The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 9, 1919, Page 8

it # e S S T e e B S e i SRS - T S S S R e e SRS A T N P R A TR e s fi g i i # | @ -~ ( full of roasts for the retailers but “Save the Primary,” Slogan in.Montana - Anaconda Copper Mining Company Starts *‘Investigation™ of Profiteering— Then Takes People’s Rights to Choose Own Candidates By Special Correspondent OVERNOR PETER NORBECK of South Dakota, in an inter- view recently, told how he pro- posed to stop the Nonpartisan league in that state. His plan was to give the people a part of what they wanted, in an at- tempt to satisfy them and save his own political hide. “When the water gets too high, let a little of it over the dam,” he said. The Anaconda Copper Mining company, which controls the state of Montana politically, has adopted about the same plan. The Montana idea is to tell the people they are getting something—and expect them to believe it. S The 1919 Montana legislature worked on the Ana- conda Copper Mining company principle. At the beginning of the session Roy Alley, general man- ager of the Anaconda company, came down to the capitol at Helena. Alley announced that “the com- pany” proposed to stop profiteering. Everybody gasped when they heard this. But it developed that Alley didn’t mean that the company proposed to stop profiteering in copper; it was profiteering in foodstuffs that he meant. Alley said, in substance: “The cost of living is too high in Montana. Every time we are forced to grant a wage increase to our miners the stores move their prices up a notch so that they absorb all the increase we give. Then the miners come to us for another increase. This profiteering has got to stop.” This caused almost as much of a surprise around Helena as if Mr. Alley had proposed that profiteer- ing in copper stop, for it is a matter of current report that the Anaconda people are actually the owners of some of the biggest retail and wholesale houses in Butte. One man at Helena told the writer: “The facts are that the Anaconda company raises its own prices to meet any wage increases that it has to make. Every time a wage increase comes, an increase in prices follows it immediately.” I asked a newspaper man if this was so. “No, you've got it wrong,” he said. “My experience has been that the in- crease in prices is always a jump ahead of the increase in wages.” However that may be, the Anaconda company surprised everybody by backing the proposed anti-profiteering move. So a big investigation was framed, which resulted in a report strangely silent as to copper profits, and the copper trust papers in one column played up what a great thing was being done for the people by their legislators and in the next col- umn what an awful thing this Non- partisan league was. . Well, the investigation has been held. If any prices have been reduced in Montana a microscope would be needed to discover the reduction. But the copper trust for a time gave the “dear people” something to divert their attention from other matters. REPEAL LAW PASSED BUT GOES BEFORE PEOPLE At the same time that an attempt was made to stir up a big fuss on food profiteering, the old-line politicians made a bold attempt to repeal the Montana direct primary law. The re- peal law was passed, but the legisla- ture insisted at the same time that it didn’t want to take any rights away’ from the people. % “We’ll give you a special referen- dum election,” the legislators said. “Then you can decide for yourselves whether you want the direct primary or not. Let’s see—when shall we have the election?” And looking over the calendar to see when farmers would be busiest, and least likely to get a chance to vote to uphold their rights, they picked September, 1919, for the spe- cial election—September, when every farmer in Montana lucky enough to have a crop will be so busy harvest- see what’s behind him. It is a peculiar thing that in every state in which the Nonpartisan league is organized, the enemies of the League attempted, at the 1919 session of the legislature,.to kill the direct primary law. In. almost every state, too, the governor advocated a state constabu- lary law to-put down labor and farmer organizations. In Idaho, Nebraska and Montand the old guard was successful in passing laws to wipe the direct pri- mary off the statute books. In Minne- sota, Colorado and other states they were unsuccessful. This points to a concerted plan among the anti-League forces in the entire Northwest to kill the League by denying the people the right to select their own candidates for office. But the fauners are awake, especially in the states where primary law repeal bills carried. In both Mon- tana and Nebraska referendum cam- paigns are on to carry the matter to a fair vote by all the people. In Idaho there is no