The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 10, 1918, Page 12

B ¢ N e i ‘ Dispatch’s columns are closed certainly was unpatriotic and certainly interfered with national efficiency. Did the Dispatch or Pioneer Press demand that these practices cease or call the packers “pro- German”? They did not. They actually defended the packers. . But when a delegation of workers from the meat packing industry went to Washington and de- manded government ownership of the packing plants, the Dispatch was very indignant. It said that to interfere with “the packing business which affords probably the finest specimen of economy in our whole industrial life, would either result in higher meat prices or an unprincipled raid on the treasury of the United States.” i The Minneapolis millers were exposed in gigantic profiteering operations which gave them an illegal profit far in excess of that allowed by the gov- ernment. The Dispatch and Pioneer Press never printed one word about this. They never suggested that the millers were unpatriotic or pro-German be- cause they were holding up the people for high prices' and making it expensive for our govern- ment to feed our soldiers: The Dispatch and Pioneer Press allowed these flagrant cases of profiteering to pass without rotice, or justified the profiteers when they com- mented at all. But when a few milk producers asked for higher prices so that they could make both ends meet and pay for feed for their cows— the millers were raising the price of bran pretty frequently those days—the Dispatch and Pioneer Press almost went into a frenzy and suggested that the farmers be indicted. G LURING MEN FROM THE SOIL And when the street car men struck, because of poor pay and unfair working conditions, the Dis- patch and Pioneer Press deliberately tried to ob- scure the issues and make the union men seem in the wrong. These papers upheld the arbitrary acts of the public safety commission and Horace Lowry through thick and thin and even hinted that “disloyalists” and “pro-German influences” were fomenting the strike. Apparently it was unpatriotic for the union men to demand better conditions and more pay, but very patriotic for Horace Lowry and the public safety commission to say that they “had nothing to _ arbitrate.” And the Dispatch and Pioneer Press had not one word of condemnation when the Twin City Rapid Transit company by evasively worded ad- vertisements tried to induce country boys to quit their necessary work on the farms and come to the Twin Cities to help keep union men out of a job. This despicable effort hit directly at our govern- ment—for the government has announced that every farm laborer is needed on the farms—but the Dispatch and Pioneer Press did not say it was unpatriotic or pro-German. Indeed not. .They remained discreetly silent. They con- tinued to remain silent on this question even after the federal mediation commission con- demned this practice in scath- ing language. - . The Dispatch also remained silent when John H. Walker, chairman of President Wil- son’s mediation commission, wrote a letter which thanked the labor unions of the Twin Cities for their patriotic atti- tude during the street . car strike and then accused the Twin City Rapid Transit com- pany of deliberately obstruct- ing the government’s war pol- icy. Apparently the Dispatch did ' not consider this letter news, for from that date to this it has never printed a word about it.- - : The Daily News, the only independent daily paper in St. Paul, printed® Mr. Walker’s letter on its ‘front page, and even the Minneapolis papers were ashamed to stoop to such’ flagrant suppression of what the ~people were entitled to ' know. But not the Dispatch. Its editor evidently considers that the interests of the Twin . City Rapid Transit eompany are paramount to the inter- ests of the public. . Even when a federal commission condemns this * selfish corporation, . the . Here’s a case where the picture tells a story. Those hogs in the trailer are squeal- ~ing for liberty. Not the kind of " hog-swill-: ing, dirt-rooting liberty you: might think, but for American liberty and democracy over the whole world. They are'on the way to be turned into Liberty bonds. The pic- ".ture was enclosed in a letter from Lewis P. Miller of Clinton, Minn. He wrote to head-: quarters of the National Nonpartisan league as follows: . - . B S SR »?:&mmmmu1mm\mflwmfim¢mm¥nmm:m 3 and it deprives its readers .of this legitimate news. In this connection it is pertinent to remember that Thomas Lowry, late president of the Twin City Rapid Transit company, once made a large loan to the late owner of the Dispatch and also remember that the Dispatch is now carrying on a subtle cam- paign to prepare the people for a raise in fares which the Twin City Rapid Transit company pro- poses. This is gratitude. But gratitude to whom ? The public or the corporations? HOW THEY FEAR 2 THE LEAGUE ] g . Nothing, however, shows the unfairness of th Dispatch more than its attitude toward the Non- partisan league. in North Dakota the Dispatch paid little attention to it and its news articles on the whole were fair. On two occasions it even made some jocular and not altogether unfriendly editorial comment about the League. When the League first invaded Min- nesota the Dispatch continued this policy. Ap- parently it did not consider the League of any im- portance and hesitated to offend its farmer read- ers by going out of its way to attack the organi- zation. The Dispatch even sent one of its report- ers to North Dakota and printed articles, which, while they contained many inaccuracies, were not unfair and did not raise the question of disloyalty. Shortly after these articles appeared, however, something happened in the Dispatch sanctum. Its editors may have