The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 24, 1918, Page 16

HERE have been outrageous do- ings in Nebraska. In Merrick county, a semi-official mob threatened to hang a young farmer who was doing organ- Nonpartisan league. In Pierce county, League meetings have . been stopped and many threats of violence made by misguided, ill-inspired village gangs. 3 Now the matter has been put squarely up to the young millionaire governor of the state by the Pierce county citizens and farmers. In a signed appeal to Governor Keith Neville, the farmers go to the fountain head of the trouble by demanding the resignation of R. L. Metcalf, a lifelong politi- cian who now is a member of the Nebraska council of defense. No man in the United States, not even- Judge McGee of Minnesota, has stirred up so much dissension among the people in these days of war than this tax eater. Following is the appeal sent by the farmers to Governor Neville, May 28: SAY THEY DON'T NEED A WARRANT Honorable Sir: We, the undersigned, farmers and citizens of the - county of Pierce, state of Nebraska, respectfully request you to protect us in our moral and legal right to organize and hold meetings in the further- ance of a plan to secure fair and equitable legisla- tion for the farmers and workingmen of the state. The Pierce county council of defense and the home guards of Plainview have forbidden us to hold meetings to discuss the legislative program of the National Nonpartisan league of Nebraska. Our speakers have been threatened with mob violence and our meetings stopped. One of our organizers has been arrested and warned not to work in our county, and the man who arrested him claimed to be an officer of the Plainview home guards and proprietor of a pool hall in that village. ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN DONE WITHOUT AUTHOCR- ITY OF LAW. In response to our protest against’ the breaking up of meetings and the arrest of per- sons without warrants, the officers of the two or- ganizations named laughed and told us they didn’t | ' , T N TRA HE FIRST FORDSO ‘ization work for the National ) Shall Mobs Rule: Neraska? Outrages Encouraged by a Tax-Eating Politician Put Up to Governor Neville by Pierce County Farmers need a warrant. Some of them said that they were acting on the authority of an unwritten “higher law” and in support of it quoted the viceé president . of the state council of defense, George Coupland. We declare that this is adopting the philosophy of the I. W. W. and of all Ku Klux Klan organizations, and that it is unworthy the support of the Ameri- cans whose patriotism is other than of the dress parade kind. SNIPING FROM BEHIND THE FLAG Our program of rural banks, state hail insurance, goverrment: owmership of ‘railroads, waterpower, coal mines, packing plants, terminal elevators and telephone and telegraph lines, can not be put into effect unless a majority of the voters approve by their ballots of the program. Have we not the right to ask that those who are against us—the profes- sional politicians and the economically unnecessary business men—fight us in the open and not-by mob violence in the name of patriotism? If the people of Nebraska are permitted without intimidation to freely hear both sides, their decision at the polls can be trusted. To act on a different theory is to deny the democracy for which we are fighting. We call your attention to the political fight that is being made on the Nonpartisan league behind the skirts of the state council of defense and the vari- ous self-constituted county councils of defense. We request that you call for the resignation of one R. L. Metcalf, a member of the state council of de- fense, because of his malicious and unwarranted at- tacks on the patriotism of the members and officers of our farmers’ organization, the Nonpartisan league. His statements constitute eriminal libel in our opinion, or else what he says is the political hate song of an unbalanced brain. We have no ob- jection to politicians who have been living at the public crib most of their lifetime fighting us, for: they will find little comfort in our program, but WE DO NOT THINK IT A FAIR DEAL THAT.: YOU SHOULD PERMIT THEM TO SHOOT AT US FROM -BEHIND THE FLAG. % Every ounce of our energy and every dollar we:’ have and can borrow will be spent if need be in helping win the war for democracy. We are whole- heartedly and unreservedly back of President Wil- son’s program for world democracy. against a premature peace that shall not have as its cornerstone the crushing of Prussian militarism. We . labor -on our farms more: intensely and for longer hours than in other years because we know the importance of food in winning the war. We have contributed as best we could to the Liberty loan campaigns and to the Red Cross. Our sons— the pride of our hearts—are in France. - Knowing this, can you blame us for feelifig bitter towards the office-chair patriots who call us disloyal because like business men we attempt to secure the benefits of organization? Can not the patriotism of the councils of defense and the home guards be made to shine in some other way than by questioning our loyalty ? We await with much interest your decision in the matter. : THE LIBERTY-LOVING FARMERS WHO SIGNED Ernest Shaffer Hugo Enerling We are 1 Charles E. Bargstadt Ben Tunning John Theissen J. F. Kolterman R. T. Rasmussen Ed Merger Otto Altwine H. A. Rohn Henry Lubke George Kratochvil F. D. Modhorst George Fox Arthur Kroeger Henry Krugan Ed Mordhorst Emil Mohr C. E. Marnor Adolph Nissen F. B. Faust P. E. Nissen Erwin Krotochol Adolph Brunckhorst A. H. Wenhirch Robert Brunckhorst Ernest Brunckhorst Nels Nelson Gust Weinesist Fred Wraggle George Mordhorst Joseph Silnacek R. H. Williams W. A. McKinzie Herman_ Kirstine Frank H. Widholm E. Martichang John J. Widholm Joseph Hoffman John Hoffman Karl Wenberger Frank Hoffman Julius Hofman F. W. Lenert Herbert A. Phipps John Fehncke Jr. H. W. Lenhert F. G. Honzie John Fehnekerson George Smith R. Larensen Charles Wachholtz Frank Stark Frank Winkelbauer Frank Gerber Fred Reimeke T. J. Theiman Mathias J. Hosch Frank Nordtmies Anton Rompier Joseph - Theiman Frank Grothe John Schleihtling Joseph Wurdinger Prosper Sauser Chris Rozien R. Leiting ... ... Charles Zierke C. H. Scott L. Henningsen . H. Holmes Charles Christensen A. S. Holmes 4 Henry W. Krueger A. Tiesner Hero Heyer Frank Hickbarth Otto Leisner Anton Slesner W. J.. Van Buskirk (Continued on page 22) CTORS REACH THE WEST fiese aren’t a new kind of bug—they’re only the new Fordson fractors. A year ago the editor drove by the Ford plant near Detroit, Mich., just as 10,000 work- men were streaming out at the end of an eight-hour day. This is the story one of them told: “When Henr_y qud was a poor man, struggling to have his motor put on the market, he finally got a few business men enough interested to lend him $5,000. With that he built his first car. Since that time these men have made millions out of their partnership. And they are always calling for more money. They didn’t want Ford to pay such good wages. So when‘he invented the tractor, - S he told these men: ‘Now, this tractor belongs to me and my son. You haven’t had any hand in making it, and you won’t get:a cent out ‘ of it That’s why itiis called the Fordson tractor.” . . - Vi sl Sl e S PAGE SIXTEEN ' AED i | <8 .