The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 16, 1919, Page 9

R A R ‘§ § R NGB i LT | ! INSTALLMENT IL HAT Charles Patterson wanted Clarence Johnson, one of the founders of the fake league in Minnesota, to do when he called for his assistance in fighting the real Nonpartisan league in the state was explained by Mr. Johnson when he continued his interview with a representative of the Nonpartisan Leader which he began last week. The rise and fall of “The Nonpartisan,” the or- gan of the fake league, was followed, according to Mr. Johnson, by a request from Mr. Patterson to meet him in his offices, 1528 Merchants National i~ Bank building. The request was delivered through Eli S. Warner of St. Paul, who directed the policies of “The Nonpartisan” and arranged for its financing. “In my first talk with Mr. Patterson,” Mr. John- son resumed, “he said ‘they’ wanted me to assist in what he called the fight against Townley. I told him that I would do whatever I could that was right. Patterson’s only reply was to tell me to ‘stand by the guns’ and I would be cared for. He told me he wanted me to employ an assistant to help me care for the cards of the America First association. It became my duty to go every day or two to the Hotel ‘Saint Paul and get from Mr. West, an I assistant to Secre- tary Robert W. Hargadine, such membership cards as he had received since my last visit. These cards were filed in a room at 318 Jackson street, in a cabinet sent there from the O’'Donnell Shoe company, of which Mr. Patterson is vice president. These rooms were formerly the head- quarters of the Minnesota Nonpar- tisan league. There were 13,469 of these cards, each bearing the name of a per- son who had paid 50 cents for mem- bership in the as- sociation. Since the end of the war, most of the mem- bers have discon- tinued paying the annual dues and renewing their as- surances of loyal- ty, and all that is now left of the America First as. sociation is the coterie of business men who formed the association and the group of paid organizers. “I was recently informed that the founders of the organization are still planning on using it to begin the work. condone their political policies and for other po- ~ litical purposes. I know that it is to be used to frighten candidates into line at the next election. “After I had worked for a month over the clas- sification and indexing of these cards, Mr. Patter- - son instructed me to have the cards and the cabinet transferred to 1121 Merchants National Bank build- ing, where they would be cared for in the future. “ON THE SQUARE” PLANNED TO GET PATTERSON MONEY “It was about this time that I met Mr. Van ‘Hoesen, who had conceived a newspaper cure-all and was interesting Mr. Patterson in the project. Mr. Van Hoesen told me that he was planning to establish a magazine called ‘On the Square.” In a second conversation with Mr. Van Hoesen, some time later, he confessed to me ‘that the Patterson crowd was lousy with money’ and that he intended i . to have his’ share. “After I had, at Mr. Pattersc;n’s orders, trans- out the work of this b expense of possibly I2 for the successful launchin ABX as soon as possible. ferred the work on the America First association index, I found that Frank E. Davis, whom I had hired as assistant at Mr. Patterson’s suggestion, had nothing to do, and I obtained a place for him under Mr. Van Hoesen, who by this time had es- tablished ‘On the Square.’ “That bubble of Mr. Van Hoesen’s resulted in the printing of two issues of the paper and the expenditure of $50,000 of the money furnished by Mr. Patterson and his associates.” 3 It is interesting in this connection to show how many hands were dipping into the generous coffers of the Patterson crowd, and how accurate was Mr. Van Hoesen’s estimate of its financial standing. A letter from Tom Parker Junkin, the favorite author of the anti-League outfit, to Charles Pat- terson, puts in a higher bid than Mr. Van Hoesen ~dared. This letter was published in the Minnesota Leader and the North Dakota Leader and is repro- duced in part on these pages. In this letter, Mr. Junkin proposes the estab- lishment of a “central bureau to gather and clas- sify the various kinds of material to be used in getting before the people of .these two states— and possibly other states to be interested later— the kind of information that would be most effec- tive in combating the evils of the socialistic, dis- I figure that it would require about $I50,000 to carry the coming ten months, with an overhead There are in the neighborhood of 750 newspapare® in the two states that could be of service to us, and I beleieve the great majority of the publishers are with us in spirit but are not in a position to make .a fight in the open against an enemy so com- pletely unprincipled in the use of the boycotti and other nefarious means ofgagging oppositions eau for of that amount.