The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 20, 1918, Page 7

& in Minnesota and over 1,000,000 sympathizers in the state as trai- tors. McGee changed this statement to read as follows: “The ' 'Nqnpartxsa_m league leaders and organizers are seditionists and, I think, traitors.” Now, does McGee or any one else think that altering of his statement, after he saw the effect of it, fools anybody ? Other parts of the testimony also were materially changed by McGee after he heard President Townley was going to Washing- ton to challenge his statements. :For instance, in the original sten- ographic transcript of his statement, the following appears, which is eliminated entirely from the final record as edited by McGee: “In my judgment when we declared war we should have or- ganized a firing squad. There is no possible objection now to work- ing a firing squad overtime in order to make up for lost time.” We do not blame McGee for being ashamed of that statement and for withdrawing it. We do say, however, that when he came back to St. Paul and denied that he had reflected on the people’s patriotism;-and cited his CHANGED AND EDITED testimony to prove it, he was guilty of a cheap trick and proved that he is merely a shifty and dishonest politician. A WOMAN TELLS THE DIFFERENCE ID you ever stop to think of the difference between a League farmer and the farmer who refuses to organize? Last Sunday we were out in the country. On the way back to the station we stopped for a drink at a little house by the road. The woman who lived there is a market gardener, doing all her own work. Last year she made $1,000 off an acre of straw- berries. True, she lost it all on her potatoes that fall, but not through any lack of science on her part. She’s the sort of woman who you would expect to see things clearly. : She told about going in to the city market every morning with her products, and what a time-saver her motor truck was. And she discussed the other truck growers who have stalls in the mar- ket. One time, she said, she went there with a lot of very fine plums. - The grocers snapped them up in a hurry. In the very next stall was a young man with what appeared to be the same sort of plums. The buyers passed him by , s and she felt sorry for him. 2 “Let me have them over here and I will sell them for you,” she - volunteered. The man passed them over, and she began dividing the ° bushel into peck measures. As she poured out the fruit the quality got worse and worse, until at the bottom there was nothing but trash. - Being an honest dealer, she was indignant and quickly gave him back the whole bushel. “That man could not be a " Leaguer,” she observed.to us. “I am sure that he wouldn’t even want to ° join. He is the sort of man who thinks he can get along without or- ganization by sharp business practice. Instead of co-operating with his fel- lows to0 get a square deal, he relies on cheating in . the hope of breaking even.” . - You can’t beat a woman for knowing what’s what. Can you answer the riddle any better than that? . e IN THE NAME OF “PATRIOTISM” STATISTICS of lynchings in-the United States recently made public state that one man is put to death by mob violence every other day. The situation is such that Attorney General Gregory is con- stantly rebuking mob rule. He rightly checks up these crimes to the weak state officials who do not move against them. " Negroes constitute the larger proportion of lynchings. The statistics show that most of the alleged crimes, for which men in the United States have been put to death without process of law, would not have been punishable by the death penalty had these men been convicted by jury. Alleged crimes against women for which men were lynched constitute a small per cent of the- total number. : The statistics do not include mob attacks, wherein victims have been cruelly beaten, tarred and feathered, ridden on rails, ‘or subjected to other indignities. J Cognpprativ‘q statistics will show that lawlessness in the United States is increasing. This is said to be a phenomenon peculiar to war. Certain it is that many crimes are being committed under the guise of loyalty. The Praeger lynching in Ilinois was accomplished by drunken “patriots.” A woman in Illinois was stripped of her - clothing and ridden on a rail because somebody had told somebody - else that a friend of his had said this woman was pro-German. - There undoubtedly is need for a rigid law to deal with pro- ~ Germans in this country. There is likewise need for the strict en- L S B D S T R S P S A T A O e ©PAGE SEVEN - vy, T o AT W Nl . . 3 A 7 3B AT 3 OV e 1 TR a8 P TNonpartissin Tader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week Entered as second-class matter September 8, 1915 at th toffice at St. Paul, Minnesota, under the Act of March 8, 1879.. ’ e U OLIVER 8. MORRIS, EDITOR Advertising rates on application. Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six !Snt?n{’hsfil Slfis'o. Communications should be addressed to the Nonpartisan Leader, Box 5765, aul, Minn, MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. Advertising Representatives, New Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are not knowingly advertised, and we will take it as a favor if any readers will advise us promptly should they have oceasion to doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising columns. forcement of law and order by the duly constituted lawful authorities. ‘ Old ‘Glory was never intended to shield cowardly bipeds who strike at the defenseless in the name of patriotism. County and local authorities who bow to the will of mobs should be removed from office by every patriotic governor. Members of mobs should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There can only be one side to this question. THE “WAR FINANCE” BILL HILE the United States senate has toyed with the Baer bill, after it was passed by the house by a big majority, and thus has made it useless to pass the bill, now that the 1918 spring seeding is practically all done, congress never- theless has provided in another way for aiding farmers. That is, if certain sections of the “war finance” bill are liberally interpreted, relief can be provided for needy farmers who can not buy seed or finance a crop through the usual channels. The so- called war finance bill provides for the loaning of money to and for financial assistance for industries necessary to the prosecution of the war. One section is as follows: That the corporation (a government corporation created to carry out the provisions of the bill) shall be empowered and authorized, in exceptional cases, to make advances di- - rectly to any person, firm, corporation, or association, con- ducting an established and going business in the United States, whose operations shall be necessary or con- tributory to the prosecution of the war (but only for the purpose -of conducting such business in the United States 'and only when such person, firm, corporation, or association is unable to obtain funds through banking channels or from the general public), for periods not exceeding five years from the respective dates of such ad- vances, upon such terms and subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the board of directors of the corporation. Now the farmer is a person with “an es- tablished and going business” whose operations are “necessary,” or at least “contributary,” to the prosecution of the war, and as he plainly comes under this wording of the act, he should ‘be allowed to avail himself of this public aid, when, also in the wording of the act, he “is un- able to obtain funds through banking channels or from the general public.” There has been no official inter- that we know of, and, 3 though it was not in- troduced and passed to aid farmers, it seems to the Leader that the farmer clearly comes under the provisions above quoted. The five directors which President Wilson will appoint, at salaries of $12,000 each per year, to administer this aid to “war industries,” certainly ought to be liberal enough to rule that the act applies to farmers also. ¢ There was no organized and powerful opposition to the war finance bill, such as cropped out against the Baer bill. Congress was ready and willing to pass a bill appropriating $500,000,000 to aid war industries, but it balked at a $50,000,000 or even a $10,- 000,000 appropriation to aid farmers directly, under the same kind of a plan. ' The objection to the Baer bill was chiefly because it originated with the Nonpartisan league and senators did not want to give the League credit for anything. It was also charged the Baer bill was “secialistic,” but no argument was made that the war finance bill was “socialistic.” In other words, it was good busi- ness and ‘patriotic to provide for lending money to business men, but entirely “unprecedented” and “socialistic” to do the same thing in the case of farmers. : 2 : However, the farmers plainly come under the provision of the war finance bill above quoted, and we shall see whether the ° - war finance corporation directors avail themselves of this oppor- tunity to assist agriculture. ot ST pretation of this act -