The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 20, 1919, Page 6

—— o B 1 o an ETRT T TADT A “ /%? / E ‘2 // Nonpartigén Teader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week ' Entered as second-class matter September 3, 1915, at the postoffice at St. Paul, Minnesota, under the Act of March 8, 1879. . ; OLIVER S. MORRIS, Editor : E. B. Fussell, A. B. Gilbert and C. W. Vonier, Associate Editors. B. 0. Foss, Art Editor. pobSmlte oot s St sl i sttt 1 Al S el i U ar S N N e P eibecn Mg oa ek Advertising rates on application. Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six months, $1.50. Please do not' make checks, drafts nor money orders payable to indi- Address all letters and make ail remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS THE S. C, BECKWITH SPECFAL AGENCY, Advertising Representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas c‘?:y. - y 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 coiumns. pe THE OMAHA MOB ] MAHA, Neb., has just experienced a mob outbreak in which the mayor of the city was dragged about the streets with a rope around his neck, the new courthouse nearly destroyed by a fire set by the mob, and a negro lynched. So serious‘was the rioting that troops were called to put down the disturbance. Who are responsible for the mob outrages that have been occurring with tragic frequency throughout the country? Is there not some special condition which has resulted in the spread of lawlessness? And how has this condition been created if it exists? All these questions might be answered in a single sentence. It is due, in all probability, to the encouragement of such lawlessness by reactionary officials during the war. Nebraska is truly a case in point. In that state, sheriffs, county attorneys, city officials and even men in higher positions have winked at similar outbreaks MO8 LAW! Ofyf WELL . HE'S ONLY |8 FmemER ). when the farmers were the objects of attack. The state council of defense at least passively encouraged the persecution of Nonpartisan league farmers, League speakers were ordered out of the state, and a definite and well-proven plot existed, as told a few months ago in the articles by R. A. Moore, a detective, to crush the League by . _any means under the guise of patriotism. Since that time there has been at least one other such outrage committed. The sheriff at Beatrice, Neb., refused protection to the “farmers for a meeting there and the chief of police likewise de- clined to try to prevent any attack. The meeting was broken up by a gang of hoodlums, and a man in the uniform of a city fireman | . attacked a Leaguer. An aged man who attended the meeting was assaulted, and the farmers driven out of the meeting. A delegation of farmers took the case up to the governor. Facts were presented on the case and names of persons engaged in the assault and names of officials who refused to interfere to pre- vent the mob attack were: given the governor. And he refused to prosecute, thus tacitly giving his approval to the outrage. . - The Omaha outbreak has been the indirect, if not-the direct, outcome of this stand taken by the governor. Whatever the im- mediate cause of the trouble in Omaha, it was the tolerance by the officials of the state of similar, if not so tragic occurrences, that brought on the riotin% in the Nebraska metropolis. . When those who are sworn to uphold the law and to enforce it permit its viola- _tion, what can be expected of ordinary citizens? NORTH DAKOTA BONDS SOLD T bonds—$2,000,000 being the bank’s capital stock issue and $1,000,000 the first lot of the $10,000,000 in real estate bonds eventually to be issued to furnish farm loans and finance the home building. association—have been sold. The bonds bear 5 per cent interest and sold at par. - ; . The sale of these bonds is of are several matters in connection w THREE million dollars’ worth of Bank of North Dakota state the sale that will interest the ~organized farmers in all states. Par for 5 per cent state bonds in ~one sense would be considered a good price, considering that the Vietory issue of United St,atgs government bonds, bearing 4%/, per. - %I%%utmost,importance and there - cause of the packing trust, to - the latter isn’t looking, to have his picture taken. = ARG R e At BT S G o “4, % ‘%‘% é/ % gwq. _V' %‘%Z . %/,,,,// _ ,,%%, - -- | %. U %. cent, are selling now at slightly under par, although they are backed by the credit of the entire country. The Bank of North Dakota bonds are secured by the credit of only one state, and not the richest of the states by any means. 7 : B But the North Dakota bonds, due to the fine financial condition of the state and the slightly higher interest than carried by federal bonds, should have sold at a substantial premium, ?.nd would -have done so had not the state been afflicted by a detestible press and a minority die-hard political gang which has sought to destroy the state’s credit by advertising far and wide that the farmers were “bankrupting the treasury” and entering into “wild-eyed Bolshe- vistic experiments.” The attack on the state’s industrial program by repeated suits in state and federal courts also has contributed JHEY LOOH GOOL 70 ME— /il TAME EM BLL . 8 ; ; | STATE BONDS, J ERSTERN CROITHL to a feeling among investors that conditions in North Dakota aré unstable and its securities unsafe. But in spite of this the bonds were sold at a fair price, and the result has discredited .and con- founded the press and the political gang which has tried to blacken “#nd humiliate their own state with the aid of outside big interests: - The fact that the bonds were sold to a syndicate of eastern in- vestment brokers, organized by C. B. Little of Bismarck, N. D., ~also is interesting. Mr. Little, president of the First National bank in his city and long identified with the political gang of North Dakota and the interests it serves, has been ranked as one of the most uncompromising enemies of the farmers’ program. But evi- - dently Mr. Little has placed service for his state and his business" interests as a banker above politics. Not the least bitter pill for the North Dakota malcontents is the fact that Mr. Little was instrumental in behalf of the farmers’:administration in arranging’ such favorable terms with investors. PACKER WILSON favored us with a printed copy of his recent ‘address before the convention of the Institute of the American Meat Pack- ers. We take this means of thanking the gentleman for the favor, and hope he will not take it amiss if we discuss frankly here some of his statements. ‘ : Mr. Wilson says that the operations of the packers have been misrepresented and he fears, if this misrepresentation goes un- noticed, it might “easily result in wrecking both branches of the industry, viz: livestock production and meat packing.” Further along he again couples the packers with the producers. “The in- terests of the producer and the packer are identical, and that which affects the prosperity of one is likewise reflected to the other,” he says. .In the next paragraph he tries to show that the present dis- satisfaction of consumers results not only in criticism of the pack- ers but “in a growing tendency to also criticize the producer.” ST In other words, Mr. Wilson wants, if possible, to enlist the farmer on the side of the packers. He says frankly that “for some : THOMAS E. WILSON, president of Wilson & Co., packers, has POSING WITH THE FARMER. \-xi;‘u—!il’(imll' .m'mfln:m-fl B tdward the development of co-operation between the pgckers;apd_;‘ producers.” i - e : Mr. Wilson is taking in too much territory when he assumes: that the proved charges of profiteering and monopoly against the packers will injure the producer. He assumes that measures for more strict government control or outright government ownership and operation of the stockyards and packing industry, the out- growth of packer profiteering and monopoly, will injure the farm- er, because it is against the interests of a few big packers.” And it is not true that there is “a growing tendency” on- the part of the consumer to criticize the producer. The growing tendency is the other way—more and more consumers are getting together with the producer to eliminate the unnecessary middlemen’s’ com- missions and profits. AN e B “Mr. Wilson will find it useless, in attemptinig to strengthen the pose alongside of the farmer, when - time I have been devoting a great deal of my personal attention: -