The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 15, 1918, Page 11

‘.. porations so that they will pay their : law and vigilant prosecution’ of offenders. We indorse and pledge our heartiest support to the program of rural school betterment in the state. While we take pride in the high rank our state al- ready has achieved in rural school standing we urge - our fellow farmers to join in endeavoring to gain -for all farmers’ sons and daughters the educational advantages which are the right of every American boy and girl and are the chief hope for the ad- vancement of democracy. We indorse the record of John M. Baer, the farmers’ congressman, and praise his manful stand for justice and his heroic and tireless labors in the cause of his constituents-and all the producers of the nation. . ; We indorse the amendments to the econstitution - . of the state now being circulated by petition — through the agency of the Nonpartisan league. STAND ON PROGRAM OF ECONOMIC REFORMS We stand on our original program of political and economic reforms so far as they have ‘not al- ready been accomplished to make the state govern- ment more responsive to the will of the people and to establish state institutions which will break the power of the monopolies over our markets. These proposed reforms include: for their strict and impartial enforcement of the - , -Amendment 'of the constitution to permit bond - issues for public-owned projects. .. A more workable form of the initiative, referen- dum and recall. - A speedier and simpler form for the amendment of the state constitution. A system of state-owned central elevators, flour mills, packing houses and cold storage plants. State-controlled rural credit banks operated at cost. : Compulsory state hail insurance. In addition we now propose: 5 Creation of a state labor and employment bureau with sufficient funds to maintain a free employment service and to collect and maintain information on labor needs and’distribution. State insurance on all public buildings. State insurance on all farm buildings. CONGRATULATE FARMERS OF OTHER STATES - We congratulate the farmers in other states of the West which have taken up the battle for more perfect democracy and we extend to them the hand of fellowship with the assurance that North Dakota is standing firm and continuing to fight. We deplore the acts of lawlessness and violence which have been committed against members and . officers of the League in other states and condemn all public officials who have connived at them, en- " couraged and permitted them. At the same time we praise the people of our own state that they are law-abiding and loyal and commend officers of our state for their enforcement of the law. We urge the people of our state to continue their loyal support of all patriotic enterprises and to be liberal in their contributions and unsparing in their personal efforts. Especially do we recommend in- creased support to the Red Cross, the Liberty loans, the Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus war funds and all other enterprises designed to support the government in the prosecution of the war and teo give comfort and aid to our boys who are fighting or preparing to fight for world democracy. We urge the efforts of our members to suppress all disloyal thoughts and acts and to make plain to all those who may not be well informed the justice of our nation’s cause and the righteousness of the intentions of the American people in the war. We urge all our fellow citizens, whether in the farms or the cities, to let their voices be heard for true democracy, for improvement wherever pos- sible in our government aid our economic con- ditions, for freedom, for tolerance and for co-oper- ation of all American citizens for the common good. We pledge ourselves and all of the candidates indorsed by us to adherence to and support of these principles. [ “First League State” Names Ticket Farmers of North Dakota Will Re-Elect “Good Men and True” Who Have Served Them Two Years—Brief Sketch of Nonpartisan Standard Bearers BY REX LAMPMAN ORTH Dakota, birthplace of the 2| farmers’ Nonpartisan move- ment for poiitical cleanliness and economic justice, likes Non- _partisan administration of her ‘public affairs so well that when the first two years of the new order of things is completed she proposes to have two years more of the same. Two years ago the farmers of North Dakota chose delegates who gathered in Fargo and in- dorsed a Nonpartisan ticket of candidates for state office. All but one of the men indorsed were elected. This year the farmers again chose delegates and sent them to Fargo, where a state convention was held Tuesday, March 27, with the result that virtually all of the men indorsed and elected in the fall of 1916- were indorsed again and will undoubtedly be re-elected ‘in' No- vember. : When North Dakota had a vacancy in congress last spring, these same farmers—or those of them who live in the first congressional district— decided to send a Nonpartisan to fight for farmers’ interests at Washington, They indorsed and elected John M. Baer. He has become the champion in congress not only of the farmers of North Dakota but of the nation. His ‘majority, like those of the state officials -elected the previous fall; was overwhelming. ; There were new places to fill on the ticket whose occupants held over at the last election, and for these: places men_ have been indorsed - whom the farmers believe - will duplicate the splendid records made by the: farmer governor, Lynn J. Frazier, and other members of his administration.: ~ < WHAT THE FARMERS . 7 HAVE DONE IN STATE - Governor. Frazier has made so wise and -dignified a chief -executive that “his fellow farmers declare freely that they have the best governor in the United States. e - The achievements ' of the Frazier administration include the: state bank deposit guaranty law, the granting of .-~ woman suffrage for all offices which “the present constitution allows—and the farmers: propose to change it to . allow a free expression of the popular " *will—the - raising of -assessments. of: railroads and. other public service cor- - of the grain grading act, which curbs - urbs the power of the big grain dealers to rob the farmer through the ‘manipulation of grades, and other measures which have been for the common good of the people of North Dakota, 80 per cent of whom live on farms. Even with a reactionary senate as a drag, the Nonpartisan farmers’ legislature accomplished much at its regular session in 1917, and again at its special session in January, 1918, distinguished itself with the amendment of an existing county seed and feed bonding act so that it could be used to provide money to furnish seed for those farm- ers who had been crippled, many of them, by two successive crop failures. With this assistance, of which the farmers of 22 counties have availed themselves, North Dakota expects to make a large ALL'IN THE SAME TOILS - ' —Drawn especially for the Leader by W. C. Morris contribution to the nation’s war-winning wheat crop. Besides the amendment of this bonding act, . the special session passed a moratorium law for the protection of soldiers during the war, fixed the crime of sabotage by statute—and prescribed severe penalties, and enacted other measures of relief and benefit to a people at war. FARMERS’ DELEGATES GATHER AT FARGO Still another . achievement of -the Nonpartisan administration has been the fruitful campaign car- ried on by Superintendent Macdonald and Governor Frazier for more consolidated rural schools, with up-to-date equipment. As a result of their efforts North Dakota is among the leaders in the pro- vision of good schools for farm boys and girls. X ; " All these things and many more— a long record of splendid achievement and earnest endeavor—were in the minds of the farmer delegates who gathered in Fargo March 26 and named the men whom they knew they could trust to carry on the good work of fulfilling further the high ideal of ‘“government of the people, by the people and for the people.” There were no outbursts ef elo- quence, no lofty forensic flights, no ringing appeals, no keynote speeches —none of the “old stuff” that marks the old party convention and makes it a thing of weariness to the long-suf- fering people, who despair even of getting any relief from gang politics or the high cost of living through its promises or performances. Instead, a little body of farmers— 49 in all, one for each legislative dis- - trict—got together in a little hall and earnestly talked things over. They made speeches, plain, simple talks straight to the point, with no man talking to hear himself or because he expected -so to charm his hearers that they would give him a nomination. ; ' Almost without exception the men who composed this farmers’ conven- ' tion in North Dakota were either Re- publicans or Democrats, mostly the former, for North Dakota has always been heavily a Republican state. But party labels have been forgotten .in the Nonpartisan ranks. They are only - used on the ballot, and the line of - political cleavage in North Dakota is tisan, with all the old gangsters of 2 both parties howling dismally in the ranks of the “antis.” Ll . Of the men selected by the North Dakota Nonpartisans to carry on the .League’s work in North Dakota and: : now. Nonpartisan versus anti-Nonpar- =