The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 8, 1919, Page 7

iutlon of the real labor issues, and contmued labor unrest is fuel Va for the fire of the revolutionists: effimency of democracy in solving its problems, that we will per- _ mit ourselves to be stampeded, to lose our heads and to fail, in a ~crigis, to bring to bear all our common sense and spirit: of fair play, without which no social or economie problem can be solved? - Come, let us reason together. Let us hear la Y or. k- b a larger voice in the conduct of industry and discuss and decide N the ~18sue,” thhout name-calhng, bitterness or prejudice. Let us «§, 'see things in their true importance and proportion. Let us not, in a mad pursuit of a handful of anarchists and revolutlomsts, A forget that millions of workers are presenting a demand for reforms: . - in industry, and that the issue they have raised can not be- de- .. cided by suppressions and deportations or attempts to connect these “-workers with discredited groups of extreme radicals: : respect for law, order and government, by ceasing to undermine blage, and refraining from encouragement of mob activity. Let -us show them that we. ourselves believe in- laws, courts and con- stitutions.” : b Above all other g‘roups, farmers can help in restormg sanity 2 ~and allaying the present hysteria which is preventing a solution of foundation of our institutions. The farmer has always been the , - balance wheel of our republic. . Withdrawn from the centers of : ‘industry where faction and class interest distort men’s vision, a “man of nature’s great wholesome outdoors, the farmer can look -~ ~with clear and unpreJudlced eye on the present storm centers. &4 Hxs judgment, his sanity, his spirit of fair play,- ‘his freedom of bias _in favor of wealth and sinister: corporate interests—all these things ualify him for exerting at thls tlme a far-reachmg -and- heahng ; mfluence m publlc afi’axrs : : , .~ THEIR WIRES CROSSED . NTI-REFORM propagandlsts would get - into less trouble if desk at the present writing is an article on farm ténantry - © cessful in scaring Minnesota business men into contributing to a (e ‘-_slush fund to fight the orgamzed farmers On our desk bes1de er Gordon § article is an article on the ‘same ‘subject by H. E . ‘These two gentlemen, fighting the same cause, differ ‘on the sub- = ject of farm tenantry. - Says Mr. Gordon: ; S 5 About the 'most gleeful thmg that the Soclahsts (he calls SEeg Leaguers Socialists) can discuss .in relation to the American: farmer, = * S . is the increase in farm tenancy. The Socialist _bropaganda attempts to capture the farmer by telhng hlm that e is rapzdly gomg over to a condition of -tenaney. . : _He then gives some statlstlcs, concludmg as- follows. = S .These facts show as plain as- anythmg in - eco‘nomxcs that the - ¥ e “real tenant problem is not natlon-wlde, but is- confined to certam sec- - " 17 tions, of-which the Southwest is by far the very worst . 5 Mr Moss, on the other hand, says: 3 - I believe that the most serious problem that confronts the— state ; : of Towa today is the farm tenantry condition; - Thirty-nine per cent S -~ This.'percentage has been mounting at a rate of 1 per cent a vear - y =~ through the last seven or ‘eight years. And the other fact that em- b o7 phasizes this deplorable condition is that at least 95 per cent of these- : 1 i’ < . mean that 95 per- cent’of these tenants move every year, for.in-many: - one-year eontract.” But our: statlstles ‘show that half the tenant-farm- .-~ ovin ers in Towa move every year. This means that 25 per cent of our farm [ population makes a change in location every year. . " nize one of the serious agricultural problems.. On the subJect ‘league, which his organization is so bitterly opposing. - - welfare of the farmer. No organization of manufacturers, bankers rganization, the problems of agnculture is: probably camouflaging its opposition. to farmers organizations ‘“Butfnevertheless W, gree Wxt Mr. Moss as fo the seriousness ‘ mportance is what they want To work up “hysteria over: their activities means preventing discussion and 8O- _we_such poor Amencans, such insincere believers in the ' Above all, let us show-these discredited extremists our own ~ the constitutional guarantees of: free speech and peaceful assem- % our problems and-aggravating bitternesses which threaten the very.: “ procedure against law violaters, except the orderly processes pro- “* One man against an orgamzed mob of 32 “leading citizens”’—and they would get together and tell the same story. On our the deportatxon was a commendable act” because the victim dld» : ‘by F.G. R. Gordon, corporation publicity agent, who has been sue-' : “Last of all, the deported man was seized at the county line by - magked thugs who tarred and feathered him. Now what has be- Moss, assistant secretary of the Greater Towa association, which has assessed business men of Iowa to fight the organized farmers." 