The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 30, 1919, Page 6

% Ty, % ////4/// K. //llll / onpartigin Teader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week et e e e B PR Ay o v e W i S P e ol S p e T Entered as second-class matter September 8, 1915, at the postoffice at St. Paul, Minnesota, under the Act of March 8, 1879. OLIVER_ S. MORRIS, Editor E. B. Fussell, A, B. Gilbert and C, W. Vonier, Associate Editors. B. O. Foss, Art Editor Advertising rates on application. Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six months, $1.50. Please do not make checks, drafts nor money orders payable t3 indi- viduals. Address all letters and make all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. i MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertising' Representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are not knowingly advertised, and we will take it as a favor if any readers will advise us promptly should they have occasion to doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising coiumns. THE WAY THEY FIGHT : N OTHING has been more cowardly than the way the oppo- sition to the League has.attempted to misrepresent the progress of affairs in North Dakota. Typical of the mis- representation has been that in connection with the workmen’s compensation bureau. . 3 One of the first things the workmen’s compensation bureau did was to employ a secretary. John B. Brown was selected for this purpose at a salary of $2,500, St. Paul papers announced, in their headlines, that a secretary had been selected at a salary of $25,000 and other anti-farmer sheets copied the statement. A typo- graphical error? One might think so, but wait to learn what followed. . The commission was charged with the duty of fixing rates to be charged employers to insure their workmen. This is a most dif- ficult task, of a highly technical nature. Probably there are not 100 men in the United States with sufficient technical training and experience to calculate these rates correctly. The North Dakota commissioh found a man able to do it. This man was Emil E. Wat- son of Columbus, Ohio. He is an actuary in charge of a large sta- tistical laboratory, equipped with the latest and most expensive ci)mlr(mting machinery, and has -call on the services of 25 trained clerks. . . - Mr. Watson contracted to do the work of computing the rates for $3,600. He had previously done the same work for the state of Idaho for $5,000. The fact that the North Dakota commission got a reduction of $1,400 shows their interest in economy. When the first half of Mr. Watson’s payment came due State Auditor Kositzky refused payment. He went to the anti-League news- papers with a cock-and-bull story that the state of North Dakota had hired Mr. Watson for $1,800 a month and the anti-League news- papers, enlarging upon this, said that he was to have a salary of $21,000 a year. : ; The facts are that the $3,600 promised Mr. Watson is not salary for two months’ work, but the fee of his bureau or laboratory for the highly technical task of rate-fixing, involving the assistance’ of 25 clerks besides Mr. Watson. It is a fact, however, that Mr. Watson is to be employéd per- manently by the commission, after the rate-making work covered by the $3,600 fee is completed. ' For this work he is to get, not $21,000 a year, but $1,800 a year. : 2 . _Of course any decent newspaper, which had the slightest re- gard for the truth, would correct its statements about Secretary Brown getting $25,000 a year and Actuary Watson getting $21,000 a year. But it is too much to expect from such papers as the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch, the Bismarck Tribune, Fargo Forum, Grand Forks Herald, Lincoln Star and a half dozen other sheets we might name which have printed the untrue statements. THE LEAGUE IS GROWING .REPORTS from every state in which the League is organized indicate that the past week showed the most tremendous advance in membership of any similar period in the history of the organization. Facing the crisis in North Dakota, where the strength of the farmers is being tested for a second time within : -a year, the heretofore unorganized farmers of North Dakota and. other states are showing eagerness to align themselves with their brother Leaguers in the fight for economic and industrial democ- racy. North Dakota has shown what has been made possible by _political co-operation of the farmers. Farmers in other states are - anxious to enjoy some of the advantages that the farmers of North Dakota are now enjoying, and they are joining the League to get them. It looks as though 1920 might be a mighty bad year for the | reactionary politicians in the “original 13" states. _ A LETTER AND ANSWER : THE Nonpartisan Leader has no desire to-dictate to any of its readers what they should think in regard to current af- fairs. On the matters contained in the League platform we are all united. On such other matters as are discussed”from :time to time in these columns the editor of the Leader welcomes helpful .ceriticism, such as that contained in a letter recently received from F. A. Jenne of Sunnyside, Wash. . Mr. Jenne took exception to an editorial in the Nonpartisan Leader of June 2, in which the peace treaty was criticized because it failed to follow the 14 points pre- viously enunciated by President Wilson. Mr. Jenne said, in part: You seem to take it that because the peace treaty did not follow the exact text of President Wilson’s 14 points that an injustice has been done Germany. Perhaps it has, but if so I would like for you * to explain more fully in just what way. Why should these 14 points be followed to the letter in making 'this treaty? To my way of thinking, the treaty that has been put up to Ger- many to sign lets her off entirely too easy. I say the above being fully convinced that Germany alone was entirely responsible: for the war and should be forced to pay for the same in full if such a thing were possible. This should be done not only as a punishment but as a lesson to herself and others who contemplate a similar course. Did you ever stop to think what the peace terms would have been had Germany been the undisputed victor? I think it well to look ‘at the matter from this point of view also. In a spirit of right and justice to all I feel that Germany should be forced to pay the limit for the calamity she brought upon the world. LSt Y The editor of the Leader has answered ‘Mr. Jenne és ‘follows: We hold no brief for Germany. The imperial German ‘govern- ment undoubtedly was chiefly responsible for starting the world war. Some people take the ground that because the German people were’ not truly represented by the imperial German government, they should not be punished now that they have changed their govern- * ment. With this view. we can not wholly agree. The people: of -a. nation are always responsible for the government under which they live, even when that government very flagrantly misrepresents them.. - The German people should have reformed their government before the war instead of waiting until it was over. S Our objection to the peace treaty does mot run so much to the question of the severity of the terms offered Germany. The real ob- jections are two in number: : B First, our own good faith and that of our allies was pledged to negotiate a treaty of peace based upon the 14 points enunciated: by President Wilson January 8, 1918. Insofar as we depart from those points, to which we are pledged in honor, we harm not. Ger-. many but ourselves. it Second, as a practical matter, we fear that the distribution of . territory made at the peace conference, in many instances: on the old theory that “to the victors belong the spoils,” holds the germ of future wars. Just as the forced annexation of Alsace ‘and. Lor- < raine, with their-French population, by Germany. in 1870; made a. war ‘at some period between France and Germany inevitable, .80 are. forced annexations”such as the Saar valley, the Shantung peninsula and, possibly, the Dalmatian coast, likely to lead the world into fu- ture wars. - i s SRR Undoubtedly Germany, had she been successful, would have ‘put into effect a treaty of peace fully as severe as that now offered her: . —Dbrobably more severe.. But there is a vital difference between Ger- many and. ourselves. The ruling class in Germany, which was re-: sponsible for the world war, believed in the necessity of an occasional: war as a’ permanent national policy. They were perfectly willing :to: put into effect arrangements that would lead to future wars so long: . as they were wars in which Germany probably would be victorious.: But we do not believe in a policy of war. The people of the United States backed the government’s entry into the war on the theory that it was a war that would end war.” We doubt very much whether ‘the " treaty of peace is calculated to 'do this, but, as we said editorially ' June 2, we are still hoping for the best. : syl e ‘What do other readers of the Leader think about our »st’am.i'? ~ A power hgs risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and pow- one mass, and held together vast surplus in the banks.‘; ; —John C. Calhoun, in a _ Speech May 27, 1836. erful interests, combined-into | by the cohesive power of the B