The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 15, 1918, Page 7

“been for Burnquist tempts to interfere with Burnquist’s meetings ~in North Dakota would be prosecuted. Gov- - ernor Frazier’s action to protect Burnquist and . guarantee him the right of free speech in North Dakota probably made Burnquist blush of honor and decency. The farmer governor’s has refused free speech and protection of the law to the farmers of Minnesota, must have like a lash across the face from a rawhide whip. It was the only rebuke he needed for coming inte North Dakota and aiding the enemies of good government, but in addition he has seen the man for whom he spoke and whose election he sought snowed under by the farmers of North Dakota. : TRAITORS TO THE FARMERS HENEVER the destruction of a farmers’ organization is sought by its enemies, the inevitable tactics pursued are the creating of factions within the organization. Out- side enemies then back some faction in the organization, encourage internal strife, make heroes of traitors within the farmers’ own ranks, and thus undermine the organization and virtually make it destroyitself. - This is- how the powerful enemies of the Amer- ican Society- of Equity sought to accomplish their purpose a few years ago. Enemies of the Nonpartisan league rely on the same procedure. Recently these tactics have developed.in the fight be- ing made on the Grange in the state of Washington. The Washington Grange was kicked bodily out of Walla Walla, because it ‘re-elected an able and trusted leader as state master, and because the state convention of the organization permitted a discussion, pro and con, of the economic program of the Nonpar- tisan league. The breaking up of the Walla Walla state convention of the farmers and its ejection from the city, as every one knows, was persecution and oppression of the vilest sort—an act of hate and intolerance that no red-blooded American, no matter whether a Granger-or Leaguer, no matter what his economic and political views, could do anything but condemn in the strongest language. The Walla Walla dictators guilty of this outrage at once sought support for their position in the Grange itself. They at- tempted to get the approval of some of the weak-kneed, half-hearted members of the Grange for this act of persecution and oppression. Think of it! They sought for traitors in the Grange ranks-—for men and women with so little loyalty to the Grange, with so little idea of democracy and fair play, with so little courage to stand up for their own God-given and constitutional rights that they were willing to turn on their fellow Grangers and join the hue anic;l_ cry raised by the powerful traducers of their organi- zation. : - * But this attempt to undermine the organization by , getting Grangers themselves to approve the damnable outrage against the Grange, has failed miserably. Before the dele- gates;left Walla Walla the anti-farmer gang got 12 or 13 Grangers out’ of over 500 delegates to join in resolutions condemning their own organization and approving an act of intolerance and persecu- tion that scarcely has its equal in America, the land of the free. .Since then, the press of Washington servile to the big interests of the state and anxious to break up and discredit the farmers’ or- ganization, has been trying to make heroes of the few traitors " found in the Grange ranks, and has been conducting a clever cam- by their guns. paign to create a faction in the Grange that will support the perse- cutors of the organization. But the sturdy Grangers have stood What of a few traitors out of many thousands of loyal members? Let the Spokesman-Review of Spokane and papers ‘of it ilk in Washington make what they can out of the fact that a handful of Grangers are willing to see the Grange oppressed and outraged. The Grange and not the enemies of the Grange will profit by the discovery of these few persons who are incapable of standing up for their own rights and false to their own organi- zation. The Grange will know who in its ranks-are loyal and who can not be depended upon when a crisis develops threatening the life of the organization. And this knowledge will help the Grange and not its enemies. : : 3 s THE CONTEMPTIBLE DISLOYALTY CHARGE HE part the big daily préss of Minnesota played in the po- : litical ‘campaign in-North Dakota was contemptible. For weeks before the vote, which resulted in the complete and sweeping victory for the Nonpartisan league, the Pioneer Press . and Dispatch of St. Paul and the Journal and Tribune of Minneap- olis’ were full of poisoned news and perverted editorial comment if North Dakota voters returned Governor Frazier - and the League to power it would be a “German = | “disloyalty” would be to restore the old gang of North Dakota to power and B ey e his v with shame, for he must have even yet a spark . effort to protect in North Dakota a man who ° _paign was spread all over the United States ‘through the activities of the poison press of -~ that it means. The return of the farmers’ administration to power - victory.” Every day these papers carried great. N\, headlines and editorials declaring that a vie- 3\ tory for the farmers’ administration would be: | - a victory for disloyalty. They said that the - _only way North Dakota. could “purge itself of jed public opinion. T'a political sacred to be capitalized by political turn out ' dragged ",.'