The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 27, 1918, Page 9

i\ [ 03 < - N . L 13 (3% Lo d ) § * - i i "N - ey b Bad b w 5 B 5 K v R~ i i v il A _with sympathy and understanding. - times unless the law is enforced. You From Texas to See Farmers in Action Editof of a Great Southern Agricultural Paper~Went to Minnesota to Inves- tigate the League— Found Everything to Admire, Nothing to Criticize - John W. C:inada is editor and publisher of the « Southland Farmer of Houston, Texas. His-is the most influential farmers’ paper in that state, and perhaps in the South. For years Mr. Canada has stood for progress on the farm, 'and his readers know him for a~man of honor and judgment. It was natural that Mr..Canada should watch the advance of the National Nonpartisan league It was easy for him to see what it could do for the people of Texas. What was his horror when an emissary of the governor 'of Minnesota went before the United States senate and declared that the Leaguers were traitors. Mr. Canada resolved immediately to go to Minnesota and make a personal investigation of the loyalty and reliability of the League and its officers. Through the kindness of Mr. Canada, the Leader is able here to present the report on the activities of the League which Mr. Canada has written for the readers of the Southland Farmer. —THE EDITOR. BY JOHN W. CANADA 1Y ADVOCACY of such a system of marketing the products of the farm, wheat, cotton, corn, livestock or any other product, so that the producer may ob- tain his fair share of the prices paid by the consumer; the shifting of taxation from im- provements and wealth created by man’'s efforts to land values, created by society, so that land monopoly and land speculation may be broken up and the land opened to the people; government cqntrol and ownership of natural mon- opolies; abolition of the corrupting and debasing liquor traffic, with all its attendant ills; the right of equal suffrage, and similar progressive ideas of government activities, in the editorial columns of Southland Farmer, as every reader knows, go back to the years preceding the formation of the Nonpartisan league. p When, therefore, the League appeared, first in North Dakota, then in a dozen other states, with a concrete program, in a business-like manner, and in entire harmony with the spirit and methods of our governmént, for carrying into effect in the only way possible, through legislation, these prin- ciples, through a nonsecret, nonpolitical organiza- tion for action at the polls, I welcomed it most heartily. Recently Judge J. F. McGee, chairman of the public safety commission of Minnesota, appointed by the governor, went to Washington and appeared before the committee of which Senator Overman is chairman and made the following'statements, as given in press dispatches: ST “Where we made a mistake was in not estab- lishing a firing squad in the first days of the war. We should now get busy and have that firing squad working overtime. “The nation’s life is at stake. The government has no more conception.of the state of affairs in Minnesota than a child unborn. “In these days the judges should not think in terms of peace. What we need is .a military court. You can’t fool a mili- tary court. You can’t fool a naval court. Under the existing circum- stances it is' almost impossible to ob- tain convictions. j A THOUSAND MILES TO INVESTIGATE “The disloyal element in Minnesota is largely among the German-Swed- ish people. The nation blundered at the start in not dealing severely with these vipers. “A Nonpartisan league lecturer is a traitor every time, but county at- torneys won’t look crosswise at them in some counties. ~ “You are going to have the Ku Klux Klan multiplied a thousand can not fool the military court, but you can’t depend on juries.” These are pretty grave accusations for an appointee of the governor as . chairman of the public: safety ‘com- the American army. When the Nonpartisan league sprang into prom- inence, John W. Canada was much interested. Recently he made a trip to St. Paul for the express purpose of investigating for-himself the League - program and the truth of the attacks upon the or- ganization. Mr. Canada is secretary of five farm loan associations under the federal farm loan act and was very active in promoting the Liberty loan in Texas. mission with a fund of $1,000,000 voted by the legislature to see that seditious utterances and treasonable acts in Minnesota are suppressed and punished. They were so grave that I went to Minnesota and spent a week to learn the truth for myself and to tell the readers of Southland Farmer whether or not I found any truth in them, and whether or not President Wilson is right, in view of conditions in our country, in his opposition to a court martial law. . Since the members of the Nonpartisan league are all farmers, and it is against them, by his own words, that the accusations of Judge McGee are . Organizer Sues an Editor for Libel Suit for $20,000 criminal libel has been brought by a Non- | partisan league organizer against the editor of the Shoshone (Idaho) Journal, who overreached himself in speaking of “the traitorous activities” of the organizer, who has two sons in Henry L. Fest, a prominent farmer and stockraiser of Gem county, is a believer in the principles of the .eague. -He believes in the necessity for reform so deeply that he became an organizer. . Although one of his sons volunteered and is now in France in the aviation corps, and another was drafted, leaving the- whole burden of the farm on Mr. Fest, he found time to do his bit for the League cause in Idaho. 