The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 23, 1919, Page 4

o ooy g SRR o i - ! R IO, i (e ST e S accecind ‘Vote Yes Seven Times, Sloganin N. D. Y Organizéd Farmers and Organized Labor Expected to Roll Up Big Approval - Vote on League Laws June 26—‘“We’ll Win,” Says Townley. BY CHESTER W. VONIER 2210 ONE who has gone into North | Dakota in the last few weeks with a desire to learn the truth can doubt that the organized farmers of the state will “Vote Yes Seven Times” for the League bills which are to be referred on June 26. Not only are the farmers of the state de- termined that the bills shall go through, but organ- ized labor has put its shoulder to the wheel, and all the strength of its 10,000 membership in the state will be used in support of the Nonpartisan league program. When I left North Dakota last week after at- tending meetings in two cities, I asked A. C. Town- ley, president of the National Nonpartisan league, for a message to carry back to the readers of the Leader. He gave me this: “We’ll win.” The confidence of Mr. Townley was borne out in the three meetings I attended in Devils Lake and Rugby, two cities in the north central ‘section of the state and the middle of the great North Da- kota prairie. The special interests of the state, the agents of the millers of Minne- apolis, the wholesalers and jobbers of St. Paul and the banking inter- ests of both cities are making their last stand against. the organized farmers of the state. Every weapon they know, every man at their ¢ommand, all the money they can gather is being thrown reck- lessly into the fight to defeat the League pro- gram. Money, men and lies —these are the artil- lery, infantry and ma- chine gun snipers of the opposition. And even with this array, the opposition knows now that it can not defeat the program of the League in North Dakota. With 2,000 farmers I stood in the courthouse yard at Devils Lake to hear the seven laws which are to be voted upon on June 26 explained. For more than two hours the farmers stood patiently, even eagerly, to hear what the legislators had done at Bismarck, to learn why those laws were passed and why they should be ratified. That night in the courthouse yard I stood again, this time with some thousand or more city workers and farmers, and I saw why those farmers and those city workers have confidence in their lawmakers. I saw some of the lawmakers, heard them talk, and I felt the heavy current of their sincerity and sense of right transmit itself to the audience. OPPOSITION USING LAW IT FOUGHT TWO YEARS AGO In the North Dakota campaign there are many queer kinks, and not the least queer among them is the fact that the first to use the pioneer farmer legislation were the bitterest opponents of that legislation. When the organized farmers of ‘the state first took the reins of government in North Dakota in 1917, their legislature, before passing another single bill, pushed through a measure pro- viding for special initiative and referendum elec- tions when the people of the state should desire them. That group that is now organized in the L V. A. fought this bill as they fought all farmer legislation, but it became a law in spite of them, and now, for the first time in the history of the state, that law is being invoked by its enemies. Of the seven bills to be voted upon on June 26, only two of them, the banking bill and the indus- trial commission bill, are of vital importance ta the farmer program. The other five are all part of the progressive legislation adopted at Bismarck * last winter, but are relatively of minor importance. The five are the printing bill, the education bill, the immigration commission bill, the judiciary redis- " tricting bill and the tax bill. in North Dakota. But against these five bills the opposition is in- veighing mightily, hoping that through these five, as stalking horses, the two big bills may be killed. The I V. A. chose cannily the bills which are least understood among the measures passed by the leg-- islature and the easiest of misrepresentation to the farmer. Probably one of the most assailed measures is the printing bill. This measure provides that there shall be only one official paper in a county instead of three, and that this paper shall be chosen by a vote of the people of the county. This meas- ure will save the state about $100,000 annually on its printing bill. The education'measure provides that in place of three boards of 17 members there shall be created a single board of five members, which shall have entire administration of all state educational, penal and corrective institutions. The opposition charges that the 'bill is aimed at the only state official not elected on the League ticket—Miss Nielsen, state superintendent of education. As a matter of fact, the bill specifically provides that none of the pow- ers that she had before the law was passed shall be taken away from her, and that besides she shall be a member of this board of five, thus actually increasing her powers. The immigration bill is similar to a measure e et e e e I THEY’LL “VOTE YES SEVEN TIMES” _ I S Above—The grandstand of County Fair park, Rugby, meeting at which A. C. Townley spoke. passed by a recent session of the Minnesota legié- ‘lature, and against which there is no opposition in the state. This bill provides for an appropriation of $200,000 to advertise the state and to attract settlers. 