The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 11, 1918, Page 9

LEAGUE FARMERS IN IDAHO LISTENING TO PRESIDENT TOWNLEY This is a portion of the big audience of farmers that listened to President A. C. Townley at Rexburg, in southeastern Idaho, during Mr. Townley’s recent tour of that state. This meeting established a new record for Madison county, ldaho, in attendance and enthusiasm for a farmers’ meeting. Mr. Townley’s tour of Idaho was a triumphal one. He spoke to thousands of farmers at each of the big rallies held while he was there. national war aims expressed by President Wilson in his recent messages to congress. “There is hardly a declaration in this pamphlet that has not been publicly indorsed by President Wilson with the overwhelming approval of the American people. “This pamphlet, entitled ‘The National Nonpar- tisan League—Its Origin, Purpose and Method of Operation, With War Program and Statement of Principles,’ has been issued by the hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of patriotic men have praised its statements. Copies have been in the hands of federal ‘officials for nearly nine months. The post office department has never questioned our right to circulate it. “These facts speak for themselves, My arrest is simply for the purpose -of supplying hostile news- papers with sensational headlines in their efforts to discredit the League. It is part of the deliberate plot to -break up the Nonpartisan league, even if it is necessary to override every.constitution_al right in this prqcess. As the primaries approach and the Nonpartisan league continues to gain ground rap- idly in Minnesota, our political opponents seem to be getting more and more desperate." NO LEAGUE MEMBER SHOULD MISS MEETING The farmers’ fight in Minnesota is attracting the "attention of the entire country. The 1918 éampaign is on, the farmers having held theirprecinct caucuses and chosen their representatives for the district and state conventions that will name Nonpartisan league state, legislative and congressional tickets for the June primaries. i Because the Minnesota situation is so important and interesting, the Minnesota branch of the Na- tional League has decided to throw open to League members of .other states its big mass meeting to be held with organized labor, to celebrate the open- ing of the campaign and ratify the candidates se- lected at the delegate conventions of the farmers. At St. Paul, March 19, 20 and 21, League mem- bers of Minnesota, in co-operation with organized labor, are going to hold the biggest League meet- ing since the famous -League Producers’ and Con- sumers’ conference of last September. This great mass meeting, which will attract, according to present indications, 8,000 to 10,000 farmers and members of organized labor in Minnesota, will fol- low shortly after the League delegate convention names the Minnesota state ticket for the primaries. To this meeting the organized laborers and organ- ized farmers of Minnesota invite ALL League mem- bers and union men, whether they live in Minne- sota or not. Large delegations are expected from North and South Dakota and Montana, and it is ex- pected that every other state where the League is organizing will also be represented. Remember the dates, and consider yourself invited! The great celebration to open the cam- paign in Minnesota will be held Tuesday, Wed- nesday and Thursday, March 19, 20 and 21, at St. Paul. Although small-town authorities in a few parts of Minnesota. have prevented the holding of League meetings, no attempt has been made to prevent the big St. Paul gathering, and none will be made, it is .- understood. The meeting will be a big patriotic rally* and show forcefully the loyalty and patriotism of the farmers. Wheat Price Fixed—-Other Prices Soaring Farmer Again Asked to Sacrifice for Sake of Patriotism and Will Do It--Congress Must Immediately Act in Regard to Prices Farmers Have to Pay ‘with an editorial stating that the way to equalize the price of wheat, in proportion to the prices of things the farmers must buy, is to lower other prices rather than to raise the price of wheat, President Wilson issued a proclama- tion fixing the price of wheat for 1918 at $2.20, the same figure that was fixed for the 1917 crop. In making this proclamation, the president appeals to the patriotism of the American farmers to sup- port this priee and to proceed to the raising of the bumper wheat crop needed for 1918. The farmers will patriotically accept this price for 1918, the same as they did the same price in 1917, although : FTER the. Leader went to press last week . this means a substantial sacrifice of profits the farm- ers could make on an open market. There is no question that this price of wheat, in proportion to farming costs and the general cost of living at present, is too low. This the Leader pointed out last week, before the president’s proc- lamation was issued. But, as we said then and as we say now, the thing to do is not to increase the price of wheat but to lower the prices that the farmer has to pay on the things he buys, out of which the war profiteers are now making immense and unjustified profits. - . Now that the" president has-fixed the price of wheat for 1918 at the same figure that it was in 1917, steps should be taken at once by congress to give the president authority, which he has asked, to go down the lin€ and make other industries sac- rifice for the sake of patriotism the same as the farmer is willing to sacrifice. Just prior to the proclamation fixing the price of wheat for 1918, President A. C. Townley ‘of the Nonpartisan league issued a statement saying that the League farmers favored the lowering of prices on things the farmer has to buy, rather than an in- crease in the price of wheat, in order to adjust the inequalities that now exist. He said that the farmer did not want to be placed in the position of being a war profiteer. Shortly after the president fixed the price of wheat for 1918, Mr. Townley issued the following statement: 'REBUKES MAN WHO MISREPRESENTED FARMERS * “President Wilson was justified in his confidence‘ ‘that the American farmer would loyally accept his decision to fix the price of wheat for 1918 at the same figure as that fixed for the 1917 crop. “And in this connection I want to refute the gross libel on the Minnesota farmer which is alleged to have been made before the president last week by Colonel C. H. March of the Minnesota Public Safety commission. Colonel March is reported to have said that the Minnesota farmers were ‘sore’ and ‘if the United States officials do not change the federal grain grades the farmers will sow something else except wheat next spring.’ “The present grain grades are‘unjust—I agree with Colonel March on that—but the Minnesota farmer is a patriot, a real patriot, not a profiteer, and he will raise wheat to the limit of his ability despite prices and despite grades because he knows that this nation must have wheat to win the war. I am very much surprised that Colonel March would ' ‘slander the patriotism of the farmer and tacitly en- | courage sabotage of this sort by the remarks he is ! said to have made. “All the farmer asks is to have the prices of what | he buys scaled down in proportion to the prices of what he sells. He does ask this, It must be done if the consumer is to get any real relief from the re- duction in wheat prices or if farm production is to - be increased. “President Wilson himself pointed out the justice of our demands in his message to congress on De- cember 4. He said ‘that the farmer complains with a great deal of justice that the prices of what he sells are reduced while no reduction is made in the 5""*._-!:‘-‘*‘:.‘1:’_( Ve i ¥ B