The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 25, 1918, Page 12

' Mob Rule Is Thwarted In Montana In Striking Contrast to Minnesota Officials, Montana Attorney General Orders Local Officials to Permit Farmers to Hold Patriotic \/IeetmgS\ ATTEMPT on the part of enemies of the farmers in _Montana to work up a sentiment in that state which would result in un- lawfully barrmg { Nonpartisan league meetmgs, has been thwarted " by the vigorous action taken by At- / torney General Ford of that state. 7 Following . the organization of so- " called citizens’ committees of busi- ness men at Big Timber and Colum- " bus, Mont., which prevented R. B. Martin, a League lecturer, from speaking at those towns, Attorney General Ford has issued instructions to every peace officer in Montana for- bidding the recurrence of such out- rages. This official action by the attorney general of Montana is in striking {contrast to the state officials of Min- nesota, who Have permitted business ‘men and local officials to prevent ‘farmers’ meetings in a number of . Minnesota counties. Due to the fact that Montana has been treated with the same kind of misrepresentations about the farmers’ movement ' that other states have, considerable feeling was worked up in Big Timber and Columbus against the League, urged on by the sinister _interests which are trying to prevent 'the farmers from organizing. In view ‘of these facts, League faTmers in ‘Montana are congratulating them- “gselves upon having an attorney gen- “eral who has decided on a fearless enforcement of the law. The Nonpartisan league has held ‘approximately 1,200 meetings in Mon- tana during the last few months. Mr. :Martin has addressed probably about 100 of these. The meetings have been marked by patriotic resolutions, the same as they ‘have in Minnesota, ‘and nobody who has heard the speak- { ers has had a word of complaint, or tould have. Notwithstanding these facts, Mr. Martin was met by a mob ‘of business men and rowdies at Big : 1‘1mber, when he got off the train ‘there to fill the Big Timber League Jate. The meeting at Big Timber svas in charge of State Senator W. J.' wilannah of Montana. Mr. Hannah Protested against ~this mob action nigainst Mr. Martin, and with Mr. iMartin was shoved on the train and gorced to leave town. Mr. Martin’s wext date was at Columbus. The dé- iluded business men at Big Timber ovired to Columbus that Mr. Martin ivas coming, and he received similar ' lereatment there, not being allowed to AR A A o~ < TR A A T - set off the train. W 1AARTIN RETURNS *’0 COLUMBUS 5! The League .officials of Montana “nmediately notified Attorney Gen- al Ford, who arnved on the ground 'n the next train. He issued rigid 1struct10ns to peace officers at Big ‘imber and .Columbus to protect Mr. - Hartin, and Mr. Martin, with the at- Hrney general, at once returned to folumbus, unmoelested. ' On. their ar- “val at Columbus, the city attorney nd county attorney of the town met ‘Ir Martin and assured him that they atended to observe the attorney gen- ral’s instructions, and that no harm . jould come to any representative of ae League at.Columbus. : $Smart1ng under this rebuke from T &4 ?e attorney general, the anti-farmer B‘:ng at. Columbus, . while they made further effort at personal harm to ~ ;figm,w Mr. Martm, refused to open any of the halls or other places in the town where a meeting could be held. Un- der these circumstances, Mr. Martin did not hold his scheduled meeting, as there is no law that compels building owners to rent their halls. However, the farmers who came to town for the meeting paraded thé streets of Columbus in a free speech demonstra- tion. The business interests got up a - counter parade but everything was orderly. Under the rigid instructions of At- torney General Ford, there is little likelihood of League meetings being interfered with in the future in Mon- tana. : " Attorney General Ford takes the position that the laws guaranteeing peaceful assemblage and free speech must not be violated, and he very properly holds that persons taking advantage cf these rights will be held responsible for their abuse. That means that anybody who makes dis- - loyal or unpatnotxc statements -at a meeting in Montana will be arrested and prosecuted under due process of law. These same prmclples apply in Minnesota, in theory, but in practice the state officials of Minnesota have permitted their open violation, allow- ing the suppression of open assem- blage and free speech in many coun- ties of the state. Attorney General Ford of Montana has issued the fol- lowing statement to the newspapers in regard to his position, which is en- tirely satisfactory to the Nonpartisan league farmers, who are holding noth- ing but loyal and patriotic etings in every state where the League is organizing: “The legislature has provided us with the most stringent laws imagin- able, and there is no excuse for the exercise of mob rule. Mobs establish Farmers Start League Paper Idaho Has Its First Producer-Owned Country Weekly— - League Members Form Company Partial view of business district in the town of ‘Filer, Twin Falls county, Idaho. 