The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 11, 1918, Page 9

SCARED STIFF — T R—— A M O IR TN SRR W T e S bl % _/,’4. _‘_‘"' ZAA 4 P - ! After a campaign against the farmers and city workers in which every possible form of- dirty, un-Américan tactics has been used, there is nothing left but sur- .render for the special interests. The fake loyalty issue, mob violence, official and unofficial interference with lawful meetings, lying, huge slush funds, men of I national prominence willing to stultify themselves, misrepresentation, false arrests, plain forgery—all these and more have been considered by the special in- | : terests as legitimate weapons in fighting the organized farmers’ demand for justice. But only in parts are the special in- ; | S terests ready to cry “kamarad.” The fight must go on until the whole nation is clean. : St Franco-Prussian war and which will inevitably sow the-seeds of future wars? If the allies are going to be vultures after the Prussian style they will inevitably' quarrel among themselves over the spoil. In short, we are passing through the severest kind of test of our democratic pretensions. It is easy enough to assume a democratic attitude to- ward an enemy people, when we have no power to do otherwise, but when we do have the power to do otherwise there is a supreme test. If we can meet that test, if we can sustain' the president right through to the end, we can do more than has ever been done before to make war improbable. The president’s 14 principles properly carried - out will accomplish this end because they get at fundamentals. He recognizes, for instance, that a _whele nation is never of one mind but of many Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan. Leader BOUT twice a week throughout the year each of the newspaper correspondents in Washington mimeographed sheet marked “Immediate Release,” and be- ginning, under a dateline, thus: * “The Republican Publicity : association, through its presi- dent, Hon. Jonathan Bourne Jr., today gave out the following statement from its Washington head- - o And then follows:-a more or less sour-tempered comment upon President Wilson’s latest speech, or . some action taken in comgress or in one ‘of the administrative departments, which Bourne consid- ers hostile to his high tariff plans. Bourne, who at one time was supposed to be a progressive Re- publican, when he represented Oregon in the senate, “has been growing steadily more grouchy since the . . - day of Woodrow Wilson’s first election to the presi- y..-He is today opposed to every -constructive - ~denc, receives through the mail a shades of opinion, one of which by hook or crook is temporarily in control. Hence he does not make the mistake of considering every German an im- perialist or every American a democrat, but calls ' on democrats everywhere to unite to bring about a better order of ‘things. He demands an end of secret diplomacy, something which all the world except possibly the United States, has been involved in. He demands freedom of the seas subject to in- ternational control. He demands the removal of all economic barriers and an equality of trade con- ditions among all nations, in the past one of the most frequent causes of wars. He demands that adequate. guaranfees be given and taken that na- tional armaments be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety, which, of course, - Tuns up against our militarists’ demand for uni- versal military training. The rest of the famous - A Peep Behind the Old Guard Scenery E ] b Who the Interests Hiding Under Name of Republican Publicity Association g -~ Are and Their Plans for Reconstruction on Privilege Basis ; policy of the president, from the eight-hour day thé League of Nations. He deplores the “so- cialistic” trend of President Wilson’s policy, and he groans over the prospect of the raising of gov- ernmental funds in the future by taxation of busi- ness profits and individual incomes. He is the perfect American junker. A i * It is because Bourne conducts an expensive jun-’ ker propaganda, the sources of whose operating funds have never been explained to the public, that once in a while his statements are worth glancing over. Here, for example, is one sent out on Oc- _ tober 8: . GREAT ANXIETY OVER POWER OF CONGRESS “Senator Weeks,” he says, “wants congress to undertake systematically. a thorough study of the problems of reconstruction.. Senator Overman :ants_the whole problem turned over to the presi- “Senator Weeks has confidence that ‘there ‘are. -men in congress abundantly gu_nlil_ied.i;or the work. _PAGE NINE: ‘the German armed forces- have completely sur- ; -Weelgs ‘gcheme put over? Because there is no 14 terms are made up of demands for fair play for various hitherto subject peoples and for a gen- eral association of nations. . What can our jingoes find to.-scoff at in these { tér;ng,.__pnless,they scoff also at American ideals vex the world ? - The trustful public may find it hard to believe that certain reactionary senators such as Poindexter ; of Washington and Lodge of Massachusetts have a & joint resolution before congress making it unlawful for any American official (including the president) to answer in any way any efforts toward peace until ““and*age trying to build up a new Prussianism to g | ! rendered. What better move could the German junkers-ask for to bolster up their waning power over the German people ? Senator Overman evidently has no copfidence in congress. ; * * * “Senator Weeks believes that the people of the several states and districts have sent to congress some of their ablest and most representative citi- zens, and that these men are best able to devise plans for after-war reconstruction. Senater Over- . man hag a poor opinion of the selections the people have made—he evidently thinks the people have sent t0 Washington a bunch of incompetents, in- . ferior to men the presidegt would select for service on a reconstruction commission. ‘ “Weeks prefers the judgment of the men who get their credentials direct from the people. Overman has scanned the socialistic crowd the president has been drawing around him, and they look good to - §- him. He thinks plans for after-war reconstruction ' § should be formulated by that type of men.” = . § Why is the so-called Republican Publicity asso- ' § ciation, which is simply Mr. Bourne and his mys-: { terious financial - backers, so anxious to have th - {Continued on page 18)