The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 10, 1919, Page 6

T PR WL aANES m—a—— WP [ 1TT T T2 '/'” III///’4 v, 5 %,,/ 'I/II/I// 2 7 / 7 acts of the present. legislature, providing petitions are presented G 5 signed by 15,000 of the state’s 120,000 electors. The minority in 218 \i North Dakota, while small, is well organized, well financed and has a strong press. If there is still any appreciable sentiment in the r state against carrying out the farmers’ program, the opposition will be able to get 15,000 signers to referendum petitions without difficulty. 3 The governor’s proclamation regarding the referendum has lonpartigan Tader | Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week Entered as second-class matter September 8, i 2 1915, at the postoffice at St. Paul, spiked one of the last guns of. the opposition. They claimed the ol ! ‘ Minnesota, under the At of M(;:c:EI:; 1:7!; e League was afraid of a referendum election on the bills carrying <oal E. B. Fussell and A. B. Gilbert, Associate Bdjtory Cditor B. O. Foss, Art Editor out the program, and hence League legislators tacked emergency clauses on the measures. The emergency clauses prevented the ) H forcing of a referendum except on »thg filing of _30,000. signatures ¢ of voters, a number the opposition said it was impossible to get. Advertising rates on application. Subscription, one year, months, $1.50. viduals. in -advance, $2.50; six Please do not make checks, drafts nor money orders payable to indi- Address all letters and make all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, .Box 5756, St. Paul, Minn. W | MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF.CIRCULATIONS GOVF IER'S PR ¢ N THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertising Representatives, New REF ?f,‘fwm ;',s_ i York, Chicago, SL»Louxs. Detroit, Kansas City. PRROCLAMAOT ol 4: i Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are not knowingly advertised, and we will A O s take it as a favor if any readers will advise us promptly should they have occasion to 3 i doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising columns, SHING AT Wit e TS THE LAST | N ORDER to insure a demand for the proposed fifth Liberty K : : 3 ‘ loan, which will be floated by the government in the near fu- The governor, however, has dlscretlonfiry pot'l"t‘?r to czlrll dahrefa:'eilfi b5 | ture, and to keep the bonds at par after they are floated, it is . €ndum on emergency measures on smaller petitions. e call a referendum if only 15,000 names are filed. 3 - The insertion of the emergency clauses thergfore merely pre- vents delay pending the vote. The acts go immediately into effect, proposed to have them bear a higher rate of interest than past Liberty loans, without conversion privileges for holders of prior issues. e A R T R S AN R L i s = —ense | i i The desire to keep Liberty bonds at par is laudable. It can be done. Canadian war bonds sell at par. But it is just as desir- able and just as necessary to keep the four Liberty issues al- ready absorbed at par, as to keep the proposed fifth issue at par after it is absorbed. Furthermore, in justice to past purchasers of Liberty bonds, largely people of poor or moderate means, the new bonds should not bear a higher rate without giving present bond- holders the right to convert into the higher interest-bearing issue. Either the new issue should carry the same interest as the the other four issues, that is, 41, per cent, or the interest on the old issues should be raised to equal any higher rate placed on the new issue. i ~ The working classes—the people of poor or moderate means— have probably absorbed nearly all the bonds they can. In fact, during the war thousands bought more heavily than their means justified, but did it for patriotic reasons. They are now selling in - large numbers and accepting heavy losses. The new issue, we take it, will therefore have to be absorbed by the big financial institu- tions and men of wealth to a greater extent than past issues. Shall we give these wealthy money lenders a higher rate of interest than we pay the farmers and working classes which hold the larger part of the past four issues? » ' : If the new bonds bear a higher rate of interest, then in all honesty and justice the holders of the four first issues should have the privilege of converting their bonds int6 the new issue and get the same interest.- ' ; GIVING THE ENEMY ANOTHER CHANCE ORTH DAKOTA farmers will be excused -by fair-minded persons for wanting to see their political and economic pro- gram carried out at once. At two different general elec- tions before the League was organized®hey voted to build a state- owned and operated terminal grain elevator. Again in 1916 and again in 1918, at general elections, they voted overwhelmingly for the League program, which included the long-sought terminal ele- - vator. The people of the state naturally think they have voted enough, and want to get some results. That. is why the legislature now in session is putting emergency clauses on the bills it is passing to carry out the program. The emergency clauses put the acts into immediate effect, and require a two-thirds vote in each house, which the farmers are easily able to muster. But, while the farmers do not intend to permit any more delay in carrying out a program that the people have been overwhelm- ingly demanding for several years, they are going to give the oppo- sition one more chance. Governor Frazier has issued a proclama- instead of going into effect next summer. The state will get busy carrying out the program at once. While the opposition can have another vote on the question if it so desires, it can not hold up the program pending the vote, merely for purposes of delay. Of course, the opposition has no hope of beating the League program at a third election. It merely desires delay. But the emergency clauses prevent that. ‘While the opposition (if it is foolish enough to do so) is getting its petitions for a referendum circulated to bring about an election, the result of which can not be in the slightest doubt, the state industrial commission will be starting work on the new state enterprises and industries. SANE COMMENT ON NORTH DAKOTA % RTHUR CAPPER'S influential Farmers’ Mail and i?»reeze, y published at Topeka, Kan., has never supported the Non- partisan league, although Mr. Capper is an earnest advocate, ‘and always has been, of a large part of the League program. In fact, at one time the Mail and Breeze contained some very nasty reflections on the organized farmers. Yet in a recent issue of the Mail and Breeze, in a department on “Passing Comment,” conducted by T. A. McNeal, we find the following: Some of my readers are considerably exercised on account of the Nonpartisan league. So far I have seen no particular reason to share in this anxiety. I do not know whether the program that has been undertaken in North Dakota will be successful, but I am willing that the people of that state shall try it. If it proves to be a failure the people of other states can profit by the experience; if it proves to be a success the farmers of other states can take it as a pattern. ' Briefly, the farmers of North Dakota are using the machinery of the state to put into operation co-operative enterprises. They are going to establish state-owned grain elevators, flour mills, packing plants, . cold storage warehouses, coal mines, hail insurance and rural credit banks.. North Dakata then becomes the experiment station for the nation. If the experiment succeeds it is certain to spread rapidly all IT'S HIS STATE - {AND HE HAS A 1RIGHT To oY 1Ty - O ""‘?"l%‘r— o2 s WL 8 W e S | R s [ b T STARTE INOUSTRIES = 09 T T over the nation, for there is nation-wide dissatisfaction with our pres- ent system of distribution. The producers, especially the farmers, peheve they have not had a square deal. At any rate they know there 1s a tremendously wide gap between the Prices received by the pro- ducers and the prices paid by the consumers. They feel sure they have been gouged by middlemen and that markets have been manipu- lated by specu'ators and big business. So they are going to try to _run their business themselves, manufacture their own raw products - into the. finished product, and attend to the distribution themselves through these state-owned plants and other co-vperative conceins. Instead of abusing them the proper attitude for outsiders to take should be one of friendly interest. We may he skeptical about the outcome 'of the :experiment, but the. folk. up in North Dakota are pay- ing the bill, and if they see fit to risk their money why should we ob< - e - Ject? Personally, I think this North Dakota experinieit- is one @f::fié - i e B L AT < e o R A R 057 T AN AR U _ tion stating he will call a special referendum election on any actor .