The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 15, 1919, Page 10

RIS l e SOUTH DAKOTA | RECENT report of the state school of mines states that the Norbeck “investi- gating” commission is finding it difficult to secure favorable locations for state ‘de- " velopment of coal, authorized by the voters at the last election. All the locations that are accessible fo transportation have been cornered by private iteres's, and as the railroad corporations are in- terested in coal mines it is not likely that they will construct new lines to enable the state to de- velop coal to sell to the people at cost. An oil boom is now on in Perkins county, but the special-interest stool pigeons who hold the state offices will allow the fields to be gobbled up by pri- vate interests the same as they have the coal. * ok % 5 Doctor Walter Thomas Mills is now making a speaking tour of the state. . * * *® A committee of business men.in Pierre has been investigating profiteering. It has found that the. business men are not profiteering, and Editor Hipple, one of the committee, recommends that the high cost of living be reduced by starting in on the producers. : . * E] * The state auditor has been investigating the charges made for the use of autos in state service, and finds that bills for this service range from 6 cents to 20 cents a mile. He quotes figures to show that the cost of this service in North Dakota is 6% cents, in South Dakota 9% cents, in Minnesota 8% cents, in Wyoming 9% cents, in Montana 10 cents, in" Towa 7% cents. North Dakota is the lowest. Perhaps it is due to a people’s govern- ment and less graft. ’ P R Mitchell has a high cost of living investigating committee composed mostly of lawyers. The only man it has charged with profiteering so far is a watermelon producer. . EDITOR SOUTH DAKOTA LEADER. ‘* | WISCONSIN I COMPILATION of the appropriations of the 1919 legislature, which adjourned a few weeks ago, shows that it provided for the expenditure of $51,208,744 during the coming two years. This is an increase of $16,000,- 000 over the appropriations made by the-1917 leg- islature. Wisconsin has a population of 2,500,000. - The * increased expenditures, at the rate of $8,000,000 per year, make an average per capita increase of $3.33 per year. Yet North Dakota’s great indus- trial program, for the benefit of the people, will mean an increase in taxes in that state of only 30 cents per capita, less than one-tenth of the in- crease in Wisconsin. - ‘ * % % Farm prices are being viciously attacked by gov- ernment officials, as shown by the following inter- view given out in the Wisconsin, State Journal by District Attorney Wolfe of Wisconsin, acting di- rectly on orders from Washington. Mr. Wolfe says: “FARMER .OVERPAID” “In this case it happens to be the farmer who is profiteering. He is getting too much : for his hogs, steers, lambs, calves, wheat, corn, oats and milk. : ; “The farmer is receiving as high as $3.50-a hundred for milk. The price ought to bz cut - to at least $1. Hogs ought to be cut from 23 cents to 9 and 10 cents a pound. The -same is true regarding grains and beef.” Along with this the postoffice de- : partment is offering food products at less than cost. Every effort is being made to bring down the price of farm products, but no effort is being made to bring down the price of manufac- tured articles in other lines. . The postoffice is not offering” for sale the great surplus of manufactured ar- ticles, such as shoes, socks, unde=- clothing, etc.,"although they have mil- WHAT THE OR ED FA R BOOS GANIZ OO® lions of dollars’ worth en hand. Army shoes make, an ideal farm work shoe, but they do not want to break the market. 55 This has always been a manufacturers’ govern- ment and it will continue to be such until the farm- ers are strongly organized to get their fair share of representation in every department of the gov- ernment according to their numbers and amount of taxes they pay. BEECHER MOORE, Wisconsin Secretary and Manager, Nonpartisan League. T ITH only a day and one-half for prepara- tion, a monster League meeting was held August 20 at the home of Victor C. John- son, one mile east of Lindsborg, Kan. The Lindsborg News conservatively estimated the crowd at 1,500. Farmeérs and their wives came from McPherson, Salina, Gypsum, Lyons and from as far away as’Minnesota, and many of the busi- ness men of Lindsborg also attended. The meeting was held in the open air, with elec- tric lights strung overhead. R. B. Martin of the League’s national speakers’ bureau, delivered the principal address. He called the business men’s at- tention to the fact that