The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 8, 1918, Page 18

~ Pushing on to Vlctory in Minnesota Nonpartisans Are Assured of Legislative Control, and Will Meet to Put More Farmer Candidates in the Field for November ST how substan- tial and far-reach- ing tlie Nonparti- san league’s vic- tory was in the recent Minnesota primary election tlcally complete returns from the vanous legislative districts of the state in which the organized farmers had candidates for the state legislature. There are no party lines in legislative contests in Minnesota. The various legislative districts elect men to the legislature to represent them on a nonpartisan ballot. If more than two candidates file for any one seat in the legisla- ture, all the candidates run at the primary election, and all except the highest two are eliminated from the contest. At the fall election the two candidates for a seat in the legis-- lature who had the highest number of votes at the primaries contest for election. " The organized farmers had 84 can- didates for the lower branch of the legislature in the rural districts. The League succeeded in placing 61 of these candidates on the ballot for the fall election. Most of these success- ful League candidates beat their op- ponents by heavy votes in those dis- tricts where there were contests in the primary. In many instances the League candidates had no contest in the primary and ‘a large number of _such cases were in counties where the League vote on the govemorshlp in the primary was a sweeping two or three-tc-one victory. In those dis- tricts where the League failed to - nominate men for the legislature new candidates” undoubtedly will be in- dorsed as soon as the farmers’ con- ventions can be called. So the League will have a complete legislative ticket in the fall, with every chance of win- ning control of the legislature. HAND IN HAND WITH LABOR < In St. Paul union. labor, which co- operated with the farmers in the pri- maries, succeeded in putting over five of the six men indorsed, of whom three won their places on the ballot for the fall election in contests. _ In Minneapolis union labor had nine candidates for the lower house- and succeeded in nominating five of them at the primary. All five of the union labor candidates in Minneap- olis had contests in the primaries. With the 10 successful union labor candidates in Minneapolis and St. Paul, the organized farmers and or- ganized labor succeeded at the pri- maries in nominating 71 men for the lower branch of the legislature, sub- stantially over a majority of the seats in the lower house. - There is every opportunity to elect practically all of -the legislative candidates who were successful at the primaries, and to~ elect many other farmer-labor can- didates who will be indorsed by-the organized producers between now and the November elections. The election of a majority of farmer-labor. candi- dates to the lower house is practically " certain, ‘but the least that could be-- fall the farmer-labor legislative ticket would be to elect a group of repre- sentatives that would give labor and the farmers by far the biggest repre- sentation in the Minnesota legisla- ture that they have ever had—a rep- resentation that will hold the balance of power and that will give the state much of the legislation demanded by the farmers and by labor. ' - In the pmmary contest for the atate is shown by prac- - senate nominations, the farmer-labor forces gained a success almost equal to that in the case of nominations for the lower house. The organized farm- ers in the rural districts had 43 can- didates for the senate and they suc- ceeded at the primary in getting 30 of these senatorial candidates on the ballot for the fall election. Eleven of these successful farmer candidates for the senate won their places on the election ballot in red-hot primary con- tests, and the farmers will elect prac- tically all of the men they nominated. Union labor had two. candidates for the senate in St. Paul and suc- ceeded in nominating one. The other lost by only 85 votes. Minneapolis union labor succeeded in nominating at the primary the two candidates for the senate which it indorsed. This makes a total of three labor candi- dates having places on the election ballot this fall and, when added to the 30 successful nominees in the rural districts, gives the farmer-labor forces 33 candidates for the fall elec- tion. Both in rural and city districts where the farmer-labor forces failed to nominate their men, new men will undoubtedly be indorsed as soon as the conventions can meet, and there is an excellent chance of the progres- sive forces of the state capturing the senate. : Some half dozen or so present mem- bers of the state legislature were en- tirely eliminated at the primaries in the contests with the farmer-labor IF THEY TOLD THE TRUTH Kept Press Editor Some men make their hvmg by pick- ing pockets, some by robbing poor old widows and still others by murder. I -think I fit in between the widow rob- ber and the