The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 29, 1919, Page 6

. he had declared flatly against the attempt to involve us in another O'Hare;™at the recent Labor. party convention in Chicago. has a live dairy commissioner named J. J. Osterhous who has been -making investigations on the cost of collection of dairy products " in North Dakota. . He finds the same wasteful duplication in the system of gathering milk and cream from the producer as are to be found in the distribution of milk and cream to the consumer. In the near future the Leader expects to present the results of some of the investigations of Mr. Osterhous. This North Dakota official does not content himself with pointing out the evils of the present, system. He points the way to a remedy. It is significant that the problem of losses in dairying should be taken up first by North Dakota. There are many states in which srop e Leans §R ELAEE PULH AND CREAM.. Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week Entered at the postoffice, St. Paul, Minn., as second-class matter. OLIVER 8. MORRIS, Editor. * Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six months, §1.50. Classified advertising rates on classified page; other advertising rates on application. Address all letters and make all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations. e S. C. Beckwith Special Agency, advertising repre- sentatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. Irresponsible firms are not knowingly advertised. Readers should advise us promptly if they have occasion to question the reliability of any advertiser. o THE ALIEN AND SEDITION LAW 7 ; SSUMING it is not yet sedition to discuss the merits of a bill ‘in congress before its passage, we venture to point out that Congressman Davey’s alien and sedition bill is ill-ad- vised in its present form. This is the.bill drawn up by Attorney General Palmer as a peace-time substitute to the espionage act, which expires with the formal declaration of peace. the dairy industry is much farther advanced than North Dakota. There are other states, probably, in which there are investigators as capable as Mr. Osterhous. That they have not gone into the subject, as the North Dakota man is doing, (iis probably because The first gection of the hill defines “sedition.”. Any person .they. have not had the freedom of thought and expression that is o 4 S possible in North Dakota. who “commits, or attempts or threatens to commit any act of - force against any person or any property,” under certain circum- - CONSISTENCY stances is guilty of sedition. This is excellent as far as it goes. T HE St. Paul Pioneer Press, in its issue of December 15, undertakes to rebuke the Nonpartisan Leader, in a labored editorial, for “deserting” President Wilson. In a vein in- tended to be facetious the Pioneer Press editor writes: However, ALL persons who ‘“commit, attempt or threaten” vio- lence are not included in the bill. Only those come within the pro- visions of the bill who resort to violence with intent to “levy war against the United States,” to “cause the change, overthrow or de- “‘Couldst thou not watch with me one hour? reproachfully struction of the government or its laws,” to “oppose all forms of ,qred the poet.” : law or organized government,” or with intent to “oppose, prevent, The attempted quotation is about as accurate as most of the h%nder or delaty tfl}i‘e execution %f ,anyPlaw or tl;le free pg’:'foz;gxanc% stuff in the daily press. The words attributed to “the poet” were of government officers or agents.” Persons who commit, attempt gpoken by Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, and may be found or threaten violence with THESE SPECIFIC OBJECTS IN VIEW i\ Watthew 26-40, in a book which also contains injunctions against are seditious. Other persons, equally guilty of violent acts sub- 5 ¢ ¢ '+ sediti -bearing false- witness against one’s neighbor and other matter law and order violators—groups which strike at the foundation of But asite from ghowing' his unfamiliarity. with: the Bible, the : A : Pioneer Press editor has paid us a great compliment. We are government and authority of courts, and which undermine the (hijed for supporting President Wilson’s 14 points during the war, Constitution. It does not hit those who_ incite, urge and partici- which is misinterpreted as being personal support for the pres- pate in mobs which take the law into their own hands and commit ident, and for continuing to support the 14 points after the pres- ident repudiated them, which is misinterpreted as going back on the president. We