The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 3, 1918, Page 6

t 7/////////4 / wg.a Nonparti$an Teader Official Magazine of the N-tlonal'Nonpartinn League—Every Week Entered as second-class matter September 8, 1915, at th toffice at St. Paul Minnesota, under the Act of March 3, 18’19.e ’ ' : LR .. 55 OLIVER S. MORRIS, EDITOR Advertising rates on application. Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six months, . $1.50. Please do not make checks, drafts mor money orders payable to indi- viduals. Address all letters and make all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertisi Representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. g i 5 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 occasion to doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising columds. SOLIDARITY IN THE LEGISLATURE HE interests hostile to any program of social or industrial : justice have two big opportunities to defeat the people in . the process necessary to bring about public measures of this kind. Strangely enough both these opportunities depend on the same thing for success—namely, a split in the ranks of the advocates of the reforms wanted. The first opportunity of these. interests comes during the campaign for the election of lawmakers to legislatures. If enough voters WHO BELIEVE IN THE MEAS- URES PROPOSED can be influenced to scatter their votes between two or more men who pretend to be for the measures, it gives a third or fourth candidate a chance to slip by through getting the solid support of opponents of the measure, who are careful not . to split their votes. .. 'This failing, and the friends of the measures proposed being elected to carry out the popular will, the second opportunity of the opponents of the measure develops. THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO SPLIT UP THE FRIENDS OF THE MEASURE IN THE LEG- ISLATURE. That is, even though the people have put a majority of representatives in the legislature who favor a certain measure, the opponents of the measure bank on the defeat of the proposed reform BY GETTING SOME LEGISLATORS TO FAVOR DOING IT ONE WAY, AND OTHERS TO FAVOR DOING IT ANOTHER WAY. Thus, often when the majority in a legislature is for a certain kind of reform, the minority is able to defeat it by getting the reformers to quarreling among themselves. To avoid this, in the case of purely party measures, both old . political parties adopted the “caucus” system. That is, all mem- bers in congress of a certain party were bound by a majority vote of the members of that party in congress. Thus, when a majority of Democratic congressmen decide that a certain measure is good, all Democratic congressmen are supposed to vote for it. Now, when the state convention of the farmers of Minnesota indorsed candidates for office, it was decided to pledge them Yo the “caucus” system—not the caucus system as the old parties used it, but with restrictions that would eliminate the abuses of the old party system. Therefore, all candidates for the Minne- sota legislature indorsed by the farmers for the coming election ; have subscribed to the following agreement: I agree-that if elected, I will at all times vote and work for those méasures that will -assure justice to all farmers and workers and all the people of the state in ac- cordance with the progres- sive and cardinal principles of the League and the wishes of my constituents. And dur- ing the session of the legis- lature, I will at all times vote and work for those measures and legislative acts that are approved by a ma- jority of the members of the legislature elected by the League and organized labor. No sooner did it become _ known that the farmers required f their legislative candidates than the political gang ipers let out a terrible wail. They said the farmers’ had “sold their rights as free citizens” and bound them- selves to accept the mandates of “Townley” or of the “League man- agers.” They had never protested about the old-party caucus sys- tem, but they pretended to be deeply shocked at the above agree- PAGE SIX T A S AT S A A A A Lo o -MAJORITY VOTE DEEM Yy Y III///, , //[% / & . ////”// ‘//fl L %IJ ll/ ment of candidates for the legislature. Their fear is, of course, that the farmers will elect a majority to the legislature.and that, because of this agreement, it will be impossible for the big inter- ests, newspapers and politicians to split up the votes of the farmer legislators. Read the agreement again. It does not bind the farmer legis- lators to anything except to sup- port MEASURES WHICH THEY THEMSELVES BY A WORTHY OF SUPPORT. Noth- ing about Townley or the League management in it. This agree- ment assures UNITY in the leg- islature and success of the farmer-labor program. It will prevent the gang from splitting the. people’s representatives. And that is why there has been such a- wail. Depend upon it that when the anti-farmer, anti- labor newspapers of Minnesota wax indignant over anything the farmers do, it is pretty good evidence that the farmers are on the right track. ’ T JUNKER MORALITY T IS not only democracy that is at stake in this war. Morality itself is being attacked by men at home who are making a pre- tense of high patriotism to spread the doctrines of subordinat- ing everything to militarism, just as the junkers of Germany do. Consider the following clipping from a recent newspaper, remem- bering how unreliable newspapers are, and that the speaker may have said nothing of the kind: CHICAGO, May 17.—“The woman about to present the nation with a war baby may be pardoned if she asks by whom she shall be for- . given and for what,” Dr. A. L. Weinkop told the ' state congress of women. “Woman can not give her life in battle as man does,” said Doctor Weinkop. “Her function is to produce life. When she does that she is doing her duty. “For the race, is or is it not more important that the man who loses his life should first have reproduced himself with or without marriage?” Human sympathy should be THINK WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TOGIVE makes a mistake. But to go about the country advocating THEN downright immorality is vastly DOUBLE (T, different. : War has subjected the . ol sanctity of property, industrial liberty, family life and standards of consumptioé) toyviolent and even paralyzing shocks. That all the natural and accepted pre- cepts of religion and morality can be violated or reversed at the call of national _emergency, will be a revelation of huge, unsuspected perils in the midst of which the people have been slumbering. Our hope lies in the conviction that the fierce light of war and the glowing aftermath will show men that, unless an ordered popu- - lar will can flood all the main channels of national life, intelligently controlling all the major organs of government, . there can be no security for anything that ordinary men and women value in life. THE GENTLEMAN FROM ILLINOIS ENATQR S_HERMAN of Illinois, who obtained for himself big headlines in newspapers throughout the country by a vicious attack on President Wilson of the United States and Presi- dent Townley of the Nonpartisan league, in the same speech, sub- sequently also indulged in some very interesting comment. He made another attack on Mr. Townley and the following debate took place: 5 MR. SHERMAN—Mr. Townley is on record not only in this ex- tract- from his speech but in many others as a seditious character himself. . As I stated a few days ago, he was five times on the plat- form with Frank Little in the state of Montana. He was there for §editious purposes. He was caught in the company of the I. W. W.s in that state. They were engaged in disturbances of the public peace. What they did is well known in that stage. Mr. Townley’s connection with their seditious and murderous plans is not so well known. MR. REED—Mr. President— too great to drive out a girl who °