® I expect to be in the Twin Cities within the next 48 hours and will try to get.into touch with you. office that I may be able to reach you at some definite time. I will arrive Friday morning and will stop at the-West Hotel Finally, 1 feel that the time 1s growing rapidly short of this movement and we should ge%t somettmere am at your service when the time comes to Sincerely yours, B2 S Above is a facsimile of part of a letter written to Charles Patterson b tablishment of a “central bureau to gather and classify the various ki fore the people of these two states (Minnesota and North Dakota) th effective” in.combating the Nonpartisan league. if they printed attacks on the League. scheme. The story on these pages deals with some other expenditures f The part reproduced above deals loyal propaganda which so seriously threatens these states and the nation.” Papers were to be given fat advertising contracts to.induce them to print the stuff. Mr. Junkin then gets to the meat of the matter thus: “I figure that it would require about $150,000 to carry out the work of this bureau for the coming 10 months, with an over-, head expense of possibly 1215 per cent of that amount.” ; Soon after the writing of this letter, which was dated January 2, 1917, the Reliance Publicity bu- reau was established. Junkin denied in an inter- yiew with a St. Pdul paper that he had the back- ing of a $100,000 slush fund. The Reliance Pub- licity bureau was operated along the lines pro- posed in Mr. Junkin’s letter. Under the name on the door in the Merchants National Bank building was printed this motto: ! “Honor, Service, Integrity.” The motto is still there. _The Merchants National Bank building was a virtual beehive of anti-League effort. With Pat- aligned with the 'i)mhibition forces, I do not recall terson directing, all activities, the lesser lights of - the anti-farmer group buzzed anxiously about, each Kindly arrange with your y Tom Parker Junkin suggesting the es- nds of material to be used in getting be- e kind of information that would be most Seven hundred and fifty papers were to be offered advertising with the plans for financing the rom the anti-farmer slush fund. 2 Who Dipped Into Generous Coffers of Patterson Clique Told by Johnson, - One of Fake League Founders—Junkin Makes B;d for $150,000 with his pet scheme of “busting up the League.” The Patterson office, Johnson said, was a meeting place for a curious collection of hangers-on, all of . them anxious to gain access to the political coffers of the clique, and all ready with some marvelous scheme,or other to defeat the League. “Immediately after the card index system and the files of the America First association had been transferred to the Merchants National Bank build- ing,” Johnson went on, “I found little to do. Day after day I reported to Mr. Patterson and day after day I was told that theye.would soon have something for me to do. But in that time I had an excellent chance to watch the visitors to the office. As the primary election campaign drew near, the fight centered about Lindbergh, and even more strange personages visited the Patterson of-- fices on some political mission. - O MAGNUS MARTINSON CLOSE TO “INNER CIRCLE” - “It was in this way that I met Magnus Martin- son, who is a salaried employe of the inner circle of the anti-League clique. Martinson told me, among other things, that before coming to the Patterson offices he had been in the pay of Russell M. Bennett of Minneapolis, a corporation attorney, but that he had been hired to work for Mr. Patter- son, to whom he had been introduc- ed by Fred B. Sny- der, also of Minne- apolis. Martinson, I know, was in the confidence' of Mr. Patterson and. the others of the inner ring. Martinson al- so said that he ex- pected to replace Ed Smith and F. H. Carpenter in : the councils of the Re- publican party of Minnesota. “As a proof of his standing among the Republicans of the state, Martin- son told me that W. L Nolan was his candidate for the speakership of the house of the Minnesota legisla- ture. " ‘Billy,” Mar- tinson said, had been offered a posi- tion with the chau- tauqua circuit to give a series of lec- tures, but that he had arranged that Nolan would re- main in the Twin Cities. “At the present : f time, I have been reliably informed, “Martinson is making a tour of the state for the Patterson interests, investigating the records of various men as to their desirability, f}-om the standpoint of Mr. Patterson, for legisla- tive timber. “Another thing Martinson told me, and which 1 knew to be common rumor, was that he was to lobby against the tonnage tax which the League planned to propose in the legislature. t Probably “It was Martinson who first conceived the idea : of a press bureau, and established offices in the Metropolitan Bank building in Minneapolis. In these ofiice§ he clipped articles from country pa- pers regarding the Nonpartisan league. About once a week he brought these clippings to St. Paul. I assisted in filing them several times. Another of Martinson’s duties was to report on the stand of various legislative candidates on the tonnage tax . and.liquor questions. Don M. Smith, a private de- tective, glso Wwas engaged in this work. He reported to_Martinson, who in turn reported to Patterson. “Although Martinson was commonly regarded as a single instance where, if the record of one of the . candidates showed that he opposed both the ton-