The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 6, 1918, Page 7

sheared hair up in a package and express it to President Wilson with a humoroug.note. - What wits we are! il Each one of these things has happened during the last few weeks. They make every honest American blush with shame. We are trying to convince the German people that our motives and pur- poses are just—that we aim to harm no people, but merely to en- force our own rights as a nation and to make democracy safe in the world. We are trying to convince the German people of that so that they will cease to support their autocratic, militaristic government, not only ending this war but removing one of the causes of all wars. When ignorant, fanatical people adopt the methods cited above they are furnishing argument—and the best possible argument— for the kaiser and the German junkers to pass out to the, Germaf people as proof that we are hypocrites. How much longer is that _sort of thing going to be permitted in America? How much longer are we going to allow the degenerates among our citizenship to hurt our cause in the war and make us out a senseless, brutal peo- ple before the world?" Persons who participate in these outrages, which are staining the name of America, are mostly the ignorant and misled. The real culprits are the newspapers which inflame people to such acts, the few leaders and instigators who often do not actually take part in the acts but who egg others on, and editors and citizens everywhere who fail to show their disapproval and thus ir%dj{:ate they have no patriotic interest in preserving the fair name of America. : THE IRONY OF FATE -7~ AISER WILHELM has always considered. K Colonel Roosevelt the greatest American. Perhaps it was for this reason that the kaiser, during Roosevelt’s administration as presi- dent, presented the United States with a statue of Frederick the Great, the first great “war lord” of Germany. ' At any rate the colonel presided at the dedication of the statiie, which was set up amid great ceremony in front of the war college building at Washington, D. C., in November, 1904. The colonel accepted the statue from the kaiser in a suitable speech. The United States marine band played “Die ‘Wacht am Rhein” and the “Star Spangled Banner,” and the colonel led the cheering as the silken cord that unveiled the statue was pulled by Baroness Sternberg, wife of the German ambassador. A It is the irony of fate, however, that it fell to - the lot of President Wilson, intended victim of the colonel’s bitter political attacks since we entered the war, to order the statue of Frederick the Great hauled down the other day. The bronze Fred- erick was unceremoniously lifted off his pedestal in front of the war college by a derrick and hemp rope, and he has been stored in the basement of the war college building till after the war. It has been suggested that if the colonel is successful in getting the third term as president which he is seeking, and if he is presi- dent after the war is over, he could get even with President Wilson by ordering the statue reinstated. He could order the statue re- dedicated, with appropriate ceremonies, and again sing “Die Wacht am Rhein” not likely that anything like this will happen, however, for the colonel has no chance to be president again, and anyway it probably would not be wise to reinstate the bronze representation of a great militarist after the war has brought, as we all hope, general dis- armament and a league of nations to enforce peace. TRUE TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO GRICULTURE is the old- @ est of industries, and has - been the cradle of the noblest minds in human history. farmer were early discovered and are just as true today as 2,000 years ago. Consider these words from Cato the Elder, a famous old Roman: ! ““One should realize that with a farm not less than with a man, no matter how much it produces, little gain will be left if the farm has a habit of spending.” Something ‘of the modern idea of holding for a favorable market is found in this: - “As a young man, the farm owner should plant his land with care, but build only after long reflection. Planting does not require _reflection, but action. When you have reached the age 6f 56, then - you should build, if you have the farm well planted. In building, - do mnot let the farmhouse be insufficient for the farm, or the farm for the house. The farm owner should have his country home well built, with oil and wine cellar, and many jars, SO THAT HE MAY WAIT FOR THE HIGHEST PRICE; a home, in short, which will = be to your: profi'g,‘;your : cre"dit, .and your reputation.” - ' and cheer as the silken cord revealed the bronze. It is : Some of the great truths for the - ~ In the face of the facts the charge falls flat. Nonpartisan Teader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week Entered as second-class matter September 8, 1915, at the postoffice at St. Paul, Minnesota, under the Act of March 3, 1879. OLIVER S. MORRIS, EDITOR Advertising rates on application. months, $1.50. St. Paul, Minn. Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six Communications should be addressed to the Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertising Representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are not knowingly advertised, and we will take it as a favor if any readers will advise us promptly ghould they have. occasion to doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising columns. - And then the final words of wisdom, which no longer can be fol- lowed as completely as in other days: “THE FARM OWNER SHOULD BE A SELLER, NOT A BUYER.” ; THE SENATE AND THE BAER BILL loans to farmers needing money for seed- ing wheat, has been neglected by the senate of the United States. This is the measure that passed the house of representatives by an overwhelming vote. this bill was that it would not get through the upper house in time to be of benefit to the North- west. It may occur‘to some of the citizens whom this shiftless handling of emergency legislation fulllcapacity, that the senate is putting itself on trial. Quick action is what is needed in these times of war. Many of the checks and balances that surrounded the office of the president have been swept overboard. Most of these had their origin in an early dis- trust of the people’s ability to rule. George Washington, in discussing the need for two houses of . congress, more than one hundred years ago, compared the upper and, lower house to a cup and saucer. The coffee often was too hot; he THE Baer bill, providing for government has deprived of bread, and to some of the fa_rmers ‘ who have been rendered incapable of planting to said, and the saucer was useful for holding some of the fluid while it cooled off. The senate reminded him of the saucer. The needs of the country have changed just as much as has popular custom. Probably a majority of us no longer drink our coffee by the cup and saucer method. There are even some who say that we do not need two houses of congress. ' OVER THE TOP FOR THE BONDS ANKERS admit that the success of the third Liberty loan was insured by the small investor, rather than by the wealthy corporations. It was the farmers of the Middle West that Ve shot the subscriptions up. North Dakota and Montana were among the first states to report having exceeded their quota. The former had a surplus of 60 per cent. It oversubscribed the second loan 70 per cent though editors of news- papers have made it appear that it fell down on that issue. No . more eloquent response could be made to the conscienceless lie that the people of the “Nonpar- tisan states” were shirking their "|# duty. As a correspondent to one of the St. Paul papers said: “When other states have been thoroughly organized by the League, they doubtless will go ‘over the top’ in jig time on Liberty loans, along with North Dakota and Montana.” = Returns from South Dakota are not yet in, but the first coun- ty to go above its quota there . was Edmunds. the state. Ina busy breaking matter of helping the government-finance the war. This is one of the strongest Nonpartisan counties in 1 good many communities self-called loyalists are too ! up League meetings to pay much attention to the The League has supported ‘every Liberty loan, and will con- | tinue to support all necessary war work, -No baser charge was ever made than that the hundreds of thousands of farmer members and millions of sympathizers of this great organization are slackers. ' One of the arguments used by opponents of ° :