their welfare depends on arrangements for big League meeting\ at which R. B. Martin spoke. the welfare of the farmers and that he can serve himself best by working in harmony with the League movement for greater democracy at home. A series of ofher big League meetings is being -held in Kansas while Mr. Martin is touring the state. A significant thing about the Lindsborg meeting was that it was held at the home town of Phil Zimmerman, one of the principal opponents of the League. ' Zimmerman, his neighbors said, cou'd not ‘have.gotten a corporal’s guard out for R. L. COOPER,. Kansas Secretary and Manager, Non- partisan League. a meeting of his own. A new feature of the Leader begins on this page this week and will appear regularly hereafter. It is the aim of the Leader to inform its readers of the activities of the League and its : members in other states where the farmers are or- ganized. In all these states the League is increasmg its membgrship ;jgpidly. ; ~ ME ers. ~ l NORTH DAKOTA l » EV. E. W. ELAYER, pastor of the Metho- dist church .at Rugby, by the publication : of a strong indorsement of the Nonpar- tisan league principles and program in Kansas and Iowa, has stirred things in his home town. The gang newspaper at Rugby devotes two- thirds of its front page this week to a denuncia- tion of the minister. But the farmers around Rugby, which is located in a strong League county- (Pierce), are uplifted by the clergyman’s clear and intelligent approval of their course. - - * * * The latest newspaper to. be bought by the farm- ers is the Mandan News, which, with the issue of September 4, comes out under the management of the farmers of Morton county. The editor em- ployed by the farmers is Carl Evans, a newspaper - man of experience and ability. Assisting him will be Ralph Kellar, who has just returned from serv- ice. Previous to his army service he was assistant editor of the Mandan News. The News plant is one of the finest in the state and the paper has the . largest circulation in the county. & * * On September 18 a hearing will be held before Judge Charles F. Amidon in Fargo, of" the case of the “Farmers Grain company of Embden” vs.. E. F. Ladd, state inspector of grades, weights and measures; his chief deputy, J. A. McGovern, and W. C. Green, state’s attorney of Cass county. The case is one that is being backed by the grain gam- blers’ ring of Minneapolis and is an attempt to break down and destroy the new state law regu- lating weights and dockage. The plaintiff charges that the grades and regulations established by the: law conflict with those made by the United States ~ and that the grain buyer can not obey both, The first act of Doctor Ladd was to issue an order mak- ing the grades éstablished by the United States the grades for North Dakota. AR EDITOR NORTH DAKOTA LEADER. l-_ MINNESOTA : I ' HE Minnesota legislature now is in speéié.l session. The special session was called by Governor Burnquist a month ago, nominally because an “emergency” existed in .the for- est fire sityation, but in reality to kill the primary election- law and thus deprive the organized farm- * - ers and workers of the right to select their own candidates for state office. The League legislators are ready to make a hard fight against any pro- posal to reinstate the old boss-controlled ‘conven- tion system. * * * ¢ cr The Minnesota Leader has secured a copy of.a letter sent out to banks in Minneapolis, announcing that the Minneapolis Clearing House association has assessed each member bank for part .of a $200,-- 000 fund to be used in crushing “socialism” in Min- nesota. While the bankers say they. are using this big slush fund to fight “socialism?” their speakers are attacking the Nonpartisan league and organ- ized labor. ; : - * * % > Twenty-three League meetings and picnics were scheduled in advance for the first week in Septem- ber. A. E. Bowen, George D. Brewer, N. S. Ran- dall and O. M. Thomason were some of the speak- Big crowds were reported everywhere. & R . League members of the Minnesota legislature have united on the following program for introduc- tion in the special session of the legislature: Ton- “nage and iron ore tax, soldiers’ bonus, state mar- keting -of fish from state fishing lakes .at cost to the consumer, state pur- chase of the Farmers’ packing plant "and enlarging of the plant to buy and sell - livestock without profit and a state bank de;:osit guarantee. . : w - et Labor has turned down. Governor Burnquist’s: plan to get t ~ into a “conference” with the empl Short Notes About the Activities in League Stafi:’s i ' The Minnesota State Federation of - e labor men