.'fih."e Tlonwartifén Teader Entered as second-class matter September 8, 1915, at the postoffice at St. Paul, Minnesota, under the Act of March 3, 1879. 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 nor money orders payable to indi- viduals, Address all letters and make ali remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. ; MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertising Representatives, New THE 8. York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. \ Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are mot 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 columns. Minnesota. And then North Dakota again swept the old political gang off the map. The farmers’ administration,.made possible through the Nonpartisan league, piled up majorities several times as large as they did two years ago at the primaries. The North Dakota League carried to victory every state and con- gressional candidate it indorsed, and practically : every legislative candidate. It was a clean sweep. The Minnesota press then heralded to the world the lie that it was the “German vote” that did.it. 2 ' What has been the result of these contemptible tactics of the big newspapers? Simply this: Hundreds of thousands of people all over the United States, unable to get the truth from the big press, actually believe that a whole state of the Union has gone - over for Kaiser Wilhelm by overwhelming majorities. If the Amer- ican newspaper version is published in Berlin, it will stiffen the resistance of the German armies in France. The German people will be told that-a whole state in America is against the war; that organized and open rebellion against the war on Germany has broken out in America, and that pro- Germans and disloyalists have captured politically by great majorities one of the principal states of the Union. > The Leader seriously believes that something ought to be done to prevent the circulation of this kind of Ger- man propaganda in the United States and in Germany. Nothing can be more damaging to our cause in the war than the efforts of the plutocratic press to discredit pro- gressive candidates and liberal measures by raising the false “loyalty issue.” Other states will turn out their political gangs before peace comes. The whole country is in process.of po- litical change. If the same cry as was raised in the case of North Dakota is raised again, Berlin will have news that state after state in America is rebelling against the war. The false charge that re- form movements: are “pro-German” is not going to prevent other states from following in the footsteps of North Dakota. What.are we going to do about this kind of German propaganda, propagated by the big press of America? : : The result in North Dakota does not mean what the press has attempted to convince the people of the nation' and of Germany i i & i in North Dakota MEANS THE:CONTINUANCE OF THE SPLEN- i’ DID WAR ACTIVITIES THAT THE FARMERS’ . ADMINISTRA- = i TION HAS PROMOTED AND LED. North Dakota will continue to double and treble its Liberty loan quotas. It will continue to lead the nation in Red Cross subscriptions. It will continue to plant big food crops, with the aid and encouragement of a farmers’ coun- cil of defense .and a farmers’ legislature that have done more to assure our food supply than similar bodies have in any other state in the Union. North Dakota has contributed, in proportion to population; as many volunteers for the army and navy as any state, and more than lots of them. It has submitted cheerfully to the draft. The state is not torn with rioting and disorder as are Min- nesota and some other states, where the laws are not enforced. The state is at peace, united and efficient in helping to win the war —and the people rule! A pro-German or a disloyalist gets short shift-in North Dakota, and the greatest insult that can be leveled at a farmer citizen of North Dakota is to intimate that he is lack- ing in the slightest in patriotism. ' The “news” which has gone out to the world about the North Dakota political campaign has been a gross slander on the state and its patriotic people, especially its farmers. , ¥ But worse than: that, it has been German ‘propaganda of the most effective and damnable rand. . It must be stopped. It will be stopped. If not stopped by other means, it will be stopped - f by an aroused public opinion. Patriotism is too litical erooks and - mire by hirelings of sinister big \ %= ish, in the name of “loyalty,” to < \