The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 1, 1919, Page 4

Montana Farmers Are Betrayed Again Primary Law League Members Saved Slaughtered by Special Session of Legislature—Relief for Drouth-Stricken Farmers Refused : BY N. S. DAVIES Montana, for the sec- ond time within a year, have been open- ly cheated by the leg- iclators of that state. Their expressed wish, voiced accord- ing to law of that state, was ruthlessly overriden by the hoss-controlled lawmakers and tiie lawful objection to the rape of the primary raised by the people was disregarded. The special session of the legislature called by Governor Stewart has passed into Montana history as one of the most reactionary of any state in the Union. It even surpassed its record at the regular session, when oppressive laws, demanded by the copper barons of the state, were passed over every objection that could be raised by either the farmers or organized labor. Besides this it refused to give the people of the state any opportunity for passing on these meas- ures which they had opposed in no uncertain terms. . Probably the boldest play of all was the slaughter of the primary law which farmers of the state had worked months to save, and which they had rescued from the clutches of the old gang only to have it snatched away again with the connivance of the legislature sitting in special session. Not only did the farmers of the state lose the primary through the action of the body, but the law- makers refused absolutely any relief to drouth- stricker farmers, many of whom are being forced to leave their farms. The legislature was convened by Governor Stewart for the express purpose, ostensibly, to leg- islate for the financial relief of farmers who have been dried out for the third successive year. Run- ning true to copper company form, however, it has adjourned without passing a single measure to aid the farmers. It obeyed the voice of its master by the passage of a law increasing the supreme court judges from three to five and repealing the primary election law. The new closed primary law was passed at the dictation of the reactionary party bosses and was aimed directly at the Nonpartisan léague in a frantic effort to prevent the League from capturing the machinery of both old political parties, as was done in North Dakota. : This law was passed because the League farmers to the number of nearly 40,000 had signed referen- dum petitions postponing the special election called by Governor Stewart for September 2 to vote upon the repeal of the old primary law to the general election in 1920. . : EVERY RELIEF MEASURE KILLED BY LAWMAKERS Whipped by the referendum petitions, and fright- ened by the growth of the League in Montana, the old gangsters ruthlessly killed every measure for the relief of the farmers as fast as they were intro- duced. Senator Booth of Fallon county, in opposing a bill providing for a state bond issue of $5,000,000 to provide loans to farmers to buy seed and feed and tide them over till a crop could be harvested, voiced the sentiment of the opposition when he said Nonpartisan league farmers and all agitators “should be driven out of the state,” and the statement was also made that “it would be a good thing if the farmers were starved out, as the state would be better off without them.” Forcing the passage of the bill increasing the members of the supreme court by two members, both selected by Governor Stewart, was for the pur- -.pose of securing a majority of that body to hold unconstitutional any progressive legislation which might be passed by the next legislature, which the copper crowd is in mortal fear will be dominated by the Nonpartisans—and their fears are well grounded. If anything more were needed to insure Nonpar- tisan control of Montana after the general elec- tions in 1920, the special legislative session provided it in abundance. ; 3 : . ers’ enemies. by the reactionaries of the state. When, after the petitions on the Montana primary repeal law were filed, the Nonpartisan Leader announced that the farmers of that state had saved the direct primary law, it underestimated the boldness of the farm- The article on this page recounts the base betrayal of the people by the lawmakers, who openly acknowledged fealty to the copper _ company by their actions. The representative of a Butte reactionary paper stated when adjournment came that “the session has provided the Nonpartisan league with abun- dance of ammunition to sweep the state. The polit- ical bosses of the staté, as a result of combined fear and anger, have choked legislation down the throats of the people that will cause widespread re- sentment. The utter failure to pass any relief leg- islation makes the real purpose of Governor Stew-. art in convening the special session painfully plain—even to a sightless deaf mute. It is the coarsest piece of work I have ever seen—absolutely bungling.” And, in an effort to prevent a referendum vote on either the supreme court or the closed primary bills, both carried emergency