- tion fighting today is through, down and out, if its producers quit. Of old, this was not true. War engaged only a part of the people, and it was no great task to feed, clothe and munition the armies, Wars of old could be used to oppress the . producers, not only of invaded countries, but at home, Often that was what they were for. Their people’s help was needed only to a limited extent; they were ignor- ant, had little political power and were never consulted about de- clarations of war, how the war was to be conducted, or terms of peace. . ' Today it is different, and every government in the world realizes it. No war today can be success- fully conducted WITHOUT THE CONSENT AND CO-OPERATION OF THE COMMON PEOPLE— the producers. And so the peo- ple of the world are by right de- manding and getting an ever increasing voice in the conduct of the war, and it is safe to say that when peace comes it will be ON TERMS DICTATED BY THE COMMON PEOPLE, by the producers of the various countries—not by the rulers, the diplomats, the autocrats, the money kings, and those who formerly fomented wars for commereial rofit. : And this is a wholesome condition. It means that the war will have established, by the time it is over, a truer democracy in every civilized country. It is true that the Tories, the beneficiaries of special privilege, the money aristocrats and the press and politicians who serve them, are fighting this tendency in Amerieca toward the greater and truer democracy being brought about during the war. The chief weapon they use is the charge of ‘‘pro-Germanism’’ and ‘“disloyalty”’ against the liberal press, the organizations, the individuals and the other agencies working to spread democracy.- But despite the efforts of this hostile minority, the governments of the countries at war must depend upon the common people, and so must continue to encourage and make effectivé the measures for fuller economic justice and wider . democracy which the people demand. The war is going to eause big strides to be made toward a more equal division of the wealth, and many believe it is going to result in economic and social changes that will prevent a future tendency toward concentration of wealth. ) No government -of a country at war realizes these things more than the present administration at Washington. President Wilson realizes that this war can not be conducted without the whole-hearted €o-opera- tion of farmers and working men, and he has shown no disposition to . create dissension at home and menace military victory abroad by at- tempting to block the measures for social reform and economic justice that farmers and working men are working for. Unfortunately, as much .can not be said of some of his appointees. But with the people controlling ‘the government, and keeping its war aims pure—at the same time improving their political, economic and social position— . there can be no doubt of ultimate victory for America in this war. ~ Contentment and justice at home mean a willing and.pa_tr’mtm pro- ducing class, and that spells the ultimatei,dow.pfql} _‘of“ the_'Kaxset. A AT e A K R 2 S i B e D e R PAGE ELEVEN B S a e . NEWSPAPER BUNK NE of the many devices used by the press hostile to the farm- ers’ program of reforms consists in naming politicians and asserting that the Nonpartisan league ‘‘is considering indors- ing’’ them—that it is rumored or believed ‘‘so-and-so is to be the farmers’ candidate’’ or that Tom, Dick or Harry ‘‘is being groomed by the League for governor.’’ Long before the farmers met in conven- tion to indorse candidates for office in North Dakota, all this was tried in that state. The purpose is to work up resentment in the League. If the papers can make League members believe that men are being indorsed or considered for office before the farmers’ con- ventions meet, or can work on the prejudice of the public by stating that the League is going to indorse some unpopular or discredited person, it all goes, so the press thinks, to undermine the League. Whenever you see a statement, a ‘“‘rumor’’ or an intimation to the effect that the League has in- dorsed somebody, before an offi- cial announcement is made by the League, set it down as a flat lie, and be sure it is just the press try- ing to undermine the solidarity of the organized farmers. League members know that candidates for office are indorsed at conventions of League delegates who are elected by League members; that nobody knows who the candidates will be till these conventions meet; that each member of the League will have an opportunity to vote for delegates to the League convention; that when League mem- bers in convention indorse candidates each League member will be officially notified; that no office seeker will have any chance for the nomination at all ; that League conventions SEEK THE CANDIDATES —CONSCRIPT THEM—and that the man who seeks an indorsement has no consideration whatever; that no newspapers and no one but League members will name the candidates, or have any influence or pull in League conventions, Remember this when you see a newspaper yarn about somebody going to be indorsed by the League. A DIFFERENT WAR HE war is important to Americans aside from its military and international phases. The great majority of the press, it is true, pictures the war and discuses it only in the way that all wars in the past have been reported and discussed during their progress. But this war is different from other wars, because its most important phases are social and economic. The history of past wars has been the story of military or naval victories and defeats and the remaking of maps to record con- quests or loss of territory. But of this war historians will have some- thing else more important to tell. They will tell a story of economie - and social changes, of revolutions. War used to be a matter of duels between small armies which fought during favorable weather and withdrew and went into winter quarters when the weather became - unfavorable. These armies mostly lived on the country through which they marched. It wasn’t much effort to keep them fed and munitioned. War:- meant more riches and more power for those already rich and powerful. Tt meant conquering and opening new markets for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many. -War was a field of adventure and honor for a few ‘‘noblemen,’’ but most all the sacrifice and suffering fell to the people. This war is different. Every able-bodied - man, rich or poor, in Europe is today a soldier or a conseripted employe in some industry directly related to the war. America is organizing toward the same end. Every material resource of the countries is thrown into the bal- ance. Greater than the problem of getting the men to fight, is the problem of getting the money and getting the munitions and food— food mnot only for the fighters on the firing line, but for hungry mouths at home. Because this war is on such a vast scale, destroying billions of dollars worth of property every day and millions of lives every year, productivity is cut down, It is an economic war., Which nation can live the longest on the least food? The nations.are finding that to wage a war of this kind, economie and social conditions must be changed. Wasteful competition and profiteering of peace times, can not continue. And so, wonderful so- - cial and economic changes are taking place throughout the world be- fore our eyes. Are you one who is keeping abreast of the times by learning about and understanding the significance of these changes,” or do you read merely about submarines, poison gas, aeroplanes, trench raids, tanks and other purely military features of the war?