0Old Glory and a two-star service flag fly side by side on ‘the farm of Mr. Fest. In the windows of his home are the cards of the Red Cross and the Liberty loan: “Barber, the Shoshone editor, gets $20,000 worth of satisfaction |- out of calling the father of two men offering their lives to their country a traitor, he ought to be happy. e PAGE NINE If Edward T. directed, I went out to some typical gatherings of such farmers, some members, some not, of Ger- man, of Norwegian, of.Swedish descent, as well as of long-time American blood. On Saturday I went out to a meeting of farmers at Rock Creek, 80 miles north of St. Paul. It was a Nonpartisan league meeting. In the auto with me were an organizer, Mr. Craig, who has been in Texas, and- Mr. Hokstad, a young Nor- wegian organizer. In another auto were Mrs. Bain, wife of a captain in the United States navy, now in active service, herself an active worker for the League, two other ladies, a newspaper man and the League speaker to make the address. WHERE AN ORGANIZER HAD BEEN TARRED _— Only the night before, Hokstad was taken by masked citizens of the county, not farmers, and tarred and feathered. Had he been in the wrong he would scarcely have gone back to that com- . munity as soon as he got the tar and feathers off. On reaching the little town we found about 500 farmers, their wives and children. They had every appearance of being a peaceable lot, in fact, looked very much like the farmers of any good Texas community. Perhaps a bigger proportion had autos. Lined up in the road was a company of the home ° guard, lads in khaki and with their guns at rest, sent there by the safety commission. I must say that the farmers were as much surprised as I was to see a military company sent by orders, direct or indirect, of the governor, to a neighborhood gathering of farmers, with their wives and chil- dren, to see that the farmers kept the peace. The sheriff of the county himself was there, by invitation of the farmers, to uphold the civil law, and to take action if any speaker should say any- thing seditious. He made it plain to the military company that he, as representative of civil author- ity, was supreme. The meeting was presided over by a farmer of the community, a man with a son now in France. Mrs. Bain made a ringing speech and the League organizer made his address. Both speeches were listened to most closely by the farmers, and the only discordant note were the hostile remarks of the ‘wife of a local merchant. At the close of the meeting the chairman called for a Red Cross contribution. The officer in com- mand of the military company objected, saying that he had orders that collections should not be allowed at such meetings. The chairman had the hat passed anyway, saying the farmers had a right to give when they pleased, and the little crowd, all of them members already of the Red Cross, con- tributed $68.72. d This they offered to the Red Cross ¢hairman, the local banker. . HE REFUSED TO ACCEPT IT. The chairman remarked that the money would be given to some other good cause where it would serve the Minnesota boys .now fighting. A PICNIC AT CLARKFIELD The meeting then dispersed and the farmers and their wives snd children quietly and peaceably went home. I had seen some of the = sedition in Minnesota of which Judge McGee spoke. But whose was it? Monday I went to the western part of the state, to a picnic on the farm of A. O. Detseth, a member, at which . Mr. Townley, president of the League, spoke. One hundred and eighty miles in an auto through a beautiful coun- try, with neat farm homes and big red barns and seemingly a prosper- ous people. " On reaching the farm at 2 o’clock, I found fully 500 autos, and three- fourths of them were big cars, too. This county, peopled largely by Scandinavians, is one of the League strongholds. Surely here, among such a people, with such a League mem- bership, and with the arch-Leaguer himself, Townley, and a Norwegian organizer, Magnus Johnson, vice president of the Farmers’ Equity and long a state senator, as the speakers, I could learn exactly whether Presi- dent Wilson or Judge McGee is -{ight. A stand for the speakers had been