are then slapped on the wrist for circulating BN President Wilson’s book, “The New Freedom,” and later taking ND his message to congress with a grain of salt. Thus, this editor ar- = SEDIT/IaN gues, we were once partisans of the president and now are not. LAHL " The editorial calls attention to what is the strength of the Leader policy, as compared with the policy of papers like the Pioneer Press. The Leader supports principles and not politicians. acts of violence against persons and property. It does mot hit It .1stvfum:iy to the Pioneer Press that we should support the 14 those who conspire to defy the Constitution by withholding the ffim e ailfl c_o?tlllnue to support them after their author dropped constitutional rights of free speech and peaceful assembly. P e, we. lg lc;wed politicians, right or wrong, like the Pioneer If the proposed act is not made to include all kinds of offenses rgss, we g’ofl. ave praised Wilson for announcing the 14 points which undermine the government and the Constitution—if it plays 20d praised him later for repudiating them. ' egresoric” MOBBIST favorites, as it does in its present form—it will only serve to in- b “The New Freedom” was not circulated as a premium on Leader tensify the present unrest, widen the breach between factions and s::lafcnptlons, nor was it given with League dues, both of which contribute to more hatreds, prejudices and bitternesses. statements the Pioneer Press makes. This book, which squares Mr. Davey will do well to get some good American history and With Leader policy and the League program, is sold to farmers by study the experience of the old Federalist party with an alien and }Pe League educational department. It is still being sold by that sedition act during the early days of the republic. If it is neces- lgagg‘e agency. A League ad in the December 22 Leader, on page sary at this time to pass a PEACE-TIME sedition act to take care W.’]‘-’ ers to farmers “ ‘The New Freedom,’ by President Woodrow of a handful of scattered and discredited I. W. W.s, revolutionists - “’%" A few copies left—While they last, 50 cents each.” : and anarchists, if it is necessary to magnify the activities and ex- . — uring the war and since the League has circulated and is aggerate the importance of these small and impotent groups— c1rcl;)atmg this book, because of the PRINCIPLES it stands for, then it should be the part of the same statesmen to-use discretion 1Ot because of the MAN who wrote it. Such consistency is incon- and play no favorites when they legislate. ceivable to venal .editors. It is never foupd in the kept press. T R " BOTH ENDS AGAINST THE MIDDLE NO NEW WAR WANTED 5 : > s ; HE recent attempt of the United States senate to bring g%gf I;I'I;;fisgitoiffl;e New Yori{ t(:}all, tfhe Socialist daily, about war with Mexico was contemptible. It met a deserved league,” who, the Cali cx}‘:apresen“z; Wlf of the Nonpartisan I rebuke from President Wilson. We wish that the president had 4 ? arges, °took occasion to pay dis- taken other grounds for his rejection of the senate advice; we wish respectful compliments to Eugene V. Debs and Kate Richards war, instead of going no farther than to say that the senate was ex- ceeding its prerogatives. The resolutions of the national conven- tion of the Nonpartisan league dealing with the Mexican question, - printed on another page of this issue of the Leader, outline our views on this perplexing problem and offer suggestions for dealing with it in a statesmanlike manner. ‘ CM‘M.:GE S CHRRGES z" A WASTEFUL MARKETING ' The very next day the Grand Forks (N. D.) Herald had a ; " T ASTE in the marketing of milk and cream in the big cities long article intended to prove that some p(romingnt L;tlgugrs in has been acknowledged for years. When six or seven milk North Dakota were “bosom friends” of Mrs. O’Hare. ; wagons follow each other over the same route, morning We suggest that the Socialistic Call and the capitalistic Herald and evening, where one could do the work, it requires no scientific fight it out. There is nothing in the League program about Mrs. training to see that the milk is going to cost the consumer twice as O’Hare. Individual Leaguers are welcome to take what position much as the producer gets for it. : they choose regarding her, although we will say that, while we . But there are more losses to the producer and consumer in the might disapprove of much of her doctrine, we would be willing to dairy business than in the retail sales department. North Dakota argue it out with her instead of putting her in jail for her ideas. ' PAGE SIX