The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 26, 1920, Page 5

Northwest “Warriors” Come to Grief “Jack” Bryant Flees From Country After Collecting Thousands From Business Men to Fight Nonpartisan League NOTHER anti- League organi- zation came fo an untimely end when “Jack” Bryant, organ- izer of the “Northwest War- riors’ Americanization com- mittee” and president and editor-in-chief of the North- west Warriors’ magazine, found it convenient toc leave the country recently after a year of frenzied operations. During this time Bryant and his associates col- lected many thousands of dollars from business interests of the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska to be devoted to fighting the Non- partisan league and organized labor. Now some of these contributors are looking for Bryant, trying to find out what became of their cash. Bryant’s young wife and baby are wondering why “Jack” has failed to send money for their support. Omaha newspapers also report that department of justice agents are looking for Bryant in con- nection with the Mann act, which pro- - hibits the interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes. Bryant, at last reports, was some- where in Canada. His remaining as- sociates, six in number, admit having been in touch with him and meeting him in Winnipeg, but say they don’t know where he is now. The “North- west Warriors’ Americanization com- mittee” has been disbanded, but the re- maining six Warriors claim ownership of the magazine and say they will keep on publishing it. The Leader a year ago exposed the operations of the Charley Patterson- Eli Warner-Tom Parker Junkin outfit in the Merchants National Bank build- 2 ing, St. Paul, said to have collected sev- eral hundred thousand dollars from cities. tisan league.” Who is buying gold bricks nowadays? press reports the “confidence men” are reaping their richest harvest in the The war millionaires seem to be fairly tumbling over- each other Not the farmer. to buy “green goods,” tickets on “phony” horse races or stock in non- existent gold mines or oil wells. tion between the Patterson-Warner-Junkin outfit and the “Warriors,” as is shown by the fact that Bryant used, as the cover of the Warriors® mag- azine, the identical design that Junkin had used, something over a year before, for the cover of “America First” magazine. The Twin Cities newspapers helped Bryant’s game by giving him loads of publicity. He held The Soldier—*“Does He Think I'm a Sucker?” s - — — = =4\ AR el This probably explains the success of certain operators in the Northwest in getting money to “kill the Nonpar- Among profiteers there seems to be as much demand for the recipe for poison to put the League out of business as there is for the secret of how to make 100 proof whisky in 10 days. ment from certain gullible officials and others. These letters were shown to the “business men” whom Bry- ant and his associates were soliciting. Among those who wrote these letters of in- dorsement were: General Leonard Wood, young Teddy Roosevelt, for- mer President Taft, Govern- or Olecott of Oregon, Governor Hart of Washington, the ad- jutant general of the army, mayors of various small cities in Washington, Wis- consin and Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, various employers’ associations, chambers of commerce and eommercial clubs. Bryant even secured former President Taft to deliver a series of “Americanism” lectures in St. Paul and Minneapolis under the auspices of the Warriors’ “Americanization” committee. All this was fine “come along” stuff to make financial contributors believe that Bry- ant had a real organization of service men and that the business men would get some real returns from the money they were giving Bryant to “kill the League.” BUT “JACK” TOOK IN TOO MUCH TERRITORY When the loose money in the Twin Cities seemed to have been about cor- ralled Bryant’s solicitors were sent out_ to greener pastures—iorthern Minne- sota, Wisconsin and Nebraska. One of them got entangled in the toils of the law in Duluth on an embezzlement charge—of the final outcome of this case the Leader confesses ignorance. But “Jack” Bryant, like the Irishman who claimed he could “lick any man in the world,” made the mistake of taking in too much territory. Going to Ne- Judging from - braska to raise funds for his anti- creta}llpus Minnesota :tzusmess interests "-’f‘--“‘-rdv?—— = =—— - — _ ~| League venture proved a tactical error. to “kill the League.” Unfortunately - S ;;.—.9_'.%\_ —Z e Less than two years ago the business the poison they mixed seemed to have 5 — NGO W\ ————— == men of that state contributed to a big tt;.he effect of a tonic on the organized = N e e pot to hire detectives to steal League armers. == So their outfit passed away. ENTER “JACK” BRYANT, THE “WARRIOR” CHIEF It was followed by the Northwest Warriors’ Americanization committee, organized in the Twin Cities a year ago by one “Jack” Bryant, who claimed to have seen some years of service in the marines, principally peace-time service. Bryant had no war record like that of George H. Mallon, farmer-labor candi- date for lieutenant governor of Minne- sota, who with nine men captured 100 Germans and a field battery. Bryant gathered around him a half-dozen young fellows, who said they had seen war service, and with them as solicitors proceeded to collect. funds from Minneapolis and St. Paul business men to “kill the League” and to “Americanize” employes of these business houses. The business men got for their contributions (ranging from a few hundred dollars upwards) nice printed receipts and one or -more copies of the Northwest Warriors’ magazine, in which they could see League farmers and members of organized la- bor called - Bolsheviki, an- archists, I. W. W., and what- ever other names came han- dy. If the business men con- tributed enough Bryant and his solicitors put all their employes on the subscription list of the magazine, so that they could be “Americaniz- ed.” The solicitors got a commission on their ecollec- tions and Bryant and his sat- ellites got the rest. There was a close connec- e ———————————————————————————————————————————— e — records, incite mobs and “frame” League organizers so that they could be arrested. This scheme not only fail- ed but one of the detectives confessed and as a result the business men who took part in the plot now face a big —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. street meetings, and when public attention seemed to drop a little he led a raid on a Minneapolis book- store which was displaying some books that Bryant and the roughs that followed him didn’t like. Bry- ant was arrested for this exploit but escaped pun- ishment. By representing that he was fighting “anarchy” and “bolshevism” (meaning, as his magazine clear- ly shows, the Nonpartisan league and organized labor) Bryant was able to get letters of indorse- We don’t feel that the business men of Minnesota who contributed to “Jack” Bryant’s fund, after getting stung so badly by Charley Patterson and Tom Parker Junkin, are very good business men. They have paid big money for two separate recipes for killing the League and neither recipe worked. We are willing to give them a recipe that will work, free of charge. To kill the Nonpartisan league it is only necessary for the business inter- ests and politicians to see that the farmers get a square deal in business and politics. If this is done the “wily agitators” that the anti-League papers talk about won’t have a bit of luck in organizing the farmers. PAGE FIVE damage suit, to say nothing of possible criminal charges. As a result the Nebraska business men were rather “gun shy” when Bry- ant came along. He got various amounts, ranging up as high as $200, from different interests, but no large contributions such as had been secur- ed in the Twin Cities. To arouse further interest and speed up the collection campaign, Bryant made arrange- ments for former President Taft to deliver a pub- lic address in Omaha under “Warrior” auspices, as he had in St. Paul and Minneapolis. A few further contributions were secured, but meanwhile “Jack” and his friends had been spending money as fast as it came in and even faster. Although Taft’s address was to have been free to the public several hundred tickets were hurried- ly printed and sold for $1 each, as a final cleanup. Then the “Warrior” chief, like the Arab of the poem, si- lently folded his tent and stole away, there being noth- else in sight. When Taft ar- rived the “business men” had to dig into their pockets again to provide for the ex- penses of the advertised lec- ture. And they all began looking for Bryant, who, they found, had performed one pa- triotic act, in leaving his coun- try for his country’s good.