The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 8, 1918, Page 12

I[ A “Farmer” and His Attack onLéague { . ‘Mr. Foster of North Dakota Poses as a Tiller of the Soil, Denounces Farmers’ Movement and Gets Pacific Coast Papers to Give Him Columns of Space ago and farmed for several years. When things began to boom he entered the real estate business, first on his own hook, and later in connection with the Wales bank and its cashier, Mr. Gatchel. Later they organized a sort of a company, sold shares Now it seems Mr. Foster has never forgotten this little incident. He has smarted ever since un- der the charge of the Illinois farmer, although the Leader gave him all the space he demanded to So Mr. Foster goes to.the MAN by the name of Arthur Foster, claiming to-be a North _Dakota farmer, has succeeded in gaining for himself sensa- e e i i~ T el T NS WY A M AR I LT s e tional headlines in nearly all the big newspapers of the Pa- cific coast by making an attack on the Nonpartisan league. In addition, numerous country papers throughout the country have reprinted Mr. Foster’s attack on the League, quoting the Port- land Oregonian and other papers which carried Mr. Foster’s statements. Mr. Foster went to the Pacific coast and posed as a “North Dakofa farmer.” Coming from a state where the League is in power, and representing himself as a tiller of the soil, Mr. Foster of course was just the material for the anti-farmer papers to use to advantage, they thought, against the League. Mr. Foster made a great hit. He was banqueted, coddled, flat- answer the charge. Pacific- coast to wash his dirty linen in the back yard of big business there. In his talks to business men, insurance men and bankers on the Pacific coast, Mr. Foster warned Pacific Northwest farmers not to join the League. He said it was the same thing as the L W.W, was disloyal, unpatriotic, had not helped in the ~ Liberty loan sales or Red Cross work and was a party of discontent. Recently inquiry was made among farmers and prominent people at and near | AMERICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE l in this and other towns. The object of the com- pany was to bring in buyers and sell them land. The actual manager was Mr. Foster, but I think for some reason not much was done. I find that Foster had traits that go with the real estate business. “He didn’t get along well with the people of Clyde; he differed with them on school expenses, thinking they spent too much money for school purposes. He was once a teacher. The Wales State bank employed : Mr. Foster as a collector. I often wondered why he quit the real estate busi- ness; ' for this he was well fitted and he could certainly tell some yarns. It must have been be- cause the people didn’t believe him. “Personally, nothing against Art Fos- I have T tgred and played up as 2 ter, although I have J | = big man by the business known him for 20 years. Tl interests that are fight- “Yours truly, 3 m | - HE WAS THE LAND AGENT RE- ing the League, and it went to his head. He was asked to and did speak before insurance federations, commercial clubs, chambers of com- merce, employers’ asso- ciations, ete. But .now it appears that Mr. Foster is not a farmer at all. While he comes from North Da- kota, such farming as he has done has been inci- dental to his other busi- ness, which includes real estate, insurance, auctioneering, school teaching, etc. His main line has been the land business. He has owned some farm land, but his neighbors say he never made much of a success at farming and never was considered a farmer. Thus has the hero of the Pacific coast newspapers degenerated, when the facts are known, from “a veteran farmer,” “a stalwart North Dakota tiller of the soil,” to -a jack-of-all-trades, unqualified absolutely to speak of things from the viewpoint of the North Dakota farmer. Some time ago the Leader received a letter from a farmer who claimed he was defrauded by a land agent, who had brought him from I- linois, placed him on land in North Dakota under misrepresentations, took all he had and ruined him. The Leader published this letter. It did not men- tion the name of the land agent who was-charged by the farmer with fraud. The Leader printed the letter because it threw light on the general situation, and as it did not attack anybody specif- ically,nobody could take exception to it. However, much to the Leader’s astonishment, this same Mr. Foster wrote the Leader a letter, SAYING FERRED TO BY THE FARMER! Mind you, Mr. Foster’s name had not been mentioned, but he put on the coat and declared it a fit, unsolicited! He asked permission to reply. in the Leader to the Illinois farmer’s charges. The Leader wrote him that this was unnecessary as the Iletter published did not™ mention Fos- ter’s name and nothing had ap- peared in print referring to or damaging Mr. Fos- "' ter..The letter was merely a general charge against the system used by real estate men in North Da- kota. However, Mr. Foster demanded permission - to answer the charges of the Illinois farmer, say- ing he was the land agent referred to, and, while his name was not mentioned, he was entitled to a “come-back.” back”—printed a letter from him in which he ad- mitted