referendum law, but the League farmers expect to elect a leg- islature in 1920 that will put the primary law back on the ' statute books-again. ing it (and so hard up for labor this year) that he will be working eight hours before dinner and eight hours afterward. In September, 1919, Mon- tana farmers will barely have time to eat, -let alone time to vote. The terminal elevator proposition is another case of copper company camouflage. Two years ago a proposal to build a $250,000 terminal elevator at LOOK OUT BEHIND! | | OH Boo! Hoo! isNT 1T AWF(L. THE WAY THE. - LEAGUE LEADERS ARE DELODING _THE ~POOR FARMER <) COME HERE AND LET ME SHOW YQU, How SoRRY | FEEL —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. Whenever the special interests begin to pity the “poor farmer” it’s time 'to The privileged group doesn’t shed any unnecessary tears. When it does shed tears it expects to collect on ] the Anaconda Copper Mining company, over the profiteering. inquiry the direct primary law was repealed. > PAGE EIGHT every drop. In Montang as explained on this page, “wept” While the people watched the profiteering Great Falls was submitted to the people, as a measure designed to head off the Nonpartisan league. To make the measure as unpopular as possible it was provided that the bonds to be issued should be paid for by taxation upon agricultural lands only, thus exempting from taxation again all the properties of the Anaconda Copper Mining company. Now $250,000 will not be enough to make a start toward building a terminal elevator. Besides, North Dakota farmers long ago realized that an elevator alone will do little or no good unless there is a flour mill in connection to grind the wheat. If the terminal elevator has no flour mill working with it, it is at the mercy of the private millers. But the Great Falls proposition, despite every attempt to make it unpopular, carried by vote of the people at the 1918 election and the 1919 legis- lature was called upon to make some provision for carrying out the proposition. They provided for a commission of three members to investigate and go ahead with work and agreed to submit the prop- osition for a flour mill to the next election. MONTANA TERMINAL ELEVATOR PLAN FOUND HUGE JOKE The elevator commission has organized and has visited mills and elevators in the Twin Cities. The members of the commission have returned to Mon- tana, convinced now, if they were not before, that the whole proposition of a $250,000 terminal ele- vator is a huge joke. They will spend the money, according to present plans, in investigations and possibly in buying a site. They realize that it is utterly impossible to do anything else under the conditions that prevail. The Montana legislature also passed a new herd law, widely heralded as a great gift to the farm- ers, that has turned out to be ancther joke. The Nonpartisan league farmers of Montana were successful in electing a number of senators and representatives to the last, legislature, but their number was too small to be of much service to the people. 2 But now that the legislative session is over the farmers of the League are doing everything in their power. They have started a big referendum campaign on the bill repealing the di- rect primary. If sufficient signatures can be received, this bill will be brought up before the people for vote at the general election of November, 1920, instead of at the special elec- tion of September, 1919. At the gen- eral election next year there will be a tremendous vote out and a bill to repeal the direct primary will not have the ghost of a chance. The copper company crowd knows this. They realize that their only chance is to have the direct primary question come up in September of this year, when farmers will be too busy to go to the polls. They are bending every effort, through their papers and through the so-called Montana Loyalty league, to prevent this and to blacken the repu- tation of the League farmers. But the farmers are awake to the danger. Nearly everywhere that: you today you will see a farmer’s little Henry Ford rolling along, with.a big red, white and blue sign on the wind- shield reading: F “Save the Primary.” And the chances are that the farmer has tucked away in his pocket a ref- erendum petition, getting signatures of ot:,her farmers to stop the special election proposed for September. . Furthermore, the farmers are build- Ing up their organization stronger than ever before. They realize now that it does them little good to send a few members to the legislature at Helena; they must send a MAJOR- er to act. £ With their own organization in con- ouflage and broken promises of. the copper company crowd, : go in the country districts of Montana _ - ITY so that they will have some POW- trol they can get away from the cam--