The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 22, 1919, Page 9

vfw ¢ip e ray SOUTH DAKOTA ~ HE farmer-labor picnic at Tacoma park, Aberdeen, Labor Day, was a big success. The immense crowd was made up about equally of labor men and farmers. The speakers were Gale A. Plagman, president of the teamsters’ union of Minneapolis, who urged po- litical action by labor in co-operation with the farmer; Professor Louis Wallis of the University of Ohio, who pointed out that the Nonpartisan league is the only political organization in the United States today that is working along the lines of a fundamental remedy, and R. B. Martin, na- tional lecturer for the League, who discussed the North Dakota program in detail. § * * * League farmers of Roberts county have taken over the: Sisseton Standard and will conduct it as a League paper. San- born county farmers have completed stock sales for a League paper at Woonsocket. At Watertown, Strands- berg, Howard, Marion and Newell farmer papers are already in opera- tion and organization work is under way for new papers in Day, Brown, Hutchinson, Tripp and Gregory coun- ties. £ % % The only “profiteer” discovered by the Mitchell H. C. L. committee of lawyers was a watermelon producer, and after quizzing him the committee was forced to acknowledge that he was not making a profit. E * * * Lloyd Rader, Brown county, holds the record for signing new League members for the past two weeks. Other organizers are pressing him closely. * * ¥* Doctor Walter Thomas Mills is speaking to big, enthusiastic audi ences daily. , ED. SOUTH DAKOTA LEADER. I NEBRASKA l OVERNOR McKELVIE has refused to punish public of- ficials of Beatrice and Gage county, who on August 9 last refused to protect citizgns in their constitutional rights of free speech and peaceable assembly. The gov- ernor was asked to act under a state law which provides he may direct the attorney general to bring ouster pro- ceedings against any public official who refuses to do his duty. Governor McKelvie, however, told 75 citizens who called on him, repre- senting thousands of farmers and workingmen, that he would not do as they asged because the victims of the Beatrice mob had not brought action in the local courts of Beatrice against the officials under a sec- tion of the statutes that never has been used and that had long been forgotten until the attorney general dug it up to use in-“passing the puck.” * * % That the machinery of the Republican’ party is to be used to defeat progressive candidates for the state constitutional convention and also to “stop the Nonpartisan league” was indicated last week in a conversation Secretary Dunlap of the Repub- lican state central committee had with a county official. Secretary Dunlap said the state committee was organizing in every precinct to oppose candi- dates in sympathy with the League program and that Republican' leaders were working with W. T. Thompson, one of the heads of the New Nebraska federation, an organization supported by the spe- cial interests and corporations of the state. Dunlap said that unless checked the Nonpartisan league and organized labor would unite and would WHAT THE O Short Notes About the Activities in League States Expressions on the Lead QOO® OOO® OOO® be joined by the school teachers, who were being organized by the American Federation of Labor. * * * Walter Thomas Mills delivered the principal ad- dress at the celebration of Labor Day in Omaha. * * * John A. Currie of the League lecture bureau is holding a series of successful meetings. EDITOR NEBRASKA LEADER. | MINNESOTA X -OVERNOR BURNQUIST, in his message to the special session of the legislature, urged a plan to kill the primary, or at S least cripple it, so that it can be manipu- lated by the politicians. being vigorously opposed throughout the state, and petitions from 100,000 voters have been received. by the lawmakers. = * * * A plan to use state farm bureaus against the League has been uncovered. A state federation of county bureaus has been organized. Twenty-five per cent of the farm population of any county must belong to the county bureau before it is admitted. Objections by men who feared that a quarter of the farmers couldn’t be induced to join an anti-League organization brought the statement that towns- ‘people could be used to fill out the required quota. * * * Another effort by politicians to kill the Nonpar- tisan league in the state is being launched. The “Minnesota Loyal Voters’ leagué” has been formed for the express purpose of opposing the League at the next election. As usual an effort is being made to induce farmers to join, but as yet there is no line forming on either left or right to sign up. EDITOR MINNESOTA LEADER. 'PAGE NINE RGANIZED FARMER IS DOING The anti-primary plan is. —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. . er’s birthday have been received from a number of our friends, but wouldn’t it be interésting to see what our enemies might say if' they had been asked for expressions! Just think ‘of what the milling com- bine and the grain gamblers would say! who -are hit by the North Dakota state bank, or the ele- vator gang, who have to pay for dockage. Whew! Or the usurious bankers l NORTH DAKOTA ' EAGUE members are raising funds for the relief of Mrs. M. K. Bowen, widow of the murdered rancher of Golden Valley. Bowen, because of his fight for the League, faced months of persecution and finally met a violent death. His cattle, valued at $30,000, were poisoned by his enemies and Mrs. Bowen was com- pelled to scrub floors for a living until her plight was brought to the attention of other Leaguers. * £ * Grand Forks and Fargo are in a hot race to get the big state-owned mill and elevator, in spite of the fact that these two cities have been the center of the opposition to the League program. & * * Another new weekly farmers’ paper has been ' THE PROFITEER’S TESTIMONIAL I launched, this time at Minot. It is called the Ward County Farmers’ Press and is edited by Dave Larin, who has spent his best years in fight- * * * The flour trust mills cut the price of their product nearly a dellar a bar- rel immediately after the state had taken over the mill at Drake. In spite of this the state mill has orders enough on hand to keep it running for two years. * * * N. C. Macdonald, former state su- perintendent of public instruction, has been appointed general inspector of rural schools and general adviser on educational matters by the board of administration. Macdonald’s big hobby is the betterment of rural schools. ED. NORTH DAKOTA LEADER. ] WASHINGTON I E COULD have used a dozen League speakers for Labor Day celebrations, so great was the demand on the state office. Leo Welsh and Will Everett represented the League and the new paper, the Forum, at the tim- ber workers’ celebration at Deer ‘Park; O. J. Nelson spoke to a large gathering of union men at Vancouver, and the state manager spoke at Winthrop. * * * The good rains we have had over this section of the state this week will materially aid in the organization work during the fall and winter. * * We have added to our organization force this week Theodore Enright eof Clayton, Wash., who is opening work in Lincoln county, and Charles James of California, who will finish Kitsap county. C. J. Madden, T. S. Gass- man, W. R. Edwards and O. J. Nel- son expect to finish Thurston county this week. W. R. Bignell moved from Wenatchee toc start work in Kittitas county. J. L. FREEMAN, State Manager, Nonpartisan League. I IDAHO ' HE state tax levy for 1919 has just been made and proves to be 7.7 mills, the highest levy ever known in the history of the’state, in spite of the fact that Governor D. W. " Davis was elected on the platform of having a “taxless state.” While Idaho taxpayers are strug- gling along with a 7.7-mill levy with nothing to show for it, North Dakota levies a tax of 2.5 mills; with one-half mill extra to provide $25 per month for returned soldiers, while Idaho overlooked any relief for the service men. 2 EDITOR IDAHO LEADER. ing political corruption in the state. ' SRR AR