The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 28, 1919, Page 7

in order to get still more money. ; © . Now we are getting to the difference between Mr. Rockefeller and the farmer. - : The farmer owns and works his own land. It is to him just fyh.at tools are to a mechanic—the means by which he earns his iving. , o Mr. Rockefeller owns thousands of wells that he did not drill, that he does not pump, that he has not even seen. The farmer feeds the nation with his property. Mr. Rocke- feller, with his property, makes the nation feed Mr. Rockefeller. The land-owning farmer is carrying out the intentions of the founders of this republic. Mr. Rockefeller is making a joke of those intentions. : : Mr. Rockefeller’s control of oil, with the power to fix prices, is a danger to the republic. The sooner the nation can get back under control of all the people, the power that is now exercised by one man, the safer the nation will be. = The ownership of 4,000,000 farms by 4,000,000 farmers is no danger to the nation. It is a source of strength. It would be a greater source of strength if some 3,000,000 tenant farmers owned the land they work. Not until some one man or group of men con- trol the farms without working upon them, just as Mr. Rockefeller controls the oil wells without working them, will it be necessary to advocate government ownership of farms. : by this cdnfml'wab, sold to the fifiblic, in the form of watelfed -s‘tock, VICTORY LIBERTY LOAN - UPPOSE that six months ago President Wilson had made this S announcement: If every American citizen will give to the govern- ment as much more money as le has already given in the first, second, third and fourth Liberty loans, I will see that the war is over by November 11- . There is no question what the answer of America would have been. Men, women and' children would have poured their savings into the treasury. They would not even have asked Liberty loan bonds in return. Mr. Wilson, in effect, did say the words quoted. The United States government, at a cost of billions more money than it had in sight, threw the enormous resources of the United States into the war. . Mr. Wilson authorized this in the belief that it would bring G | 7505 7 ArT T | ACOIN UNCLE: ) TS _a speedy end to the struggle and in the belief that the American people would meet the bill gladly. % The end has come. It came more quickly than any one, six months ago, that end about, has spent more money than was in sight. It is necessary to raise the money now to meet that deficit, to close up war contracts, to bring the boys home from overseas, and to give some measure of relief to the thousands who are returning maimed and crippled, unable to care for themselves. ' America’s response should be and will be generous. It will be carrying out the people’s part of their bargain with the government. : COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING SOME daily papers have made much of a recent “straw vote” conducted by military authorities at Camp Devens, Mass., by which enlisted men were reported to have declared in favor of compulsory military training. These papers are entitled to what comfprt they can get out of it. Regardless of all arguments in favor of the “fairness” of the straw vote in question, the Leader is willing to say that the large majority of the enlisted men of the army are not for but strongly AGAINST compulsory military training in time of peace. : It may be that the Camp Devens straw vote was intended to be absolutely fair. But the experience of the American people with straw votes has been that in practice they have been anything but air. . g Not long ago a hot campaign was being made in a certain town on the liquor question. A newspaper, which secretly was working for the liquor interests, announced that it desired to take a straw vote. It sent out return postcards. The person receiving the post- card was not asked to sign his name, but merely to indicate, by a cross, whether he was going to vote “wet” or “dry.” It seemed perfectly fair and most of the voters replied. When the replies were in the stamps on the return card were “steamed” until they came loose. Under each stamp was a number, placed on the card when it was mailed, that indicated the name of the voter. : At Camp Devens were thousands of men, waiting to get their discharge papers, still under military discipline. - They were ordered . to express their opinion on military service. They knew that their officers were in favor of compulsory military service. Compulsory service means thousands of well-paid, easy positions for the officers. Every. one:of the enlisted men wanted to get out of service as could have foreseen. But the government, to bring . quickly as possible. Théy had no means of knowing whether the straw vote was absolutely fair or whether there was some string to it—some means by which their officers could pick out the men "who opposed their scheme. It is not surprising, therefore, that the men who canvassed the returns should be able to report, gleefully, a majority in favor of compulsory military training. The only wonder is that the majority was not larger than was reported. - The intense desire of the enlisted men to get out of service can be understood only by those who have had the experience of await- ing their discharge papers. Before a man is discharged he is re- quired to state whether he has any claim against the government for ill health or injuries as the result of service. There are thou- sands of men in the camps who have grounds for bona fide claims for such disabilities. Scarcely one can be found who will make such BOYS, OO WE WANT wARrR 2 a claim. Why? It means delay in getting out. No wonder the Camp Devens men voted as they thought their officers wished. Incidentally the failure of men about to be discharged to make claims for physical disabilities allows the army to cite statistics, necessarily inaccurate, on the physical condition of discharged men, as compared with the ordinary run in civil life. Undoubtedly military training has some advantages on the side of physical well-being. But it has no advantages that can not be equaled or excelled by physical training. When the case is boiled down a big conscript army is about as dangerous as a ton of giant powder. There are always plenty of small boys running around with lighted matches in their hands, We are willing to leave the case to the enlisted men, especially those who have seen real war overseas. Why not take a straw vote AFTER the men are discharged, instead of before? FREEDOM FOR THE PHILIPPINES F FREEDOM for the Philippine islands comes as a result of President Wilson’s attitude, it will be one of the most credit- able acts of his administration. President Wilson has declared for “self-determination” for the subject peoples of other nations. By actually granting that privilege to a subject people of the United States the president will give the lie to those of his critics who say that he deals with words, not deeds; promises, rather than ful- fillment. Some protest is to be noted against the president’s attitude. Senator Miles Poindexter of Washington, one of the most earnest publicity seekers among those opposing the league of nations plan, is typical of those who would hold the Filipinos forever enslaved. Senator Poindexter said: : : We have made great sacrifices in men and money and are now just beginning to reap the fruits in the peace, WE CAN'T GIVE P CONQUERED TERRITORY o T ARISER contentment and prosperity of the Philippine people and INCREASING COMMERCE WITH THEM, NOW REACH- ING ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS. ‘ We think the portion capitalized represents the senator’s real objection to independence for the Filipinos. A few years ago Sena- tor Poindexter succeeded in making the people of Washington be- lieve he was a sincere progréssive. His own utterances now prove him a junker. Senator Poindexter has paraphrased exactly the arguments of German reactionaries against giving up conquered Belgium and northern France, a year ago, when there seemed a chance of making peace on the “status quo ante,” or condition be- fore the war. As a result of the determination to hold onto the territory gained through “great sacrifices in men and money’’ and the demand for “increasing commerce” Germany was ruined. Doesn’t Senator Poindexter realize that a war has just been fought that has ended, or should end, forever any such argument as he voices? WHAT OTHER STATES DID—AND LEFT UNDONE OR the last five-months the Nonpartisan Leader has been F telling something of the work of the North Dakota legislature. Beginning with this issue there will appear brief accounts of the work of the legislatures in other states in which the League is'’ organized. These accounts will be brief because there is compara- tively little to tell. The legislatures of states in which the League is still in the minority presented, for the most part, a record of broken pledges. Read these accounts of the other states, compare .them with North Dakota, then decide if the League is worth while. _PAGE SEVEN ; S Ve : :