The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 7, 1920, Page 6

B 5 ° Cartoons Get Thelr Goats Congressman Baer Gets Under Hldes of Reactionary Representatives A ‘Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader. ONGRESSMEN who - voted for the Esch-Cummins transportation act, and who ‘have been repudiated in theu' home districts by organized labor and that course, ‘have opened an. attack upon Representatxve John M. Baer of North Da- kota because he has backed up his vote against the - Esch-Cummins measure by some of the strongest cartoons. ever published in America. ~These car- . toons have been :appearing weekly in Labor, the organ of the Plumb Plan league, which has an im- mense. circulation in railroad towns throughout the. United States. mark. They have evxdently struck . thelr Representative Cooper of Ohlo, at one: tlme a : brotherhood member, now an extreme reactionary, . - paused in the midst of a speech denouncing the railway yardmén’s ‘strike to complain of Baer’s pictures. to his confusion. “The Plumb Plan league paper it saxd Cooper, “has been Tunning a series of cartoons which pic- ture every member of congress as bowing to Wall street; as getting their price, as the enemies ofi labor, tying the laboring: man to the railroad tracks and letting a train ¢ome along and crush him. ] ‘am. very. sorry, indeed; that one of the mem- bers of this body has seen fit to use his talent in’ ; this way. He seems to take great pride in the fact . that he is the- author of ‘these .cartoons. * * I want to say that if T believed as he does, that the 250 members who' voted for the 'Cummins-Esch bill, and President Wilson who signed ‘it, are as corrupt and unclean as he represents them to be in. : these cartoons--I say, if T believed as he does, I wounld take my. hat and coat and. get out and resxgn The Congressional Record as corrected by Coop—‘_ er, states that his remarks were fol-< lowed by “long-and loud applause.” Cooper had voiced the‘indignation of the ‘great majority that their hostil- ity to the wage-workers and farmers had been: shown to the public by Baer’s pictures. Their emotions are reminiscent ‘of the famous declara- "tion of Boss Tweed in’New York, many years ago, that 'his downfall : was chiefly due to “that 2 d—d cartoonist,” Thomas Nast. As soon as he could ¢ get the floor Baer Te- ) % plied: % : : “1 want to say that_I, shall continue to cartoon * as I have in the past. This publication, Labor, " is an official organ of the brotherhoods of @ which Mr. Cooper is a member. BANKERS WROTE PART OF BILL “ %In - Chicago recently, ¢ according to newspaper . reports, the president of - . the American- ‘Bankers’ association got up in a great convention’and said he was proud of the bill because they had wntten five or six provigions in- to the medsure. Now, as the bankers are the __looters of the railroads, and not the railroad own- ers themselves, 1 believe ‘it ‘would be’ logxcal and consistent * for me to show that because the “bankers ‘of this’ country ‘had succeeded m wntmg five or six provisions mto ; 2 the bill it was a bill prac- % R & the organized progressive farmers for | The Nonpartisan mem‘ber answered-him, = This is one of the cartoons drawn by Congressman John M. B: ,Plumb Plan league, that evndently got under ‘the hides of some of the congressmen, ‘It shows how the produets of the producer and the money of the consgmer pass" hrough the hands ofmddlemen, 50 ; 'tically dtawa by a so‘viet of brokers in Wail_stree n “Then the Nonpartisan congressman proceeded to quote the newspaper. account of this boast by the president. of the American Bankers’ association, - Richard S Hawes, at Chicago March 2. Foster of Ohio demanded an explanatlon of a ‘cartoon entitled, “Wanted—For congress, a man who votes for the people and not for the soviet of -Wall street.” ‘Baer explained that the bankers own admlssxon showed that, however innocently, many members of the house had voted for what Wall street wanted, _and that he believed they voted without mformmg, - themselves on ,;he contents of the railroad. bill. : . UNREST DUE TO LAWS REPRESSING THE PEOPLE “The -anti-strike clause’ whxch I attacked: in La- ’bor,” ‘Baer said further, “was not the clause that was in the bill as it ongmally passed the house," ‘but was language written in by a member of an- other body (the senate) which I can not mention on this floor. It is evident that it meant the slavery f Jaboring men in this country. Here they wanted pubhc ownership ‘'of laborers, to compel them to work, and still they were ‘hollering’ ‘against the governmen‘t controlling the railroads! * * * T have a right, as a cartoonist and as an individual ‘American cmzen and as a member of the house, to attack ‘a vicious- measure that is: contrary to the “-very fundamentals of our American institutions. ‘‘The present unrest and the strikes in this coun=: try are not caused by the Plumb Plan paper. They - _are caused by repressive legislation, not only that ' which has been passed’by congress but also the bills introduced ‘here suppressing free speech and free assemblage and other repressive legislation. * '* % In every: country where they have tried/ to pass such. measures as Mr. Palmer’s esplonage bill a similar -result. has been caused. It is similar in “every respect to the ezar’s bill, to the kaiser’s bill, to the Bourbon bill, and to the Stuarts” bill. I have : ~'a right to talk against this legislation and I have a right to picture it, and I ‘challenge anybody in this house to say that I huve not the nght to'express my fvxews in this manner.” £ ONE OF BAER’S CARTOONS IN “LABOR” er for Labor, the producer gets only a small portion of the consumer’s money, while the con- ; sumer gets only a ftrac on of the producer’s product‘.‘- S the ’ofliclal Farmers Are H1t Agaln ~Secretary of Agriculture Meredlth Refuses R o to Change Unfalr Gram Grades TaR : Washmgton Bnrean, . Nonpartisan Leader, ° : ECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE E! d MEREDITH ‘has turned against the farmers again.. There will beno changes in the federal grades: for © spring wheat this' year, ‘despite the fact that in March Mr. ileredith told . farmers and their representatives at Washington “that he was convinced the grades were too compli- cated and were interfering with production.. Meredith asked the farmers’ ' representatives to remain in Washington and ‘help him work out a series of proposed changes.. Mr. Meredith promised: that these changes would be brought up-at a public. ‘hearing at which it ‘was supposed that farmers E would be given a chance to be heard. But instead of holding this. meetlngs somewhexe 3 _ ~in‘the spring wheat belt, or ‘even: at Minneapolis, where the spring wheat is marketed, Meredith call- ed his meeting in the Red Room of the La Salle. hotel, Clncago. The meeting was crowded by rep-' . resentatives of the: Chicago Board of Trade and = Minneapolis ‘Chamber 'of Commerce. : Only two North Dakota men were notified—John N. Hagan, commissioner of agriculture and:labor; and Doctor E. F. Ladd, president of North Dakota /Agricultural - college—and Doctor Ladd was notified so late that he was unable to attend.: . Commissioner Hagan, pract]cally ‘alone and unaided, 1made a mantul fight -in behalf of the farmers, but he was handicapped - by the fact that N. J. Holmberg, Minnesota. com- missioner of agriculture, and Don Livingston, direc- tor of markets of South Dakota, virtually lined up. -with the grain dealers, Holmberg statmg that the farmers’ grievances were largely imaginary or- due to their pride, while Livingston said the Minneapolis: _Chamber; of Commerce. should be considered the : best judges of the grades on the farmers’ grain. = It has been virtually- certain for:some time that Meredxth would rule against the farmers’ demands: - It is necessary to give 90 days’ notice of any change in grades and to have ‘the changes effective before the wheat "crop. begins “to move, they ;should have been announced by May g At the bureau of markets last et LT 'week it was admitted to the Leader: NS correspondent that no changes would " be made and it was ‘stated that Sec-. retary Meredxth was writing a deci~ : sion - rejecting the: farm- -ers’ request. As this is - written the decision has’ . ‘pot. been madepubhc i ' The unfairness of the _Brand grades, establish- ‘pointed ‘out! by Doctor . Ladd and the Nonparti- . san ' Leader. As' the ‘grades were put -into ~ operation their un’fam- ; ness was seen by every - one. -The United States ~ Grain corporation ' sus- "pended them as far asit - - the United ‘States senate . committee on agriculture 55 adopted’a resolution call-" nesota leg1 ure. ; " But the "Chicago and k% strong’ for the ‘Brand : lgrades. ,W:th them in 'gan of the other grain, several' v-,;below, 1ts - va_lu o u ’ speculators ,rather than the fanne 5 “ed in 1917, was first . ‘was possible to do- and =« ing for their complete re~ /. <o yision.’ So. did the Mm, : ;Mnmeapohs gamblers are: ,," e