The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 21, 1919, Page 6

/ % ,l,//llll/ '/%//I/I / %//// %]I 2. - D L T I ] b M S F bl bl 20 bk b T Nonnartigsn Bader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week Entered as second-class matter September 8, 1915, at the postoffice at St. Paul, Minnesota, under the Act of March 3, 1879. : OLIVER_S. MORRIS, Editor ‘ E. B. Fussell, A. B. Gilbert and C. W. Vonier, Associate Editors. B. 0. Foss, Art Editor Advertising rates on application. Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six months, $1.50. lease do not make checks, drafts nor money orders payable to indi- viduals. Address all letters and make all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. MEMBER OF AUDITeBUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertising Representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. _—nnmm— Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are not knowingly advertised, and we will take it as a favor if any readers will advise us _promptly phould they have occasion to doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising columns. P special congressional election in St. Paul, just held. It was expected to show the relative strength of the Republican and Democratic- parties since the league of nations and peace treaty controversy, and to prove that the new, third-party movement, fostered by the more progressive labor leaders, was a fiasco. The election was, in fact, a fair test of these things, and the result, though perhaps only a straw in the haystack of national politics, nevertheless does show which way the political wind is blowing. The election was to fill a vacancy in congress created by the death of Congressman Van Dyke, a Democrat. The St. Paul district for years has been strongly Democratic and Van Dyke was re- elected last fall by a big majority over the Republican candidate. Both old parties held conventions. The reactionaries dominated the Republican convention and nominated Cummins, a lawyer, prom- inent in old-guard Republican circles. The Democrats nominated O’Brien, county attorney at St. Paul, who ran on a platform of ap- proval of the peace treaty and league of nations and the IMMEDI- ATE RETURN OF THE RAILROADS, TELEPHONES AND TEL- EGRAPHS TO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP. The St. Paul Trades and Labor assembly decided to run an in- dependent labor candidate and put Oscar E. Keller, labor member of the city commission, in the race. He ran on a platform APPROV- ING THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS, favoring government owner- ship of railroads and telegraphs, right of labor to organize and bar- gain collectively, old age pensions and health insurance. ' The labor candidate swept the field, winning by a big plurality. The Republican ran second and the Democrat a poor third. There is, therefore, consternation in both old parties throughout the coun- A POLITICAL OVERTURN OLITICIANS throughout the nation were keenly watching the I % mm’/ 'oi.‘i/l_ o AN | ¢ try, and those who have been pooh-poohing the new labor political ' movement have had to sit up and take notice. It should be noted that Mr. Keller is a warm friend of the Non- partisan league and what it stands for. When the mayor of St. Paul refused to welcome to the city delegates to a League conven- tion over a year ago, Mr. Keller, as one of the city commissioners, gave the opening welcoming speech and told the farmers they were on the right track. During the reign of terror last year in Minne- sota, when League members, organizers and candidates were being mobbed and persecuted on trumped-up disloyalty charges in the . courts, Mr. Keller came out in a strong interview favoring the-. League candidate for governor, for which he was hounded and pur- : sued by the newspapers for weeks. The usual charges against labor and League candidates, fhat they are “I. W. W.s” and “Bolsheviks,” were made against Mr. Kel- ! ler but fooled nobody. - Mr. Keller makes the second labor congressman from Minne- 4 sota, Duluth having defeated the old-party candidates last fall and put Carss, a railroad worker, in. These two labor congressmen, with the three League congressmen from North Dakota, Baer, Young and Sinclair, make a strong liberal group in the lower house at Washington, D. C.—a group which will rapidly increase in num- bers and influence, unless all signs fail. i s : i A NI S AT SoecLb T b 3 i i FREEING INNOCENT MEN HE small amount of League money, in proportion to the total contributed by the farmers to keep the organization going, which has gone to pay for the defense of League members, organizers and officers persecuted in the courts, mostly on trumped- up disloyalty charges, has obtained tremendous results. No money spent by the organized farmers has been better spent than that which has resulted in the freeing of dozens of innocent men, whose only offense was to stand up for the rights of the farmers and com- mon people, but who were the intended victims of as black a political conspiracy as the infamous state trials of old England ever dis- closed. : - The League has undertaken the defense in the courts of some 30 members, organizers and officers falsely accused of disloyalty. Already the vigorous defense put up by the League for these men has resulted in over 15 of the cases being dismissed. The dismis- 5. 0L @l Ispffi;fo/zg\}'roo srycH o VY prod % g e [ % c?j) z <. o sals mostly came after political campaigns, the arrests having been made merely to influence votes. In addition to this, some eight of the defendants were acquitted by juries after trial. One of the few convictions against League men was reversed last week by the su- preme court of Minnesota and a new trial granted. This was the Randall case, an account of which appears elsewhere in this issue. ° The only remaining important case is that against President Town- .ley himself, now being tried in Jackson county, Minn. The fact should not be overlooked that all but five of the 30 persecutions mentioned were STATE cases, mostly brought by Minnesota poli- ticians, that there have been only FIVE federal prosecutions under the espionage law, and that ALL FIVE federal cases have resulted in victories for the League, two cases being dismissed for lack of evidence, without trial; two having resulted in acquittals by juries and one having been disposed of by an instructed verdict of not guilty by the judge. : The hired press has naturally been disturbed by these vindi- cations of League men. An example of the abortive efforts of the press to save its face was an editorial in a recent issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch, in which that bitter and unrelenting enemy of the farmers says that the policy of the League in defend- ing its persecuted members “has cost the League a pretty penny.” “It is not the League that is on trial,” the editorial falsely goes on, “but individual officials,” and the conclusion is that it is diabolical and crooked for the League to use the farmers’ funds- ta defend accused members! - In other words, the Press-Dispatch and its sister hirelings of = privilege are worried because the farmers’ money spent for ade- quate legal defense, to date has freed 23 innocent men of perhaps the worst charge that could be brought against them, that of dis- loyalty to their country. How “lovely” it would have been for the farmers to have allowed the sinister interests and the corrupt - politicians they are fighting to fasten the stigma of sedition and treason to them by letting these interests and politicians convict innocent members, organizers and officers of the League of these terrible charges! The money the League has spent to establish its patriotism and loyalty in the courts—and ‘it has been established by over a score of decisions—has been the best spent of any, and the hired press knows it. Hence the absurd argument that as quick as a League man is falsely accused, the farmers and their organization should abandon him to judicial persecution. How “beautiful” that ‘would be—for the enemies of the farmers’ organization that are seeking to disrupt it! REAL SOLDIERS’ PUBLICATIONS 20 : a T LEAST two publications gotten out by and for re- turned soldiers that have come to our desk are deserving of support of those who enlisted under the colors during the war. It is refreshing to read what must be the resl thoughts and learn what undoubtedly are the frank opinions of the great major- ity of returned soldiers, as expressed both in the Dugout, published at Los Angeles, and the Soldiers-Sailors-Marines National Weekly ‘News, published at Washington, D. C. Neither of these publications is controlled by or edited in the interests of big business organizations or politicians, of the so-called soldier publications which have sprung up since de- . mobilization started. If world-war veteran organizations now being’ ~organized are to be of real service to the returned men and not mere = like too many