The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 26, 1920, Page 6

Tonparti¥an Tader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week Entered at the postoffice, St. Paul, Minn., as second-class matter. OLIVER S. 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, The 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. : NO “REDS” IN NORTH DAKOTA T IS a significant fact that when the department of justice the I other day decreed a nation-wide roundup of “reds,” meaning members of the new Communist and Labor-Communist parties, resulting in the arrest of several thousand persons, not one was ar- rested in North Dakota.: In Minnesota and Wisconsin a number of the so-called “reds” were taken; in eastern states they were ar- rested by the hundreds. Wrong as these agitators may be, many people doubt the ad- visability of arresting and deporting them under a war-time statute, when the nation is at peace and has been at peace for more than a year, except in.the technicalities of law. But disregarding this objection it is significant that not one “red” was to be found in North Dakota. ; The reason is simple enough. In North Dakota the Constitu- tion of the United States still is in operation. Free speech and peaceable assemblage are the rule and not the exception. The ‘BEoS EvERY | WHERE B 2] S DEFPRICTMENT N OF JUSTICE. people of the state have built up a great organization, through which they can work their will by orderly, constitutional methods. Advocates of violence and revolution have no chance to point to a government in which the people have no voice. It is also significant that throughout the states in which the League is most thoroughly organized there has been little industrial strife during the past year as compared with the rest of the United States. Even the nation-wide coal strike did not deprive North Dakota of coal. The reason is, of course, that labor men, seeing the success of the farmers in remedying their ills through political methods in an orderly and constitutional manner, are adopting the same ,kmethods themselves, instead of placing their sole reliance in strikes. A NEW FIGHT LOOMING N ANOTHER ‘page of this issue of the Leader will be found an account of the organization of the “United Americans” —a new national association to fight the Nonpartisan league. Leaguers, according to the secretary of the “United Americans,” are “misled farmers, nearly all of foreign education and habit and mostly unacquainted with the English language.” The secretary adds that the Leaguers have been driven out of Iowa by the Greater Towa association, “an organization of the people,” have been driven out of Wisconsin by ‘“the American Equity league,” whatever that is, and defeated in Nebraska “in an attempt to capture the con- stituticnal government.” : Such statements, in spite of the insults with which they are coupled, will amuse thousands of Leaguers, especially in the states named. They brand the secretary of the “United Americans” either as an ignoramus or a careless liar—possibly both. But it will not do to dismiss this new movement too carelessly. In the list of organizers, given on another page, are men who represent concen-~ { THATS WHAT 7 3 S MEAN BY BEING| N & AN BIMERICAN ~ = B 7 ] § trated wealth amounting, not to millions, but to BILLIONS of dol- lars. Some of them may have had shady records in their rail- road or banking or stock-jobbing careers—that, they think, will be overlooked because they have amassed great wealth. Their or- ganization, in effect, declares that their kind, and they only, are true ,Americans. What if one of their leaders did come from the German military autocracy? What if another was appointed am- bassador to Germany, some: years ago, because of his sympathy with the reigning military caste? Regardless of such facts, the “United Americans” are out to brand all oppdnents; League farm- ers especially, as pro-Germans. and Bolshevists. The title should have been “United Americans, Limited.” . * : But do not make the mistake of regarding the organization lightly. What it lacks in manhood it is prepared to make up in dollars. The people have a big fight ahead to win with a program that puts men and women and children ahead of money. As be- “tween the ““United Americans” and the Non_partlsan league the issue is clear. Let us fight it out along these lines. A TEARFUL PLEA LTHOUGH it was announced specifically when the Big Five ° packers agreed to give up their control of the stockyards, their grocery business and other side lines, that this “agree- ment” with the government was not to affect prosecutions for vio- lations of federal laws, Attorney General Palmer has now announc- ed that all criminal cases are to be dropped. And along other lines (LETME GO AND | [vor wated e U8 [7pF/ : it appears that the packers are at their old dodges, attempting to use the “agreement” to get the sympathy of the public, -just as the Leader predicted. Edward Morris, president of Morris & Co., is sending a state- ment broadcast in which he recites the terms of the “adjustment of differences’” between the government and the packers, and claims that the packers, in agreeing to withdraw from many lines of busi- ness, met this issue “with true Americanism and along big, broad and constructive lines.” But in the next paragraph the ideas that really animated the packers in making the agreement are exposed. Mr. Morris says: Now that we have met this issue in the interest of the public in these days of uncertainty and unrest, we hope the public will accord fair treatment to this vital industry and in the future eliminate needless and unjustified criticism and agitation. In other words: “Now that we have admitted that we were engaged in skinning the public and have agreed to abandon some of our practices, don’t punish us, don’t watch us any more, and we’ll be good—maybe.” : FARMERS SHOW SOUND BUSINESS SENSE E HOPE every member of the League will read and study every word of the article by Mr. Lykken on the mill and terminal elevator to be constructed by the state of North Dakota at Grand Forks. But we want to call especial attention to the paragraph in which Mr. Lykken says: : The plant, as a whole, is absolutely the latest and best in this class of construction. Nothing has been spared to make it so. * * * It has many features not found in any other plant, as the request ofs the North Dakota industrial commission was for a plant designed @ [ZEOESTIOTT opore cwmen o v \cay sEBUNT | STTE OWIED | £LEVATOR || primarily to safeguard the interest of the shipper and the preparation of the grain for the best selling condition. Mr. Lykken points out in detail the respects in which the new state-owned plant will be more efficient than the privately owned plants now in operation in the Twin Cities. But the main ‘point is this—the farmers’ administration in North Dakota is overlooking nothing that will insure success for the new project. The industrial commission is pursuing a sound business policy from the start. They will have a plant so economically and efficiently arranged that, as Mr. Lykken says, “even a mediocre management should make a success of the proposition” and “it is as easy to presume a fair or good management as a poor one.” Certainly there will be good management so long as Lynn J. Frazier and John N. Hagan com- prise the majority of the industrial commission of North Dakota. LUTHER ON PROFITEERING , HERE are those who demand exorbitant prices and reap . excessive profits because they know there is a shortage of a certain commodity. Such men are simply thieves, robbers and usurers. Others buy up a certain line of goods until they con- trol the market and then raise the price as high as they please. These are the so-called monopolies, which should not be permitted to exist. The government would do right if it took everything they have and drove them out of the country. But I am told that rulers have a secret understanding with these men. They hang a thief who has stolen a guilder or a half and are accomplices of those who 73 PAGE SIX rob all mankind—MARTIN LUTHER in 1524. 1 ”. - A W