3 shev1ked—by the courts and leadmg cmzens of anesota. -over of the coal mines by the state, to assure a fuel supply pend- . ing settlement of the coal strike. of t d the hands of tenant farmers,. 2SE dhe land Bo ntdle today in tnoths, hadds of tenent farmers, 'fment injunction against the coal miners, which amounted to using | the authonty of government in favor of one 31de and agamst the - / 7% tenant farmers. are operatmg ona one-year contract That does not: . = - ' instances we find they, stay many years on the same farm on this e The Greater Iowa ‘association has. ‘heen compelled to recog— ~ of tenantry Mr. Moss speaks more radlcally ‘than the Nonpartisan ; We do not tion of coal production. The: government should have taken over. ‘believe that the Greater Towa association has at heart the real | and lawyers can understand, even if they want to, like a_ farmers’ coal miners’ officials. to cancel their str:ke order, but in North Da- ] ‘The Towa: assocxatlon_';; : Sumptlon of normal production.’ Hence North Dakota took over the itting that in some respects farmers’ orgamzatmns are nght 5 : caused Kansas and Ohio to follow suit. . » NN SURSS J LAW AND ORDER , OBS of respectable, leading citizens in Nebraska made freej‘ b ‘ “with the rights and persons of farmers and other citizens friendly to the organized farmer movement, without even { a frown from the governor and others in power. ~Later all the nation stood aghast at the race riots, accompanied with murder. |* and arson, at Omaha. Violence and disorder breed violence and § -disorder. Nebraska reaped the harvest it sowed in failing to stop outrages against its farmers. The other day a federal judge in Minnesota ruled that deporta- tions of law-abiding citizens, providing the deportations were made with the excuse that they were for the “protection’ of the victim, Less than a week later were “not only lawful but commendable.” an ex-congressman - of the state, speaking at “a public meeting against the league of nations covenant, was violently seized and de- ported by a mob, who placed him on a frelght train with orders not to come back. The sheriff was a part of the mob! It was doneto | ‘“protect” the victim. Open season for deportations has been de- . fii _clared by the federal court of Minnesota. What will the harvest be? ‘When courts give this interpretation of “law and order” it is | an mdlcatmn we are fast slipping into anarchy. One of the funda- * | mental rights of citizens is freedom of residence and movement; as long as they violate no law. And if they do violate a law, mob action is not the remedy. We have courts and prosecutors, and any vided by law, is anarchy. The court-said that the particular mob - § ! vxctxm concernmg whom he made his ruling, a League sympathizer, . £} went “willingly” with’the mob. He-did not resist deportation! not “resist”! Or take this phase of it: The court said the deported man_ would have been ‘assaulted and injured: by the:people if the 32 “leading citizens” had not deported him. If 32 bankers, lawyers, & doctors, preachers and newspaper editors could organize to de- [ port this man with impunity, did they not have enough influence . | with the peace officers to compel official protection for a citizen against - whom threats were made? Could {hey not have persuaded - the prosecutor to charge him with law violation, if he was guilty of any offense, and lock him.up in: safety away from the mob? come of the argument that the deportatlon of the victim: was to “protect” him? Incidentally, “laW and order” advocates in anesota are m" glee over the federal court decision. Another victory has been won' by violence and terrorism.- The Bolsheviki have been out-Bol- TWO‘MORE STATES TAKE.OVER MINES HE press got into its usual trouble in denouncing the farmer = & government of North Dakota as “socialistic,” “anarchistic” and “bolshevistic” when Governor Frazier ordered the taking Two other states were quick in followmg North Dakota’se example. ‘Kansas has taken over 150 @ mines, and at this writing proceedings are under way in Ohlo to N have the state take over the mines of that state. -The facts are, of course, that the ill-advised federal govern- other 51de ina labor controversy, has not caused normal resump- | the mines, and has been put in a very bad light by not doing so. - 1 Attorney General Palmer’s court injunction of course forced the kota it did not result in the: miners going back to work and the re- mines,. The same failure of Palmer’s mJunctlon to produce results Governor Hardmg of Towa also recommended state o ratl Qf‘ mmes ‘and’ wanted to call a conference of governors on the sub ject. He did not i to conflict with federal gove