murderer. I can take a man of unquestionable loyalty and by publishing a dirty, scurrilous, lying and vicious editorial daily I can have thousands of my poor innocent read- ers believing that he is the kaiser’s’ right-hand man and is living in the United States only for the benefit of the Germmans. If that damnable pub- lication, the Leader, exposes more of my underhanded schemes my long list of faithful believers will fall off to nothing and my influence will be gone. In closing 1 will say this: I am put- ting ‘this sheet of mine on the mar- ket, not for the readers, but for the advertlsers. - the whole state. FATTENING UP FOR MARKET candidates, but in nearly every case the present members of the legisla- ture have been nominated at the pri- mary along with the farmer-labor candidates, so that the contest this fall will be almost a‘straight out-and- out one between the organized work- ers of the city and country and the present members of the legislature. In a few instances, the farmer-labor forces indorsed present members of the legislature, but in the bulk of the legislative districts new timber has been put in the running and the con- test this fall will be between present members of the legislature and new men put in the field by the organized farmers and organized labor. VICTORY IN THE FALL WITHIN REACH The figures on the total vote:cast in the primaries for state offices are practically complete at this writing. The organized farmers carried by big majorities over 30 counties of the state. The Leader gives below a table showing the strength of the organ- ized farmers in the various counties of the state, as shown by the returns available to date. The first column gives the names of the counties. The second column gives the vote cast for candidates indorsed by the farmer- labor forces. The third column gives the total vote in each county. It will be seen that out of a total vote of approximately 340,000 in the pri- maries, the Nonpartisan league showed a strength of 150,000. That is, with‘less than two years’ organi- .zation work and with only about 50,000 members in the state, the Non- partlsan league got 15 votes out of every 34 cast in the whole state—a showing which has assured the per- manency and ‘the future triumph of the League movement in Minnesota. With 340,000 votes cast, anything over 170,000 would have given the Nonpartisan league a majority. As it was, the League cast 150,000 votes —only 20,000 less than a majority in In order to get a majority of the vote, the League only has to win two more votes out o£. every 34 votes cast in the state. These figures give the enemies of organized farmers and organized la- bor little comfort and have convinced the progressive forces of the state ° that only a little more organizing and a little more “sticking” will be neces- sary to give democracy and justice a final triumph in one of the worst boss-ridden and one of the worst big- busmess-exploxted states in the Union. Following is the table showmg the League vote in the counties in com- parison with the total vote cast, counties carried by the League bemg in black. face capital Tetters: COUNTY— League Total vote vote cast - Aitkin . ....0000.. 1,055 2,130 Anoka ....ieeoin. 564 - 2,366 -BECKER ........ 1923 38,769 Beltrami ......00. 1,379 3,084 Benton .......... 1,078 - 2,876 Big Stone S 1,129 Blue Earth _STEARNS . - Steele 5272 ¢ BROWN ......... Carlton .......... CARVER ... Cass CHIPPEWA Chisago cvovevnnes CLAY - vuliavess CLEARWATER e COOK Cottonwood Crow Wing ...... Dakota - Faribault ... Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant’ . iun e Hennepin ........ Houston ......... Hubbard ....... s ISANTI ......... Ttasea «ieninshiess Jackson ..... KANABEC ...... KANDIYOHI ..... KITTSON ........ Koochxchmg Siarea et Lac qui Parle ses e Le Sueur ........ Lincoln ......... % Lyon: v e ohiasas: McLeod ......... MAHNOMEN .... MARSHALL ..... Martin ......... o Meeker .......... MILLE LACS .... MORRISON .....: Mower ........... Murray ........ NICOLLET Nobles ........... NORMAN .. Olmsted ........ 3 OTTER TAIL .... PENNINGTON ... Pine-. o oS is X Pipestone ...... o8 Pope ....... R Ramsey .......... RED LAKE ...... SIBLEY .... esssssessae Stevens .......... ‘Wabasha ‘ sessscacye Watonwan ....... Wilkin .. ..co000, Wmona Ceevenneese - Washington ...... 2,685 1,025 2,286 841 1,660 1,370 1,794 818 702 1,079 1,128 1,595 447 2,557 972 1,223 996 2,184 835 18,691 769 539 2,051 _ 838 1,087 856 2,449 1,208 325 1,201 620 1,322 870 1,147 1,919 508 2,105 1,136 1,776 - 1,344 2,201 1,010 809 1,400 947 -1,496 - 1,622 - 4,433 1,606 1,440 756 3,379 1,126 9,607 - 3,908 2,364 3,342 1,908 2,789 2,745 3,202 1,282 873 2,665 2,492 3,772 1,739 3,760 4,083 4,939 4,084 . 6,260 1,850 49,888 2,466 1,475 2,749 2,537 2,756 1,673 4,160 1,925 778 2,994 1,008 3,740 2,015 8,377 - 8,917 862 4,303 3,581 3,635 - 2,562 4,149 3,894 2,354 2,749 2,721 2,675 4141 8,274 2,157 3,243 1,920 6,417 2,501 21402‘ 1,334 3,887 4,899 4,090 1,930 2,148 18,148 2,667 1,708 3416 9,778 . 2295 1,547 2,176 4,459 1,466