been called upon by some emis- saries of big business who pointed out the menace of the League. But in any event, the paper sent out one of its employes over the state to make an investigation as to the strength of the League. Apparently he reported that the League was al- ready strong and rapidly growing, for on his re- turn the Dispatch suddenly changed its policy. It realized for the first time that the League was really a factor in Minnesota politics and that it must be headed off at all hazards, by foul means if fair means failed. From that day to this the Dispatch has con- ducted an unfair, dishonest and abusive campaign against the Nonpartisan league. It has “played up” all news which it could in any way distort so as to seem unfavorable to the League and it has steadily failed to print news which tended to place the League in a favorable light. BAR THE TRUTH ki AT ANY PRICE The city editor of the Dispatch told a man con- nected with the Nonpartisan league publicity de- partment that “the only kind of news that we in- . tend to print about the League is unfavorable news. There is no use of you bringing me news of successful League meetings. I only throw them in the waste basket.” That he told the truth is testified by the fact that although hundreds of League meetings have to retire some crooked an honest life.- ‘money ahead.” PAGE TWELVE ' : L When the League first sprang up - . “Enclosed is $17. 'Send me my post-dated check, allowing $1 for interest. picture of how I raised the money. to pay for my Liberty bond on the best country on earth, some for the Red Cross, and this, to finance my organization which will help me politicians back to “P. 8.—If we had state hail insurance now I' could pay you another $16 and still be . been held in Minnesota, the Dispatch has seldom mentioned these gatherings, although whenever a League meeting is stopped by some subservient or officious officers, the Dispatch and Pioneer Press print these items on their front pages. . Last winter the League decided to put the truth before the people even if it had to pay for it. It began printing news accounts of League meetings _with copies of the resolutions adopted at these meetings in the form of paid advertisements. Twé; or three of these advertisements were printed in the Dispatch and then the advertising manager of that paper refused to accept any more advertise- ments. He refused to give a reason for this stand, but it was very apparent that having maligned and misrepresented the Nonpartisan league, the Dis- patch did not want its readers to know the truth, even when the truth was inserted in its columns in the form of paid advertising. The Dispatch apparently would rather make some slight financial sacrifices than to allow its readers to become aware of its studied policy of deception. It probably also figured that the League might purchase advertising space to set forth its piatform and the Nonpartisan league platform is the last thing that the St. Paul Dispatch and the Pioneer Press want the people of Minnesota to see. They prefer to dodge the real issues and call names, just as they charged John Lind with dis- loyalty in 1898 when he was running for governor on a ticket that threatened the interests of the Dispatch’s big business supporters. WHERE SEDITION RAISES ITS HEAD The Dispatch bases its charge of disloyalty against the League on half a dozen misquotations which it has culled from some three or four hun- dred speeches which Mr. Townley has made in the Northwest in the past year. The Dispatch, how- . ever, never has dared to print one of Mr. Town- ley’s speeches in full, although stenographers em- ployed by the Dispatch and Pioneer Press have taken down every word of several of his-speeches in shorthand. The papers have nat dared to print these speeches because they know what the whole tenor of his remarks is leyal and crushingly re- futes their own accusations. : The Dispatch itself, however, has- frequently published statements which are far worse than anything Mr. Townley is accused of saying. On _ January 17, 1918, the Dispatch characterized Presi- dent Wilson’s order to hal{ business for heatless Monday as a “hysterical blunder which no neces- sity can justify and no explanation paliate—a catastrophe without cause, like an imperial ukase, imposed over night with no consultations to its efficiency.” This hysterical outburst was due to the fact that the federal government had stepped upon the toes of some of the Dispatch’s big busi- ness supporters. Had the government issued some order imposing sacrifice on the organized farmers l ' TURNING HOGS INTO TLIBERTY BONDS I or organized workers the Dis- patch probably would have hailed it as a wise and justi- fiable measure. Two days later, on January 19, 1918, the Pioneer Press stated: “Yes, we are at war, but we don’t need ill-considered con- servation orders:to rub it in. pronunciation of the fuel order and call it the fool order.” Several weeks later the Dis- patch “stated that “The coal . situation seems to have para-. lyzed wit and action of: the: authorities -at Washington.”" ! - On January; 21, the Dispatch! stated that “Liberty loan cam- paigns. to tease subscriptions: from the public. are:a simple: proposition if| they don’t come: sall in' a heap or too many times.” - g : In addition, : the Dispatch published . the vituperative at- tacks of Theodore Roosevelt: directed at President Wilson, President - Wilson - of: being: ‘& 0 + falsifier and a. hypecrite ‘and Here is a of -having = “thrice ‘betrayed ARE THE PAPERS WHICH TRIOTISM OF: THE :FARM- ERS° AND WORKERS OF THE NORTHWEST WHEN- ~EVER THEY ORGANIZE TO: _CONDITION!. . Don’t make a mistake in the. .in one ‘of which -he accused democracy.” AND THESE . TRY TO IMPUGN. THE PA-. BETTER THEIR ECONOMIC: