The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 13, 1919, Page 9

WHAT THE ORGANIZED FARMER IS DOING DOO® DO SOO® SHORT NOTES ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES IN LEAGUE STATES MONTANA HE determination to hasten the dawn of the “New Day” in Montana is very strong- ly “indicated in the bombardment of the ‘Montana: Nonpartisan and ‘state League headquarters - at "Great Falls with letters from League members throughout the state asking for petitions to invoke the referendum on the laws passed at the recent special session virtually re- pealing the primary law. Requests are just as nu- merous_for petitions for the purpose of lmtlatmg the compensatxon law. The slogan is “50 000 sig- natures in 30 days.” . % * * A charge from practically every corner of the state against the state highway commissioner for dttempted profiteering is causing a considerable stir. The highway commission is attempting to charge the various counties $900 for rental of trucks ‘donated by the United States government to the state to encourage road building. The $900 rental is for the balance of 1919 and 1920. The charge set for every year after that is $500 a year. Several counties which had applied for and received the trucks have notified the highway commission that they will be returned, as it is much cheaper to buy outright. * * *" In response to the appeal to League members in Minnesota and North Dakota to sell hay direct to the drouth- stricken farmers of Montana, the loyal League. members in . those - states'_have -advertised thousands of tons: for -sale through. the. Montana Nonpar- . tisan. This will save Montana farmers thousands of dollars. As a means of further aiding the farmers it is suggested that League members in other states advertise feed barley and oats, and all kinds of seed grain in either the. National Nonpartisan Leader or the Montana Nonpartisan in ear- load lots in order to put a stop to. profiteering in necessities. *® £ % The fact that the hotel bills of the Montana editors were paid by the Montana Power company during the recent two-day convention in Great Falls has caused a sensation throughout the state. -These editors are somewhat embar- rassed by numereous communi- cations from farmers asking why they are so silent about the property of the Montana Power company being assessed by the state board of equalization $50,000,000 less than the company swore it was worth before the pubhc utilities com- mission. S O R S A heavy. general snowstorm lasting 36 hours has given birth to the belief that the drouth is broken at last and will result in the immediate seeding of considerable winter rye and wheat. EDITOR MONTANA NONPARTISAN. OKLAHOMA ‘ : OW- politics is played and newspapers - H subsidized at the expense of the state ' was aptly illustrated here recently when the'.corporation -commission made -appli- cation for 150,000 blanks through the state board of ‘affairs. The state board returned the requisi- tion with 'the announcement that it would be neces- sary foi the commission to make 15 applications for 10,000 blanks each, so each of the principal papers supporting gang rule could be ngen a slice of the printing contract. ; * * * 'Conttasted to North Dakota’s efficient insurance laws, are those of Oklahoma, which permit use of public' funds for political purposes.. When the state election board decided on' a $3,600 insur- ance item, there was a fight to divide . the am\ount among various favorite risk companies. 3 * * * Farmers of Oklahoma are being organized at an ever-increasing rate here. This is due to the mar- ket gambling, which has reached a high point in Oklahoma, and the apparent misrule of the reac- tionary politicians, now in control. MANAGER OKLAHOMA NONPARTISAN LEAGUE. KANSAS FTER the busiest harvest season this state has ever known—and after net re- sults have already begun to show that after all this unusually heavy work the farmer has lost much of his effort, there is to be an intense cultivation of the study of the remedy. Speakers R. B. Martin and W. E. Shoemaker re- port lively interest in the meetings being held and a growing desire on the part of the farmers to take a few hours off and attend these meetings. Every Kansas member of the League should write the state office at Topeka, Box 453, and indicate a will- ingness to assist in arranging and advertising these meetings in their locality. If they will do this it will give the organizer more time to visit those who have not yet been given a chance to join. * * & The state executive committee met in Topeka A MEETING IN MONTANA This is the way the farmers of Montana are turning out to League meetings. at Brush Lake, Mont., Governor Lynn J. Frazier of North Dakota, Major Leo Horst and R. B. Martin, national League lecturers, and W. F. Dunne, Butte labor leader, spoke to this _crowd. The speakers are in the stand in the center of the group of listeners and automobiles. " two days last week and canvassed the work being done through the state office and the organization force. They went home enthusiastic and urge every League member to put their shoulder to the wheel. - * *® * : With the interest now in evidence throughout this state nothing can give the movement a’great- er boost than-the willingness of the members to assist the organizers for a day or two. MANAGER KANSAS NONPARTISAN LEAGUE. SOUTH DAKOTA i HE organized laboring men of Aberdeen formed a new party last week to be known ; as the “Workingmen’s Nonpartisan league.” They will co-operate with the farmers’ or- "ganization at the ballot box. 0. J. Nelson, national lecturer for the League, addressed the meeting. X * * *® Lloyd Rader, a League organizer in Spink-county, tops the list of organizers for the past week by sending in 69 members. - The laboring men of Sioux Falls have decided to publish their own newspaper, which will-be known as the Sioux Falls. Labor News.. o EDITOR SOUTH DAKOTA LEADER PAGE NINE N “meetings in Minnesota recently.- “tax veto by Governor Burnquist. -the state. = NORTH DAKOTA ; PPLICATIONS for nearly $3,000,000 in farm loans already have been received by the new Bank of North Dakota. Ap- praisals are being made as rapidly as possible. - * * * The school teachers of Fargo have followed the lead of the teachers at the agricultural college, and have organized a union which has applied for affil- iation with the American Federation of Labor. & % ES Y The Woman’s auxiliary has started a contest to select a motto or slogan for the organization. Mrs. Lynn J. Frazier, wife of the governor, has offered: a prize for the contest. * * * The Bank of North Dakota shows resources total- ing -nearly $16,000,000 in its September statement. * * * > The supreme court has handed down a decision holding that State Auditor Kositzky’s fund jug- gling, in an attempt to deplete the general fund of its resources and thus discredit the farmers’ ad- ministration, is illegal. & s Tk Fargo and Grand Forks have both offered sites for the new 8,000-barrel state mill and 1,500,000- bushel state elevator, and have offered to buy up- wards of $1,000,000 in mill and elevator bonds. Decision as to the location of the big state in- dustries is expected shortly. EDITOR NORTH DAKOTA LEADER. - MINNESOTA -and will be the high- est in the history of the state. State Auditor Preus- announc- ed that the levy would be 8.1 North Dakota’s tax commis- sion has just announced that the levy there.would be 2.98 mills, bonus. rain at Clarissa recently, where they heard Homer Cook, League lecturer, and Magnus Johnson; League senator in the anesota legislature. [ e Last summer Govemor Lynn J. Frazier of North Dakota addressed two In speaking at Lake Elmo the governor criticized the ore tonnage At Milaca he spoke at the dedication of the home of the farmers’ paper, the Mille Lacs County Times. ' George D. Brewer and Magnus Johnson also spoke. Ed * * The American committee of Minneapolis, an or- ganization fostered by anti-farmer business and . political interests, and which has been conducting open forum meetings- in Minneapolis parks, has . is organizing other . The difference between the lectures and the open forum meetmgs is that in :the former, - nobody will be given a chance to questlon state- . abandoned ' this plan ‘and lectures. ments of the speakers. * * ok Farmers and workers of Freeborn county . will have their own daily paper in December. Albert Lea purchased. .The company is capitalized at $50,000 and already a large part of the stock has been sold. * % % In less than three months after 1ts org’amzatlon, the Working People’s. Nonpartxsan Political league has enrolled more than one-fifth of the unions in In. a single week 49"sepa_rate unions joined. . RN 7 EDITOR MINNESOTA LEADER. INNESOTA’S tax levy . next year will be: more than doubled, - mills, against 3.5 mills in 1918. ; including the soldiers’ * Eight thousand farmers at-: tended a League picnic in the: A stock: company has been organized and a building at: | E‘V' 1% | t | | % ! §