5 The judiciary redistricting bill provides for re- placing the one-judge-to-a-district plan with a cir- cuit: judge system, where the jurists- will travel from county to county to hold court, thus prevent- irg them from sitting for a long time in one place and become involved in the politics of that par- ticular district. It will also relieve some districts of overwork and place it on the shoulders of judges who have relatively little to do. The one-man tax commission law abolishes the present board of three tax commissioners and pro- vides for one tax commissioner who will be under the supervision of the state board of equalization. In these bills there is nothing that is not now in . successful operation in other states of the Union. But the Independent Voters’ association is using these as a blind to turn the farmers against the two big bills, the industrial commission and the bank bill, which form the keystone of the new day : These two measures, which involve the,es-‘ tablishmeng-of» a state bank and a state-owned : _ PAGE FOUR G _ sive, luxurious automobiles. terminal mill and elevator system, will cast each person in the state an-average of 30 cents for two years, and it is expected that at the end of this time this amount will be returned to the state treasury from the profits of the bank and the state mill and elevator. But these laws are not being explained by the opponents of the League. The line of attack is vilification of the League leaders and misrepresen- tation of the laws and tke taxes. But even at that, the impression on the people is apparently small. . 78 AT L V. A. MEETING; 3 THOUSAND HEAR TOWNLEY In Devils: Lake, on the day of the League meet- ing there, a rival meeting of the I. V. A. was hur- riedly arranged across the street. While about a thousand persons heard the League speakers, there were grouped about the I. V. A. speaker’s stand some 78 persons by actual count. A great many of these persons listened from shiny, expen- But sandwiched in between two of these massive machines was one little modest Henry Ford, its hood, fenders and body stained with the mud of the prairie roads, its occupants listening bewilderedly and with an ex- pression of having stumbled jinto a strange “house, to the harangue of the speaker. But across the street there was a vastly different audience. There were automobiles, but they were sturdy, honest and modest ma- chines of North Dakota farmers. There were city workers, too, in mechanics’ caps, some of the men who a few days before at Minot had pledged support of organized labor for the League program. They heard George Brewer, a representative of organized labor, tell the workers what the League had done in the way of passing constructive industrial legislation; they heard Major Leo Horst tell what the returned soldier looked for'from the state, and heard President A. C. Townley tell of the laws -that were to be voted upon at the election on June 26. It was an earnest, inter- ested audience, anxious to know the truth of the big laws on which they were to pass. Devils Lake is one of the chief seats of League opposition in the state. It ‘is the stronghold of the redoubtable “Colonel”. Kel- ly, one of the old guard politicians in "the state, who still holds a seat in the legislature. The fact that he was at Bismarck at the last session is due to the influenza epidemic which prevented many of the Ramsey county farm- ers from coming to the polls for election. But now, in spite of all the opposition of Kelly and his cohorts, it appears that even Ramsey county will help put across the League bills on June 26. .- There was another incident in Devils Lake which 1s interesting and perhaps indicative of the senti- ment of the people of the county. A few young bucks about town, some of them returned soldiers and sons of the wealthy men of the city, served notice that they were not disposed to permit the meeting. For days before the meeting they made threats and urged that the town be closed. As a resulg of these threats the union labor men: of the city, at a meeting, passed resolutions demand- ing that the speakers be given protection. There was no_disturbance, and a personal warning to Major Horst went unheeded without result. ; .In Rugby, the center of Pierce county, the sen- timent in favor of the League program was even more pronounced. There 3,000 farmers came miles to hear Mr. Townley speak. The grandstand at the county fair ground was filled. Others were packed around the speakers’ stand, and'the nar- N. D., during League Below—Crowd in courthouse yard, Devils Lake, N. D., hearing A. C. Townley explain laws to be voted on June 26. row racetrack was choked with farmers’ automo- - biles. They listened, as farmers all over the state are listening, to the laws. again when it was shown how the legislation would benefit them, would free them».fiom dependence on They cheered again and’