he was the real eatate man referred to by the Illinois farmer and “in which he denied. the: charge of fraud and'misrepresentation. The Leader gave him a “come- | This is a photograph of American soldiers passing in review in France before French -officers. photo is used by the Leader by special permission of the United States committee on public information. The Leader is authorized to notify readers that originals of the photograph can be had from the com- mittee on information, division of pictures, at Washington, D. C,, by cutting out this picture and sending with it 10 cents to that committee, Start a war photograph collection of your own by sending to Wash- ington for originals of war pictures appearing in the Leader. - Clyde, N. D., where Mr. Foster lived, and the fol- lowing letters have been yeceived regarding him, showing his standing in his own community: “We resent statements that the members of the League and the I. W. W.s are the same. It is a deliberate falsehood, and Arthur Foster knows it. However, if there is any money in it, Foster will ot mind that at all. - “There are no more patriotic people than the farmers of North Dakota, and they are nearly all Nonpartisan. Foster spent a good deal of his time here knocking the League, but it didn’t hurt the League any more than a dog barking at the moon Some may think the Leader is not justified in giving space to this account of “Farmer” Foster of North Dakota, a “nobody” who went West and received a million dollars worth of news- paper space for nothing.. They may be right, but the Leader’s excuse for publishing an account of who Mr. Foster is and - showing his motive in attacking the North Dakota farmers is simply because the case is typical. It shows how desperate the anti-farmer press is—willing to seize onto any straw and uge any tool to discredit the League and its program. Mr. Foster was particularly good material for the Pacific coast press because he posed as an “actual North Dakota farmer.” He was played up as an “independenf, sturdy North Dakota farmer,” “a hard-handed son of toil who wouldn’t swallow the League dope,” and other equally complimentary and deceiving terms. Read this and see just who Mr. Foster is—a willing tool of cemmercial clubs, newspapers, bankers and others who are making the mistake of attacking the farmers and their move for justice and democracy. would cause an eclipse. He is not a public-spirited man. He was opposed to high schools in country towns—said they were no ‘benefit to farmers’ sons and farmers’ daughters. . = e “Mr. Foster spent considerable of his time in North Dakota as a land agent. One man who came to this state and purchased land through him called Foster a land shark. He wrote a letter to the Nonpartisan Leader denouncing Foster. “Keep right on with the good work of organizing #heLéazue--' Sincerely yours, JOHN CAMERON.” ded near clgqq;zz years - “H. C. OTTESON.” “I have known Foster for about 11 years, and I am pretty safe to say that Art Foster has not a real friend-in this coun- - try. If he has, it would be some banker that. he has helped sell some poor land for, as he was in the employ of the bankers of Cavalier county for many years, selling land.. “Foster always was after easy money and he , never in his life did any- thing to better the conditions of the common peo- ple. He is a ‘sorehead’ of the worst kind. He makes very foolish remarks. = Yours truly, - “A. L. VICKSTROM.” ‘_‘Come to think now, there was a man who had quite an article in some paper about Foster, who induced him to come to Cavalier county, ‘and Wos- ter sold him some land. He claimed Foster lied and misrepresented the conditions and he soon lost his land. 2 “I do nof know of any League man who is a member of the I. W. W. You know how much I hate the I. W. W. I think I am safe when I say the League members are the best citi- zens. Just watch our smoke in the next election. Yours truly, “OTTO DETTLER.”. “I have known this A'rthur Foster for the last 18 years; have lived in The has been a little of everything except a man [;hat you could depend upon as to helping the common people. and who live<. tributary to Clyde, N D., what about his truth and veracity. estate business, trying his hand at that. He has done some auctioneering. In past years he has tried to farm. He has not been ¥ery successful as a farmer. - i e Foster has always bucked the farmers’ movement and, in fact, has fought the E : League nearly all along. = - s If Mr. Foster comes-back at this letter, I will get you a bunch of names in his own community- shgwmg_ him up. Arthur Foster knows he is not doing right, and I will say in plain language, if he says the farmers in' his neighborhood are not - patriotic American citizens and’ not law-abidi he is a liar and he knows it. e .ablf;xgg, “We are with you to the last’ditchtin,thivs .fi'ghf' We believe in God and in special privilege, . for the common people, in.the common people, but not war profiteers, anarchists o men - a8 (¢0) the same neighborhood: Mr. Foster Ask . the farmers who came from Illinois ~ “Mr. Foster has been a country school teacher and worked in the real- “If I had time I could get a list of names to print, showing that this man .