The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 1, 1919, Page 6

',////////; % l/éllll// //A% //Ilz Y, Yo Nonpartigan Teader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week Entered as second-class matter September 3, 1915, at the postofiice 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. O. Foss, Art Editor. 3 Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six months, $1.50. Please 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. : Advertising rates on application. MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertising Representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. i 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 columns. e THE LEAGUE WINS FAVOR . 3 HE “committee of 48,” comprising liberals in every state in I the Union, has been conducting a canvass among independ- ent voters of the country in an effort to learn their desires as to political action in the next campaign. ; Thus far progressives in politics in the United States have suffered many setbacks because they have not been united. The advocates of one line of reform, like public ownership, have pinned all their hopes on this alone. So have advocates of reforms in elective machinery, like the men working for the initiative, refer- endum and recall, proportional representation and the like. The advocates of improved industrial methods have often shown too little- interest in public ownership and electoral reforms, and be- cause of this division of interest none of these groups has made as much progress as might reasonably have been expected. - The committee of 48, however, has found a marked change in the attitude of the liberal forces today. In a questionnaire which has been sent broadcast to independent voters, the committee has ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘ AOW ABOUT THE . 7 ONPRITISEON LERGUE © asked the opinion of the recipients as to a wide variety of referms. The answers are illuminating. They show that the great mass of American liberals are in favor of broad changes along many lines. On the railroad question 82 per cent of the answers favored public ownership, either under the Plumb plan or otherwise, 18 per cent private management. Compulsory military training was voted down, 85 per .cent against, 15 per cent for. . Ninety-five per cent voted for the initiative, referendum and recall, 5 per cent against. Ninety-four per cent voted for limiting the power of the courts to declare laws unconstitutional. Ninety per cent favored the repeal of the espionage law. But here is one of the most important features of the ques- tiorinaire and, incidentally, one which received an almost unanimous reply : ; “Do you favor the program of the Nonpartisan league in North Dakota ?” : i To this question 96 per.cent answered “Yes” and only 4 per cent answered “No.” 5 The fact that there can be so much unanimity throughout the country in progressive measures is éncouraging. It is still more encouraging that the Nonpartisan league, which already has adopt- ed and has put into effect all the most important of the reforms in question, can win almost unanimous approval. : : PROSECUTING THE PROFITEER ROFITEERING, which has been indulged in since the be- P ginning of the war by some of our best (and wealthiest) people, has been officially frowned upon. ‘The office of the attorney general of the United States, several states and munic- ipal governments have gone on a hunt for the predatory profiteer. And with what result? 3 In New Jersey a retail grocer was arrested for selling ‘sugar at a price above what was considered fair. Other arrests of petty profiteers have been made in other parts of the country as a result of the high cost of living agitation. No doubt the grocer and these B S A A ARG 5 i e e e i e A i others got only what was coming to them. But they had more shining examples of profiteering from whom they copied their tacties. i But it is a tragic joke that the government, making 2 great noise about the profiteer, should have gone into New Jersey to arrest a grocer for selling sugar above the price adjudged fair and passed over others whose profiteering ventures were much more flagrant. : While they were tracking down the profiteering grocer, the people were paying exorbitant prices for meat and profiteering tribute to the packers. They were paying enormous prices for shoes, tribute to the leather combine and the shoe trust. They were paying a great deal more than was war_ranted for their clothes. What may be the expected result if this is to be the trend of the -profiteering investigation? The real profiteers, who make millions from the nation’s necessity, will escape as usual, ax}d the petty little fellows who take a leaf out of the book gf the big fql- lows will be made the horrible examples. And the big fellows will stand aside and applaud. : THE MONTANA BETRAYAL N ALL the history of the fight against the Nonpartisan league there is no more cynically bold chapter than that just written in Montana. For a legislature to act in the face of public opinion which had just been so forcibly expressed is indeed the height of rebellion against the people’s will. 3 After the regular session dared only to pass the bill calling for a referendum on the primary repeal measure at a time when the farmers would be unable to reach the polls, and after the pe- titions of the farmers had forced postponement of the referendum for a year, the legislature slaughtered the primary law absolutely and then tacked on a clause to prevent the people from acting on it. Organized farmers and organized workers of the state had united their strength and obtained 40,000 signatures to petitions demanding that the referendum be postponed. The attorney gen- eral had passed on them and the secretary of state had announced - that he would abide by the attorney general’s ruling. The wishes of the people of the state had been expressed as emphatically as it was possible for them to do against the rape of the primary. And yet the legislature, at the behest of the political bosses and the copper crowd, killed the law the people had said they wanted. Not even the previous regular session, abounding as it had been in reactionary measures, could approach the special session for downright political jobbery. And not satisfied with that, the legislature voted to increase the number of supreme.court judges from three to five so that the copper gang might have a safe ma- jority in case the next election, in spite of all their safeguards, might- go against them. ' The legislature did not even take the trouble to hide their real purpose. Governor Stewart did make some concession to appear- ances when he called the session for the ostensible purpose of vot- ing relief Tor the farmers in the drouth regions of the state. And when the legislature got to Helena, it did everything but that. The primary repeal, of itself a brutal abuse of its powers, was made more obnoxious by the adding of the emergency clause, mak- ’ COFITL LN Ty WY ) P AN T A ”n} v ]” '(“*";::‘s’ s/ ] Yl ll&j B )4 l "-’.//\"”"( A ing it immediately effective and preventing it being referred to the people of the state for ratification. But in doing this the reactionaries of Montana have over- reached themselves. Progressive citizens everywhere, many of whom believed the false reports that had been circulated about the League in Montana, have changed their minds. By their last des- perate effort to keep themselves in power the gang has put into the hands of the progressives a most effective weapon. ' It has itself provided the greatest argument why it should not be re- tained in power. . Whatever move it may make next it can not prevent the vie- tory of the progressive forces in the state which have gained all the - more strength by reason of the legislature’s reactionary recqrd‘.v s SRAGRIEERE o : ; 2 e i e o W