clauses, which, under the Montana law, excludes them from being referred. Thus the legislature not only failed to give the farmers relief, but stole the primary which the peo- ple adopted by popular vote in 1912 and refused to permit the people to vote upon it. Only a little more than a week before, the organ- ‘ VICTORY IN NEBRASKA l The photograph above shows’ Secretary of State D. A. Ambery just after he had received and ac- cepted petitions signed by 24,000 Nebraska voters which forced the submission of the primary repeal ° bill to a vote of the people. The primary repeal law now is to be voted upon at the general election in November, 1920. But the farmers of Montana are determined to surmount every obstacle that can be placed in the way of their progress The very character of the opposition is daily strengthening the organized farmers of the state, and progres- sive citizens are pointing out that the old gang, in its des- perate efforts to hold its power, has overreached itself. ized farmers, aided by organ- ized labor in the state, had filed petitions signed by 40,000 vot- ers demanding that the special election on the primary be post- poned from September of this year until November, 1920. Just before the thought of knifing the primary absolutely occurred to the reactionaries gf the legislature, Attorney Gen- eral Ford filed an opinion with Secretary of State Stewart in which he held that the filing of the petitions disposed of ‘the primary proposition until the next election. Secretary Stewart announced that he would abide by that ruling. This sent the hopes of the old gang glimmering as far as their previous action was concerned, and the more drastic action followed almost immediately. Asked on the floor of the house what created the emergency in connection with the two bills, a re- actionary member snapped back, “to prevent riots,” which was the signal for tittering on the floor and in the galleries. DISTRESS OF FARMERS EXCUSE FOR SESSION Widespread indignation has been caused not only in League circles, but among many who realize the crisis the state faces with aid withheld from the farmers, who, after three successive crop failures, in many. instances will be forced to abandon their farms at least temporarily. Decent people very generally denounce Governor Stewart for using the distress of the farmers as an excuse to call an extra session, and then standing pat with the copper crowd in killing every measure which would accom- plish the purpose he outlined in his call. As a feint at endeavoring to relieve the farmers, Governor Stewart outlined a plan similar to the Red Cross drive for funds, to seek donations to be meted out to farmers by paid committees composed of his political henchmen. . This plan to make the farmers objects of charity was indignantly refused by the League members. They refused to be classed as common beggars, ask- ing only that the credit of the state be used to pro- vide funds for legitimate loans because of unpre- cedented conditions. Just what action will be taken by the League members and the progressive people of the state has not been decided upon. Some of the leading law- yers of the state hold that inasmuch as the repeal of the primary law by the last regular session, which provided that it should go to a vote of the people at a special election, which Governor Stewart had called for September 2, and which, by the refer- endum petitions filed, postponed the vote on that measure till the general election, can not be inter- fered with by legislation passed at the special ses- sion, and be that as it may, action of some kind wilL be taken, which may take the form of another referendum of both objectionable measures despite the emergency clauses. : In turning a deaf ear to a body of people whose prosperity is vital to the prosperity of the state, the servile tools of big business have made a fatal blunder in Montana. The farmers will not submit to such brazen brutality, and organized labor and all other progressive citizens are incensed at the blot placed on Montana by gang legislators who howled down every League legislator who argued both from the standpoint of common decency and to avoid such a humiliating stain upon the state. What a sad contrast between the functioning of state government in Montana and North Dakota! And it will but serve to hasten the New Day in Montana. ; 3 The only crumb to aid the farmer was to provide that additional road woii: would be provided for them—which can not be. ¢unc in the winter time, and in the fall and spring, .; we farmers aré earn- ing enough to buy food doing road work, they can not farm. The other measure, providing that coun- ties could extend aid to farmers to the extent of $10,000, is silly in its inadequacy, as townships will * need more than that, and the provision for bonding counties if $10,000 was not sufficient was killed by another bill which lowers the valuations in counties to such an extent that the bonded indebtedness has already been exceeded. 5 5] e R A NN R I N e R S P A R O