The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 10, 1919, Page 5

AN EXPRESSION . responsibility. Membershlp Sustains A. C. Townley By Over 100 to 1 Vote Rank and File of Nonpartisan League Indorse Its Management, Acts and Policies—Result Silences Opposition HE members of the Nonpartisan league have given President Townley, the national commit- tee of the League and the League management in general the most splendld indorsement that was ever given by an or- ganization to its leaders; By a vote of over 100 to 1 League members in the recent referendum sustained ‘the action of the national committee in re-electing Mr. Townley as president of the organization for an- other term, according to the official canvass of the- vote made last week. Nearly 100,000 League members in 13 states voted in the referendum. League members cast 98,391 ballots to sustain the national com- mittee and only 978 disapproved the action of the natienal committee. This is not only an overwhelming vote of confidence in Mr. Town- ley. It is an indorsement by the rank and file of the organization of the entire management and policy of the League. No other interpretation can be put upon the result. The opposition to the League has centered on Mr. Town- ey personally. While the League has been governed by its various state committees and the national commit- tee, composed of farmers representmg the League membership, the opposi- tion has chosen to hold Mr. Townley personally responsible for everything the organization has done, and the attacks on him and the lies and mls- representations pubhshed concerning him have surpassed in bitterness and venom anything ever seen before in politics. OF CONFIDENCE Mr. Townley has of course been executive officer of the organization and has not attempted to sidestep any When the national committee placed before the member- ship the proposition of whether or not the committee ought to be sustained in retaining Mr. Townley’s services, it was well known by everybody in or out of the League that the vote would indicate the feeling of the -League membership on the entire manage- ment, policies and acts of the organi- zation: League members who are dis- satisfied with anything the League has done naturally voted not to sus- tain the national committee in this matter, and the result is therefore nothing more or less than an over- whelming vote of confidence in. the League’s acts and policies, as well as a splendid mdorsement of Mr. Town- ley personally. The . vote in the referendum by states was.as follows, the “yes” col- umn showing the number of Leaguers who voted to sustain the national committee in re-electing Mr. Town- ley, and the “no” column showing. the number of Leaguers who voted to disappreve the action of the national committee: Yes No North Dakota .............. 28,3756 219 Minnesota ............ v..0. 26,180 - 183 South Dakota .............. 11,027 - 264 Montana ...........c..... . 10,917 80 Idaho' o sl B S 5,070 21 Nebraska ......... BEn TR ek 4,909 15 ‘Colorado ................ .. 2,825 27 Washington ................ 2,501 61 Iowa ...... B AT 811 . 17 Kansas, "/o0s vl st Dinnth 1,078 22 Oklahoma ................. 970 - 21 Texas ..... Ity iR R 608 18 Wisconsin ...ecveuiann. Lee. 3,120 80 Total ....... BoS as aetans . 98,391 978 The board appointed by the national com-- . ~ mittee to.oversee the counting of the ballots . envelopes and sorting the ballots by states. met at League headquarters, fifth floor Endi- cott building, St. Paul, January 27.- A major- ity of the board was present, Charles A. Lind- bergh and David H. Evans of Minnesota and Mark P. Bates of South Dakota. The other two members of the board could not attend, but telegrams were read from them. Governor Frazier of North Dakota, one of the absent members, telegraphed that the session of the legislature would prevent him from attending, but said he would accept the findings of Messrs. Lindbergh and Evans in the matter. H. F. Samuels, the other absent member of the board, telegraphed that he delegated Mr. Evans to represent him. The canvassing board found all the letters con- taining the ballots of League members had been stored unopened as they came in. The letters were addressed to the “Referendum Canvassing Board” and none were opened until the board met. The -. USY DAYS—NAILING LIES If the 6rganized farmer were wrong, a few good arguments would finish him. But being right he never has to. meet anything but lies and abuse. Cartoonist Morris shows him here as nailing lies with both hands and both feet too. not an exaggeration, for the whole anti-farmer gang, with its kept press and with its vast wealth stqlen from the people, is busy manufacturing lies. On this page is a story of how the farmer has nailed the pet lie of the interests— “The League leaders do not represent the farmers.” the League members have voted better than 100 to 1 to re-elect A. C. Townley as president. board-placed a staff of clerks to work openingT}Ehe ey were then sorted into “yes” and “no” piles, and done up by the clerks into bundles of 100, which made the final recapitulation easy. It took the better part of three days, however, for the clerks to get all the envelopes opened, sorted and the ballots gathered into bundles of 100 each. Four rooms and four separate crews of clerks worked on the job, and the immense number of ballots was stacked several feet high in each room. The counting of the ballots was a much bigger job than- had been anticipated. Many League members reinforced their vote to sustain the national committee by personal letters to Mr. Townley or the League, included in the same - envelope with their ballot. There are several thou- sands of these letters, which have been turned over to the Leader. It wfll of course be xmposmble for PAGE FIVE On a referendum vote, the Leader to publish all or even a considerable number of these splendid letters, testimonials of the faith, confidence and enthusiasm of the League members}up in the work of their organization. We will, however, in subsequent editions, publish as many of these letters as possible. Hundreds of farmers included their checks for renewal of membership in_the letters containing their ballots, and scores of envelopes were found also to contain checks or money for League books or pamphlets or subscriptions to League publica- tions 1:01' friends of Leagué members. The mem- bership checks will be credited as rapidly as pos- sible, and the pamphlets and League publications sent. As the clerks began to open and sort the ballots, members of the referendum board could not restrain their astonishment at the over- whelming nature of the verdict of the League members. Everybody had of course expected that the national committee would be sustained by a substantial ma- jority of the members, but when the clerks, during the first hours " of the count, counted hundreds of ballots in succession, without one vote against Mr. Townley, the board members knew the final re- sult would be at least 100 to 1. Mr. Bates of South Dakota went . from room to room and table to ' table to get first-hand informa- tion of how the South Dakota members were voting, and esti- mated at the start that less than 25 members out of 1,000 in that state would disapprove the na- tional committee’s action in re- électing Mr. Townley, and his ongmal estimate was correct, as the final vote shows. GANG ATTACKS WITHOUT EFFECT The big thing proved by the refer- endum result is that the attacks of the enemies of the organized farmers have had no effect whatever on the League membership. The chief ef- forts of the corporation press, the politicians and the interests opposed to the League have been to undermine the solidarity of the organization. They have refused to meet the or- ganized farmers in fair discussion of the League program and have relied on breaking up the organization by creating discontent in its ranks with Mr. Townley and the League manage- ment. They knew that if once they could get League members fight- ing among themselves or losing con- fidence in the leadership of the or- ganization, this great movement of the American farmers could be bro- ken up and defeated at once. Hence the bitter, brutal and unfair attacks on Mr. Townley. Hence the deliberate lies and misrepresentations. The referendum vote shows how far they got in this contemptible business. It shows League members standing shoulder to shoulder, with solid ranks opposed to the enemies of their or- ganization and of the common people. As long as the League can preserve that solidarity it will keep' on growing and succeeding and eventually give all the states the polltlcal and economic re- forms now being carried out in North Dakota. The enemy knows this. The referendum vote, coming on top of the.de- cision of the United States courts finding that Mr. Townley has not appropriated or misused League It is * funds, is a severe jolt to the League opposition. They w111 get busy trymg to discredit the refer- endum and the result, but it will be a colossal task. The League members have spoken, and in an em- phatic and perfectly plain manner, and what they have said is this: “This is our orgamzatlon, and we will stand by it.” g And the next thing on the program is the wail of the gang. (See your daily paper after the ref- erendum results are pubhshed)