The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 9, 1919, Page 7

that would have gone Mho gther side ‘thy radicals” . SERVICE VERSUS PROFITS = Pt F THE League farmers of North Dakota had established a state hotel system, in addition to’a state banking system and a state mill and elevator system, we can imagine the howls of derision ur.-from the anti-farmer press. s Yet the United States government, more than a year ago, was forced to take this step on account of the greed of profiteering hotel owners at Washington, D. C.. When it was found that the salary of a government clerk would not pay for board and room for a month, to say nothing of providing other necessities of life, the government erected a series of hotels and rooming houses, of concrete fireproof ‘construction, clean and modern, in which rooms and meals were furnished to government workers at cost. : This is a step that the national government was forced to take because of the greed of private profiteers. North Dakota has em- barked into the banking business and the mill and elevator busi- ness because of the greed of private profiteers in these lines. In both cases the reason for public ownership is the same—to give. service instead of profits. : Ay FUNNY, ISN’T IT?: VHE Bar association of Spokane, Wash., has recently adopted " a new minimum schedule of prices which all lawyers must I follow or be looked upon as “unethical.” The schedule starts off at $2.50 for “drawing up deeds, mortgages or bills of sales.” Trial in the justice court costs $10 without a jury or $20 with; trial in the superior court is to : ; be $50 if less than $500 is in- volved or $100 if the sum in dis- pute is $500 or more, and any trial in the supreme court is to —__ ' bring at least $100. Examining abstracts is to cost $10 and di- vorces at least $75. Ry The Bar association of Spo- kane is going to make its new schedule stick, too. In defense of the increased prices they maintain, according to the Spo- kane Chronicle, that “the cost of living has hit them, just as it has every other class of people.”. Lloyd Gandy, who presented the new price schedule, “urged that attorneys should realize the val- ue of organization and unionism and advised action be taken pro- viding for charging of the mini- mum fees by each member of the association.” = Whereupon the adoption of the proposed scale went over with a whoop. ° The funny part of the whole thing is that, to the per- sonal knowledge of the writer of this editorial, most of the same attorneys who agreed so heart- ily with Mr. Gandy on “the val- ue of organization”’-—for law- yers—are among the most bit- ter opponents of the Nonpar- tisan league, which is strongly organized in that section of Washington, because, forsooth, the Nonpartisan league applies the organization principle to FARMERS. : WHAT IS A “RADICAL”? HAT is a “radical”’? In the current usage of the term by s;s/ the reactionary daily press, it means anybody who is op- : posed to what the owners of the papers want. In other words, a “radical” is about the same as a Bolshevik. But Websteér’s dictionary gives this definition: : b ~ Radical—One who advocates radical and sweeping changes in laws and methods of government with the least delay. : The editor of the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines’ National Weekly News, a paper published at Washington, D. C., in the in- terests of enlisted men who fought in the great war, says that the real radicals in this country are the interests that are trying to get the United States to abandon its historical stand and adopt the German policy of militarism. Says the editor: : Let us define “radical.” We will place in the first line those who ° are today advocating tremendous navies and armaments. They are the worst of radicals because their ambitions run directly counter to the wishes .of the overwhelming mass of the American people. The people have just emerged from a war and they want no more of it. It strikes the editor of the Leader that this use of the word comes a good deal nearer to the definition given in Webster’s than that adopted by the daily press. But of course those in favor of compulsory military training may be expected to keep on calling | THE LEAGUE OF A NATION i, e —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. . PAeE sevEN ; UNDER OUR NOSES s ; ELDOM do we see an editorial about the Nonpartisan league S that states the facts so clearly and fairly as this comment in the Illustrated Review of Atascadero, Cal.: While the world is wrapped in a turmoil of revolutions by blood and fire, the most effective though silent one of the day has been tak- ing place in North Dakota, through the ballot, demonstrating beyond question that, given the franchise and the will to use it, far more can be accomplished through it than by force of arms. The Nonpar- tisan league has so completely revolutionized the state of North Da- . kota that it is headed in exactly the opposite direction that it was headed in a few years ago, from top to bottom. No blood was shed, no arms used, just silent little pieces of paper as bullets, but the slaughter of established privilege and vested rights of a few men over many, has been greater than in any battle of arms. When 10,000 intelligent men will leave their farms and work, stand for hours in the blizzard and snow, to listen to plain ‘talk along honest lines, quietly make up their own minds and then go to the polls and put the matter through without strife, you have a vin- dication of democracy and the power of the ballot in democracy, as against force of arms, that needs no argument. Right under our own noses one of the greatest revolutions of the day and age has been pulled off, but so silently and without blood- shed we have not noticed it. c The trouble with most of us is that we do not recognize big things when they happen right at home. The rest of the United States is a great deal more excited about North Dakota than North Dakota is excited about itself. It is hard for us of the League to realize what a big thing we have accomplished. IS MR. FORD A “RED”? Q- LAWYER in a Michigan court, arguing the case for the Chicago Tribune, which is being sued by Henry Ford for libel, denounced Mr. Ford not only as an anarchist, but as a dangerous one, accord- ing to the daily papers. Mr. Ford has been called many things, almost as many things as his famous automobile. Some of those things had a tinge of truth, and it is possible that some may have had more than a tinge of truth, but to call Mr. Ford a dangerous “red” is, to say the least, exaggeration. Mr. ; % Ford may be slightly pink, but /" 15 never red. Paying a decent mini- i "i%,,,n , thing Mr. Ford has ever done. A Of course, Mr. Ford con- voyed the peace party abroad, in an effort to get the “boys out of the trenches by Christmas.” The color scheme of this, one | \ / might say, is a most delicate = TR shade of pink, but nothing more. . ,'o}."}.'{.‘. 2N But then, to pay a living / ;W{{NQV = wage may be, in the tenets of 4 big business, “dangerously red.” It is hard to guess what the in- terests won’t class under that heading. But Mr. Ford, what- ever else he may be, is hardly to be classed a little brother to Emma Goldman and other exponents of the theory of revolution by the proletariat. S X\ SN — O === Vi f ——— T L ~ 1l A e “l‘ ( l Q‘VM UL f Air‘ > HAYS’ CONTRIBUTION BOX ILL H. HAYS, chairman of the Republican national com- mittee, has announced that no contributions to the cam- paign may exceed $1,000 and has pasted the label, “Small ~ contributions thankfully accepted,” on the box he is passing around. Nevertheless, there will be nothing to stop Mr. Big Interest, Mrs. Big Interest, the Big Interest twins and J. Percy Big Inter- est, the gentlemanly son, from contributing that amount each. It may all come from the same pocket, but the name on the envelope will be a little different. ' There is no reason for the average citizen, the worker in the city or on the farm, to drop anything into the hat which Mr. Hays is passing around. If the Republicans should get the political melon, it will be divided about as usual, with the average man being handed a slice of the rind, and lucky to get that. If the Democrats - should retain the melon, the guests at the feast will be about the same, with some few exceptions. But the small contributor, the average man, will not be conspicuous among them. e Contributing to the campaign fund of either of the old parties is like putting your money through a hole in the sidewalk. You’ve the sidewalk to get it back. S s got to pull up oo mum wage is the most radical - j