2 ]ATS off to Filer, the first *| town in Idaho-to own a “Nonpartisan league” weekly. . It is situated near the center of Twin Falls county, southern The county fair is placed Idaho. there. Nearly all the farmers are al- ready members of the League. tor Tanner of the Filer Journal was one of the first to come out for the League. The editor has been a very prominent man in the state and when he died about the first of ‘February, the farmers realized a big loss. Mrs. Tanner, rather than sell the paper to hostile interests, told the farmers that she would give them first option.. A _big rally was held in Filer, at which 7 Ray McKaig, in the course of his speech, argued for the freedom of the press, declaring the only way to be sure to get it was to own the paper. Immediate action was taken. iIn a few days, under the leadership.. of such men .as J. 0. Noggle, Elmer Aman, and F. J. Mallet, the organizer, .a canvass was made of the nearby farmers and nearly a hundred took out a $25 share or more.” Enough money was 1mmed1ately raised to buy the paper. Another meeting was held at which the following officers were elected: President of the ‘board of directots,: Frank DeKlotz; vice -president, C. E. Chipmgan; . secr,etary and . treasurer, Elmer Aman. Other - directors ‘are H. .C. - Musser,: George : Drake, D. C. 'rm TWELVE A A i e S S LY ISR SRS R et 0 P Edi- Detwiler, and J. -O. Noggle. Especially to be noted in the by- laws of this newly incorporated farm- ers’ publishing company is that no one can be a stockholder in the organ- ization who is not eligible for mem- bership in the Nonpartisan league; and also that no man can own more than four shares of stock. These by- laws were argued for some time, but the farmers thought best to confine the ownership of this paper among themselves, so.there would never be a conflict of interest. * This is only a continuation of the policy of the farmers of North Da- kota who own many weekly country " papers. Too often some of the week- ly newspapers are.owned or domi- nated by interests unfair to the or- ganized farmers. This was especially so in the North Dakota fight. Now the farmers of Idaho expect to have more to say relative to their side .of the question. The League farmers in the Filer district are not against the business interests of the town any more than the farmers are anywhere else. These farmers desire to co- operate with the business interests. They wish the commercial interests in- the town to co-operate with them. A thriving farmer community is essen- tially a prosperous business center, . 5 Immediate .steps.will be taken:to enlarge the plant at Filer, to make a- drive across ‘the county for more: shares and a big subscription list; and make it-a real farmers’ paper oty k’;:‘:’:fih‘@b_} BRIl ’Zr‘k dangerous precedents and it is far better that we follow the procedure established by law. Public sentiment will be behind every prosecution for disloyalty and my office would not hesitate an instant to bring about the removal of any official who proved derelict in his. duty or who failed to prosecute promptly cases of this na- ture. But the innocent often suffer under mob rule. NO MOB RULE TO BE ALLOWED “Therefore I can see no necesslty for the citizenship to become alarmed over Mr. Martin. If he makes any unpatriotic or disloyal utterances in any Montana county, I am more than confident that he will feel the strong arm of the law. But until he-does so, it is utterly improper for citizens to adjudge him guilty in advance. I° purpose making an investigation of the affair at Columbus and also at Big Timber. I feel that the county officials there, as elsewhere, are both competent and willing to handle any gituation that may arise. They should be afforded that opportunity, for if we do not repose that confidence in our officials and at least give them a chance, we will have uncontrolled mob rule from one end of the state to the other.” B. C. White, prominent in farmers societies of Montana, told Billings newspapers that while he had met Mr. Martin at.the co-operators’ congress in Great Falls, he had heard him speak only once and that was at Roundup. “Certainly his remarks on that oc- casion were most patriotic,” said Mr. White. “No exception could possibly have been taken to his statements, and I believe him to be a clean-cut man, and above all, loyal.” The Billings Gazette said: “Mr. Mar- tin was billed to speak in Billings. While some talk had been occasioned here because of the Big Timber and Columbus episodes, the better senti- ‘ment’ of the city seems to be that ‘Mr. Martin should not-and will not be interfered with. It is known that ef- forts had been made to induce the third degree committee to order. Mr. Martin out of the city, but these sug- gestions, so far as can be learned, have fallen on deaf ears.” FINDS HIS FRIENDS Warren, Mum. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Enclosed please find the- blank about my financial condition, filled out by me. I don’t know whether that:will do any good to me or not, but I found out that you are a pretty good fighter for the farmers. I--understand that you are the only party that. knows that the- Northwest farmers are: los- ing on farming. I lost on farming in 1916, $1,500. -1 - farmed 880 acres that year. I seeded about 600 bushels of wheat and. 200 bushels of barley and 170 bushels of- I had such a poor crop on.ac- count of rust that it didn’t pay for oats. threshing. I threshed for 51-4 days and with the expenses about.$200. a day. Then at the last I could,’not_ get more than a box full of wheat in half a day, so I quit threshing and burned the rest of the wheat. I burned abont 50 acres of wheat that year, and a lot of farmers went broke. But in 1917 we got about 10 bushels an acre of wheat. We ‘get all' our money out here at the bank for-8 per cent on a: note andfrotho'?pe!' cent on rea!fbestate. R : ; JAM‘ES VANGT