The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 5, 1919, Page 7

JOHN BAER AND SPRING WHEAT N INCIDENT occurred in the closing days of the last ses- A sion of congress that is worth the attention of every mem- ber of the Nonpartisan league. The house of representatives had before it the bill appropriat- ing money to make good the government’s guarantee of $2.26 per bushel for the 1919 wheat crop. The house of representatives has 435 members. But, as is frequently the case when important leg- islation is being considered, only about 50 members were present. It is hard to say just where all the other 395 members were, since Washington is supposed to be “dry” now, but they were not present. Representative Parker of New Jersey introduced an amend- ment. The amendment was: Provided further, that no part of this appropriation shall be used to pay for wheat the growth of seed hereafter sown. In other words, this amendment provided the government would not pay the guaranteed price of $2.26 per bushel for spring wheat in 1919. North Dakota farmers grow only spring wheat. The climate of North Dakota will not permit the planting of winter wheat. The farmers of North Dakota, because their government had requested it and had promised a guaranteed price, had made all preparations to plant a big crop of wheat. They had plowed their land, bought high-grade seed and treated the grain with formalde- hyde so that it was useful for no other purpose than seed. But be- cause they had not yet been able to put that seed in the ground, Representative Parker of New Jersey proposed to deny them the benefit of the guaranteed price of the government. He proposed to {?5)1}2‘55&"” HEEP AFTER AN VOTE! £M, JOHN! ) vy N.OFRRMER. have the government break its promise to North Dakota farmers. Representative Parker had enough votes, among the 50 mem- bers present, to carry his amendment. There was just one thing that prevented it from carrying. This was the presence, among the 50 members, of Representa- tive John M. Baer, elected by the Nonpartisan league farmers of North Dakota. As soon as he heard the amendment John Baer got busy. He had a friend, Representative Anderson of Minne- sota, start a speech while Baer circulated around the cloakrooms and other places where absentee congressmen might be found. Baer has been in congress two years now; he has made many per- sonal friends. He appealed to them to come in and help him kill Parker’s amendment, which would have meant that the United States government was violating its solemn pledge to the North Dakota farmers. - Baer got the members he was after. Parker’s amendment was killed by a vote of 28 ayes and 75 noes. Now where is the moral of this true story. North Dakota raises approximately 100,000,000 bushels of spring wheat. Suppose that the Parker amendment had carried, as it would if Baer had not been on the job, and that the 1919 wheat market called for wheat at $1.76. North Dakota wheat growers would have lost a cool $50,000,000 on their 1919 crop. N Because North Dakota farmers elected a man to represent them, instead of the millers, they are in the $50,000,000. So are spring wheat growers in other states. Is it any wonder that North Dakota farmers are renewing their memberships in the League? THE STEEL PRICE CONTROVERSY HE present steel price controversy may be settled before I this issue of the Leader reaches the readers, but whether settled or not the facts will remain essentially the same. A friendly price-fixing board has established iron and steel prices very acceptable to the steel trust. 'The trust wishes to make them stick. : The best means of making them stick and of making the rest of our business despair of lower prices is to have the government adopt them as the basis for buying. Director Hines of the rail- roads, however, has refused to accept these prices for railroad buy- ing. He is sustained in this by at least two members of the ad- ministration who think more of successful government operation than of steel trust profits—the secretary of the treasury and sec- retary of the navy. These officials point out that the railroads will need about one- third of the total iron and steel output of the country in the coming year and that to take this quantity at the prices fixed would bank- rupt the roads. The trust, on the other hand, wants to maintain the prices not only for the probable profits from this big customer but for the effect on the whole trade. : At the same time the country is being bombarded with a very clever propaganda against the honest officials. - The business of the nation is halting because of uncertainty in steel prices, runs the argument... These officials are. by their refusal to accept the fixed prices, continuing the uncertainty. Therefore they are halting PAGE A few minfites later our much-needed business reconstruction at this very critical time. But the trust method of removing uncertainty by guarantee- ing practically a war price basis would be nearly as bad as uncer- | tainty. The proper way to end the uncertainty is to force the trust down to a peace-price basis. Our manufacturers can then give us goods that we can afford to pay for. ; THE WORLD DO MOVE day that he remembered when they used to chase the Sal- vation Army off the streets of North Dakota cities with fire hoses. Today the Salvation Army is one of the most popular religious organizations in existence, especially with the soldiers Q- N OLD-TIME resident of North Dakota remarked the other from overseas, and the fire hose is used only to intimidate Nonpar- tisan-league farmers in a few misguided Minnesota towns. We have another letter from a North Dakotan who has been studying the programs proposed by the Grange, the Farmers’ al- liance and other organizations which were then supposed to be the last word in radicalism. It was pretty stale reading, this writer said, because pretty nearly everything that these “radicals” of 30 or 40 years ago ad- vocated has been accepted by the conservatives today. There is no chance to get a fight on it any more. Victor Hugo tells in some of his books about the protests that were made by priests and ministers when it was first proposed to use steamboats instead of sailboats. The thing was contrary to all religion, the leaders of the church said, warning their congre- gations to have nothing to do with a steamboat, as it was clearly the work of the devil! It is hard for us to understand today how any one could pos- sibly object to the introduction of steamboats, unless he happened ! to have his money invested in sailing craft. It is just about as difficult to figure out why, only a few years back, they should have chased Salvation Army workers off the streets with fire hoses. But both things have happened. ez » .o - TR e e . <« 5] b Some people who are alive today are going to have a hard. ; time, 10 or 20 years hence, explaining to their children why Non- : partisan league farmers were tarred and feathered, chased off the streets with fire hoses, called Bolsheviki, atheists, anarchists and the like, in the years of our Lord 1918 and 1919. We wouldn’t like to have the job of explaining. Nonpartisan league members, in the course of 10 or 20 years. are going to be able to boast of their “radicalism” instead of apol- ogizing for it. For more people are coming each day to see that the farmers’ “radicalism” is just plain, common sense. SOLDIERS’ ORGANIZATIONS HE returned soldiers may be expected to be the biggest force ' in the political life of the United States. They have the power; they have the right to exercise it. When they decide defi- nitels‘; on what they want to do they should be irresistible. great deal depends upon the kind of soldiers’ organizations | that come about. The Nonpartisan Leader has received announce- l' ments of many organizations of discharged service men, intended to be nation-wide. Most of these are evidently striving earnestly for the greatest good to the greatest number. But there are spme that apparently are organized for selfish purposes, to get little two- by-four political jobs for their organizers, or, worse yet, to help big business interests pull some chestnuts out of the fire. There is such a “soldiers’ ” organization in Butte, subsidized by the Ana- conda Copper Mining company. At this time it is worth while to notice what is wanted by the real soldiers, who have carried on the fight overseas for world-wide I WILL HEEP UP THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY ALL THE OAYS OF MYy LIFE! st t11111 11 O R TRty uumnn luunmlh liberty and democracy. We quote the following from an editorial in 1ghe Stars and Stripes, the official paper published by soldiers in France: ; : The only veterans’ association worth forming will be one that speaks to all the millions of America’s youth that we enlisted to fight once more the age-long fight for freedom, and, as they melt back into the body of American citizenship, CALLS ON THEM TO FIGHT THAT FIGHT ALL THE DAYS OF THEIR LIVES. There is plenty of opportunity in- this country to fight for freedom and democracy. All credit, then, to the soldiers who-make - _up their minds to keep up this fight, not merely through the war, but “all the days of their lives’! : : Lo, SEVEN