The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 4, 1919, Page 7

e -,%j@&flsms% S tors. It _édmits ;‘;hat the League and the people of North Dakota wk» are working in a lawful and orderly way under the law and con- stitution. HY : ; 3 But probably the most important point about the editorial is that it is the view of a CONSERVATIVE newspaper published in a city which has for years had in successful operation a system of markets and terminal marketing machinery owned by the people, exactly parallel to the plan of North Dakota on a state-wide scale. THE DAY OF THE PRODUCER POLITICAL co-operation of those who produce the necessities . of life—the worker on the farm and the worker in the city— is coming to be recognized more each day. As long as the special privilege groups were able to divide these workers into op- posing political camps, dangling before the eyes of each camp a chimerical political plum, they were able to retain their grasp on the political functions of the government, obtain favorable laws and valuable concessions. Now the day of the producer has come and he is not slow to recognize it. : The Minnesota Federation of Labor, at its annual convention, has formed a new political group under the name of the Working People’s Nonpartisan Political league to obtain for labor just legis- lation and adequate representation. But the most significant act of the entire convention was the “indorsement by the body of the Nonpartisan league and the decision to work in conjunction with the organized farmers of the state. The platform of the new Labor party in the state contains these planks: i A maximum eight-hour day and a 44-hour week, with one full . day’s rest of 24 hours each week in all branches of industry, with minimum: rates the same, which, without the labor of mothers and children, will maintain the worker and his family in health and com- fort and provide a competence for old age, with ample provisions for recreation and good citizenship. Public ownership and operation of railways, steamships, banking business, stockyards, packing plants and grain elevators. £ The action of the convention is important as an indication of the .general trend of the new attitude of the organized workers a for the effects it will have on Minnesota politics. : In Illinois the Labor party has carried several municipal elec- tions and is a power in state politics. In Idaho several city elec- &LLLoT omessson SEVGLITION tions have been carried by the workers’ party. The North Dakota workers have organized their‘dwn political party to work in con- junction with the Nonpartisan league. Pennsylvania has a Labor party. The Wisconsin Federation of Labor has added its voice, as the Labor parties of these other states already have done, in sup- port of the Nonpartisan league. Other states may be expected to fall in line with Minnesota. : William Mahoney, president of the St. Paul Trades and Labor ‘' assembly, voiced the sentiment of workers everywhere when he declared that the people are losing faith in the ballot, and he issued a solemn warning that should be taken note of by the special priv- ilege groups when he said: “Something must be done because there is a trend toward direct action.” Oppression is the mother of disorder. Democracy and liberal- ity of political thought in government never led to revolution or anarchy. The best preventative for social unrest is to remove the causes that make for-it. The organized workers and the organized . farmers are doing more than their share to accomplish this. If America avoids a cataclysm it will not be through the efforts of the reactionaries and their laws to crush “bolshevism,” but rather through the foresightedness of farmers and city workers in combining to remove the causes for such a cataclysm. ‘CALAMITY IN REVERSE HE shrieks of “Calamity’’ and “Bankruptcy’” and the corpo- 2 ration newspaper wail of “North Dakota going to the dogs,” which for two years swelled in velume up to a month ago, have been suddenly silenced, and for a reason. RS The copper-greased politicians of Montana, the grain gang of South Dakota, and the reactionaries of Minnesota, while shouting “North Dakota headed to the wall” through their kept organs, re- minded the “dear people” of the wave of prosperity in their states. Within a month just past Montana began to face the worst ca- lamity in its history. This, the drouth, reached into South Dakota and North Dakota. Middle western Minnesota. was ripped by a “ tornado, and the state land district in northwestern Minnesota suf- fered a $100,000 crop loss from floods. When the crisis in the drouth district approached, the “calam- ity howlers” became silent. Montana and South Dakota pleaded in vain to their state governments for relief. Money was scarce and the bankers, as usual, took advantage of the big demand for loans with calls for outrageous interest rates. : 07 ; - “In the midst of this actual calamity comes Director General fCh.thr'o of the Bank of North Dakota, the people’s latest innovation, with an announcement that the bank is now ready to loan money to : drouth sufferers, as well as other farmers, at the low rate of 6 per cent interest, and with 30 years in which to pay back the principal. Meanwhile there was nothing adequate offered in Montana, ' where the situation was extremely critical, and the standpat govern- 4 ment of South Dakota was equally inactive. Minnesota had a tornado. Governor Burnquist, ever ready to ': call out troops to show his loyalty, put the disaster district under martial law, but no relief to the farmers whose crops-had been com- pletely destroyed was forthcoming. Minnesota had a flood in the Thief Lake district on lands which the state itself had guaranteed as “reclaimed.” For relief, the | ' NONPORTISON REBGYE great state governor sent the flood victims 100 national guard tents to be loaned temporarily while farm homes were under eight feet of water. No other relief for the farmers who lost $100,000 worth 4 of crops on misrepresented lands was forthcoming. Strangely enough, it was up to J. H. Sinclair, League congress- | 1 man from North Dakota, to pull Montana and South Dakota out of | | the calamity mire. He introduced a bill in the house of represen- | ' tatives to provide a federal loan fund of $5,000,000 for the drouth victims. North Dakota is prospering. PROPAGANDA THE senate has investigated so-called Bolshevik propaganda. “Calamity” is in reverse order. | ' Various publications have put star writers to work “expos- | ) ing” persons and organizations said to be trying to promote industrial and social changes in America by propaganda. and public officials are concerned, it seems to be applied only to the activities of those who DO NOT BELIEVE that “whatever is, is right” and who DO NOT BELIEVE that we are living under the best possible social, political and economic conditions. .- The propaganda of which we hear so much is probably less than half the propaganda going on. Senate committees do not seem to be concerned with another and immensely important kind of propaganda, backed with unlimited funds and gotten out in the defense of interests which have special privileges under our pres- ent government and social system and which desire to defeat any kind- of progressive reforms that threaten to take even a small part of the power to exploit away from the present holders of that ! power. ' “Propa-. . ganda” has come to be a much-used word, but so far as' the press ~ We make no specific charges, but it would be interesting to know just what interests and how much money are back of the | many organizations which are now engaged in sending out letters like the following: AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION Commonwealth Trust Building Twelfth and Chestnut Streets S Philadelphia, July, 1919. Dear Sir: i We are, as you may know, engaged in the work of conveying truth and facts to the workers of this country in connection with industrial economics with which the workers are now so much concerned. It is our aim to convey to the workers the value of American citizenship and the BASIC ADVANTAGES OF OUR PRESENT IN- DUSTRIAL SYSTEM. ; " This work is done through CO-OPERATION WITH THE LARG- ER EMPLOYERS EVERYWHERE. : ; We desire to secure a list of all of the larger employers of labor cAnsthe, State 0f < uen siec a5 s viaisines valeomsa and any assistance that you can extend to us will be much appreciated. If you can not yourself furnish us with the desired information, will you kindly make request for same of the proper state official. Very truly yours, i G. Y. CLEMENT, American Educational Association. The capitalization in the letter is our own. Similar letters are being sent to public men all over the country, one of whom favored - us with a copy. If any odium attaches to propaganda as propa- ganda, it applies to propagandists on both sides, and -especially to organizations the source of whose funds and the personnel of whose backers are concealed. - ; ¢ s We. are afraid, however, that it will be increasingly dl_fi‘icult for “the larger employers everywhere” to convince a majority of the people of the “basic advantages of our present industrial sys- tem,” or hold off much longer the progressive, orderly reforms ':' which eventually will be applied to‘industry and government. B e e T s —— ool o B S e R S )