The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 10, 1918, Page 14

g | & 3 ; . no compulsion ‘whatever South Dakota farmer had Made Jerry Bacon Howl His Head Off Farmers’ Enemy Is Squelched by a South Dakota Leaguer—Sent Out His Pamphlet and Called a Nonpartisan Member Disloyal and a Fool ANY readers of the Nonpartisan Leader may never have heard of Jerry Bacon. But any Leaguer whose name has ap- peared in the letter columns of this magazine is sure to know who Jeremiah is. For this amusing old fellow spends most of his time reading the Leader and picking out the names of farmers so he can send them copies of a poorly written anti-League pamphlet of which he is very proud, for he wrote it himself. When Lamenting Jeremiah sent his book to C. E. Wheeler of Webster, S. D., he got more than he counted on. In fact, he caught a Tartar. The letter that Mr. Wheeler sent in reply called the attention of Jeremiah to some obvious misstate- ments in the pamphlet. ’ Now, Mr. Bacon is a very rich man, but he is getting used to having common, ordinary farmers answer him back. He owns a newspaper and hotel in Grand Forks, but likes to call himself a farmer on account of his ownership of several thousand acres of land, which he farms from a swivel chair. So when Mr. Wheeler called him on his lies, Jeremiah went straight up in the air. He lost his temper. Some of the things he said to Mr. Wheeler would not be printed in any self- respecting paper. Jerry hasn’t even printed them in his own. '+ The printable:parts of his- letter folow: ! THINKS HE . 8 WANTS TO FIGHT “You know there is about reading that pamphlet. You make the statement that any one who says the members or leaders of the Non- partisan league are dis- loyal and don’t stand back of the government and the administration in this war is a liar with a big L, and I would like to meet you face to face and thresh this thing out with you. ANY MAN WHO WILL STAND FOR THE LEADERS OF THE NONPARTI- SAN LEAGUE AND. CALLS THEM ON THE SQUARE, I BELIEVE IS NOT ONLY A DAMN FOOL BUT DISLOYAL TO THE CORE, AND OUGHT TO BE IN- TERNED. y “When you have made the statements you make in the letter to me, you might just as well make the same statements that™ Gilbert, Randall, - Lind- bergh and Townley have made themselves, and-if you did it wouldn’t be but a mighty short time until you were down in Leavenworth doing time, and that is just the place you belong if you stand for the statements these men have made. I am mighty sure if you are making those kind of statements yourself, you are sneaking around and doing it under cover, or you would be on your way to Leavenworth. “Yours very truly, “J. D. BACON.” Maybe you think this heart failure when he received this ignorantly vile message. Well, then you don’t know Mr. Wheeler. This is his reply, in which he put another burr, under the tail of the Bacon hog: “J. D. Bacon, “Grand Forks, N. D. “Dear Sir: ; “Your letter at hand, and you say that I seem to be pretty good at calling names. Well, I don’t think I have you beat much at that. If I am a damn fool and ought to be interned, I seem to be able to move around among the people here all right. I must say you are a gentleman, and that is the biggest damn lie I ever told. THE LEAGUE BACKS THE SOLDIERS “I still say that the Nonpartisan league as a whole is just as loyal as you or any of the old gang, and its members have bought just as many Liberty bonds and subscribed to the Red Cross in proportion to their financial ability to do so, as you or any other of your gang. There may be once in a while a pro-German, as in the case of the Republican, Democratic and Prohibition parties, I DON’T LET PROSPERITY BARN BURN DOWN! l | | L Owing to the unorganized state of the producer and consumer and the lack of adequate marketing facil- ities, there have grown up in cities classes of men who have taken upon themselves the function of food distribution. There are at present altogether too many men and too much machinery involved to conduct this distribution economically. It is as the Massachusetts Commission on the High Cost of Living says: ' ; “A long line of commission men, produce merchants, jobbers, hucksters, retailers and what not, simply passing goods from hand to hand like a bucket brigade at a fire, is not only inefficient and wasteful, but - very costly. In these days a hydrant and a line of hose are wanted.” A The National Nonpartisan league is the up-o-date fire department to put out the fire that is con- suming the nation’s prosperity. § S Lo = ; Sl i e but as a whole the Nonpartisan league is just as loyal as any one in the United States. “You say that if I should ever happen to be in that neck of the woods that you would like to see me. Well, I will assure you that I will not hesitate for fear of meeting you, and furthermore, if you happen to stray down this way, be sure and call on me. I would be pleased to meet you. “You seem to be weeping and wailing for the. boys in France, but I'll bet you dollars to dough- nuts that I am doing just as much for the boys over there as you are or ever will. Now, my dear sir, don’t lose any sleep over thinking that I ought to be in Leavenworth penitentiary, for if I ever go there I will be sure to have the honor of your company. . Yours very truly, “C. E. WHEELER, “A Farmer and Leaguer.” Insults or Sympathy? Cleveland, Ohio. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I hope you will be fair enough to allow a pres- entation of the other side of this agitation of the Nonpartisan league so that your readers may be able to judge of the size of the undertaking you have indorsed, also the absolute futility of trying to do so. We, the upper class, have the money on our side. We have the press of the country and the agricultural papers. We have the professors in your schools, the bank- ers and all persons who live off rents, interest and profit. Do you know that 95 people out of 100 fail to make good in business? Running grain elevators, mills, ete., as you would do, is a business trans- action. Do you pretend to tell methata child in the third room at school does not know more than one in the first? As the aver- age child advances in his studies, his wisdom in- creases. My children have not only gone through the common schools but also college, and then have been placed under specialists so that their minds may be so sharp- ened that we may be able to live so as to main- Y z e) J//’g}: the other hand, the av- .~Nonpartisan league did reader. We are going to launch again this year, and this, I feel sure, will be all the politics your farmer friends will need. Did you not read in holy writ where it says, “Servants, obey = your vy | _masters”? ffi We will pit one of your people against the other, and can reach a million “ears to your thousand. You are the men with the hoe .and we are the : and brains. We rule the world and ever will. tain our aristocracy. On We have the newspapers. - people with the intellect erage member ' of the™ not pass the eighth a red-hot tariff campaign * - PERCY L. SLOANE. v h e = o - |f - i | ot | P