The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 26, 1920, Page 3

IN-THE INTEREST OF A SQUARE 7 DEAL FOR THE FARMERS . ° Publication address, 427 Sixth avenue S., Minneapolis, Minn. Address all remittances: to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 2075, Minneapolis, Minn, \ ] Tlonnarfi$an Tader Official Magazine of the ‘National Nonpartisan League—Every Week & OLIVER 8." MORRIS, Editor. A MAGAZINE THAT DARES TO PRINT THE' TLRUTH 3 3 One year, in adyance, $2.50; six months, $1.50. Clas- sified rates on classified page; other adverflnln[: rates on application, Member Audit Bureau of Circulations, 8. C. Beckwith Special Agency, advertising represen- tatives, New .York, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, 7 VOL. 11, NO. 4 < THE CONVENTION§' N THE period from 1852 to 1856, all American historians agree; : American politics and statesmanship sank to their lowest ebb. B The Whig and Democratic parties operated as mere ‘office-get- ting machines, without other aims or printiples. Slavery was the burning issue of the day, yet neither party weuld touch it. There was nothing to choose betwéen their platforms because neither party discussed issues. In their campaigns they contented them- selves with slandering the candidates of the other side. . They had no higher ambitions than to get office and incidental campaign con- tributions from wealthy interests. 3 ‘ ; As a result of this condition the Republican party was born. ‘Under the leadership, at first of Fremont and later of Lincoln, it represented a genuine progressive movement, looking toward the real growth of the nation. It was not afraid to grapple with princi- ples. Had Lincoln been spared to the nation the Republican party : might long have continued its usefulness. S Today the Republican and Democratic parties have descended to exactly the same level that the Whig and Democratic parties had reached in the ’50s. The Republican nationak platform of 1920 is undoubtedly the weakest political document ever drafted up to the date of its adoption, June 11, 1920. It ignored every real issue of the day—profiteering, compulsory military training, more equitable taxation—and contented itself with rabid vituperation against the " present occupant of the White House, a sick old man who isnot a candidate for re-election. : The Democratic party was given the chance of a generation to reinstate itself. But what have the Democratic platform builders done? They have followed exaetly the footsteps of the Republicans. They have dodged the question of profiteering, compulsory military traini‘lil% taxation and every other real issue, just as the Republi- cans did. . . : : On the question of the league of nations it was the aim of the Republican platform builders to construct a plank on which both proponents and opponents of the league cowd stand. .They achieved their aim. The Democrats had the same problem presented to ‘them; they ‘“‘solved” it in the same way. Lo It is useless to attempt to contrast the platforms, plank by plank. There is no contrast, except that one praises Wilson, quite ,as a matter of course, and the other condemns him, equally as a matter of course.. : - Plainly both parties are afraid to say what they mean. And ‘when the campaign orators appear in the fall with their own “inter- pretations” of the ambiguous language, no one will believe that they mean what they say. 3 ; - Thank God Nonpartisan league candidates, whether running as Republicans or Democrats, will not have to depend upon the Chi- cago and San Francisco platforms! They will have platforms of their own, which say what they mean. And you can bet your last jitney that these candidates mean what they say! ‘ 3 TAFT IN DEEP WATER X-PRESIDENT TAFT has issued a long tirade against the E Nonpartisan league to the newspapers. It has been played up ‘in such newspapers as the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman- Review and others fighting the organized farmers. We could an- swer Mr. Taft. It would be easy because his errors are not entirely in opinions and conclusions which may be open to argument, but in * the facts of the case, which he misrepresents throughout and in sev- eral places absolutely falsifies.. But the New York Evening Post has answered him as well as we could. The Post, it will be remem- bered, was purchased a year or so'ago by a member of the Morgan world banking syndicate.. . : ; : ' The Post says Mr. Townley is a “discredited leader,” without explaining why,-and that the League has elected “undesirable men” - to office;"without ,nanlix}g them, to which we can not agree, unless - the Post means the traitors Langer and Kositzky of North Dakota. _— Jon MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, JULY 26, 1920 WHOLE NUMBER 251 Yet the Post says the following of the ignorant and absurd attack ’ of the ex-president, under the heading, “Prejudice and the Nonpar- tisan League”: . : e rs e Ex-President Taft, commenting on the North Dakota primaries, lacks his usual poise whén he writes of the Nonpartisans: . “The League is socialistic, unpatriotic, anti-American, despotic, dishonest in its methods and lives only becausé of the totally blind prejudice and ignorance of its/supporters." *. % * To imply that such a body of citizens is ‘actuated by prejudice and ignorance would be reckless even if the League had a more sinister look than it has,. * * * To call it “anti-American” is to echo a phrase that gained currency when the League seemed lukewarm in the war, but was unjustified even. then. Mr. Taft’s review speaks neither a close nor unbiased acquaintance with Léague activities. He refers to one League candidate, for exam- ple, as “a political professor named Ladd.” Doctor E. F. Ladd, who 3TN S gy 103 holds an honorary degree from an eastern university, who was early in his career chief chemist of the New York experiment station, and who was president of the North Dakota Agricultural college and state food commissioner before the days of the League, is in high esteem among agricultural scientists. 'His accomplishments for northwestern farmers have been almost invaluable. But Mr. Taft’s tone is that of too many harsh eastern critics of the League. : THEY COULDN’T LOSE FTER nominating three congressmen, a supreme court judge and candidates for the legislature in all but a half dozen coun- ’ ties, Minnesota Leaguers and laborites read in their daily paper that they “lost” the primary. Mr. Townley, addressing a massmeeting of the Minnesota Leaguers after the primary, asked how it was possible for the League and the labor forces to “lose” anything politically in Minnesota, since they had never had anything politically to lose: "That sums the whole thing up properly—the farmers and workers of Minnesota can not “lose” an election- till after they have won one. Otherwise they have nothing to lose, and in the meantime are making progress in cutting down the old- gang majorities and increasing their own vote. They carried 54 counties in Minnesota at the recent primary out of 86, against 30 at the primary two years ago. They are gaining, not losing ground.’ The press generally realizes this, although Minnesota dailies will not admit it. The Cincinnati (Ohio) Post said editorially: There’s little nourishment for reactionaries in the recent Minne- sota primary results.. - v Belated rural returns show that the old guard won only by a nose —and a snub nose at that. Preus, able favorite of the steel trust, was nominated for governor by less than 8,000, over Shipstead, indorsed by the farmer-labor co- /f_\)uf ke oot A TH NG alition in a total of 290,000 votes. This compares with 50,000 margin 7/ for the old guard candidate in a similar primary two years ago. This ~ - time the Nonpartisans carried 54 of the 86 counties, as compared with 30 in 1918. ' Another old guard victory like that, and the old guard will be under the sod. ; And ‘that old- grandmother of privilege and uncompromising enemy of the farmers organizing politically, the New York Times, said: ' o The regular Republicans in Minnesota must view with disquietude the large vote cast in the gubernatorial primary for Doctor Henrik Shipstead, the Townley Nonpartisan league candidate. * * * The race was too close for comfort. * »* “* The Republican party of Minnesota was not captured,’but the Townley candidate, Doctor Henrik Shipstead, gave it a scare that must have made its nerves quiver. It wasn’t a d’efe?.t fafter;:.]l, was\it? - PAGE THREE = hd