The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 23, 1920, Page 3

IN T INTEREST OF A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE FARME - Entered u lemnd e!uu mlmr at. the pom:mce at * Minneapolis, m under the act ‘of March 3, -1879. Publication a avenue 8., Minneapo! Th Nonpartisan Minn, - Address all" ce8. Iasdu Box 2075 mnnupou:, lonpartisin 3 ' Official Magazine of the Nnfional Nonpartisan Lenzuc-—-Every—Two Weeks e ?:w“flflo" Membsr Audi’ Ly LIVER 8. MORBIS. Editor. A MAGAZINE THAT - DARES TO PRINT . THE TRUTH One yedr, inndunca 32 50 six months, $1,50. Clas- eified. rates o other advartising rul.cs eader tions, Beckwith - Special Agen ldverfiuln represen 2 tatives, New York, ‘Chicago, gf. K:nsnls) C&y VOL. 11, NO. 6 MINNEAPOLIS MINNESOTA, AUGUST 23, 1920 WHOLE NUMBER 253 The Next Preszdent—And Why. forces a people ‘in an election to choose between two evils.. .FTEN the cumbersome machinery of ‘a’ political democraqv The tactics of the voters in such an unfortunate emergency almost always is' (and properly so) to choose the ‘evil which will re- sult in a change of the party in power. This is on the chance that rebuke to the evil in power w111 be- a Wholesome lesson for the. next administration. On this theory Mr. Har the United States. That it i _with reasonable certainty the Democrats:: always on the defensive in a campaign. It has an administration record to defend.. When that record is vulnerable it is good politics to keep itiin the- bacl(g'round as far as possible, by nominating a can- didate who is gopular strong, progressive and has an unassailable personal record, and to adopt a progressive platform that will at- tract votes on its. ‘merits. ' The.Democrats failed to do this. By this failure they have made it necessary to meet the Republicans solely ll surely be the next president of ° sible to forecast this at this time llment is due to the ‘stupidity of on thei lSSé.le where they arethe most vulnerable—-—THEIR RECORD ; IN OFF ( 'Il;helr RECORD not the personal merits of the caxidxdates nelt tically duplicates), not the league of nations (over which the spell- binders will not be able to work ‘up much excitement), will be the b1g issue upon which the contest will be decided. ; And when they come to defend their record in office. durxqg the' : last elght years, the Democrats will meet their Wate‘rloo The great REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT \HE Constitution of the United States guarantees a republican (representative) form of government in all states. - guarantee may be said to be the essence of that document. A republican form of government is the rock on which the whole structure of our political institutions is built. Many excited per- sons, for reasons which are perfectly obvious, profess to believe that somebody or something is trym& to undermme our form of 1ttt mumuuunilluu govemment There is much hue and ery agamst “reds 44 much ex- citement worked up over “Bull-she-we-kee” plots, ‘much ingistence on “Americanism.” - : | But while all this sensation is stirred up over an ms1g'n1ficant and lmpotent group of people who may really believe: in destroying our republican: (little “r”?) form of government, the very forces which are making:this bogey dance are quiefly at work nullifying repre- sentative government:: They had an inning: when they refused to _ seat a minority political party’s members in the New York'assembly, - for the very plain (and to them very good) reason that they didn’t agree with their politics. They had previously got in some good: - work toward undermining representative government when they kicked Mr. Berger, mistaken:as he is; out: of congress after the: - people had twice elected him, and when it was plain that, if repre- sentative government is really “guaranteed’ by the Constltutlofx he ought to have been seated, regardless of his Dolities, oppos1t10n 1o the war or other quahficatmns or lack of qualifications. © i And now the same forces have disqualified My, Kvale, a Non- partisan leaguer, who won the Republican nomination for congress by a big majority over Congressman Volstead, in the seventh Min- nesota district. ~A court has set aside the vote of the people and; declared Mr, Volstead, who got 2,000 votes LESS than Mr. Kvale,f»_ nominated. The excuse (there xs always an excuse behmd which. they can hide) is that Mr. Kvale violated. the: corrupt practices act in his .{campaign by charging Mr. Volstead was “an atheist”—interesting, though unimportant, if true. If the spirit of our laws and constitu- ltmns means anything, it means that the voters are to. weigh the charges and claims of candidates and decide by their VOTES which man they want But the court has overruled the verdlct of . the; ; : PAGE THREE 2 * 8 2t A R Tt bl ST AR RGN ‘The party m .power, other things being equal, is' have any - to. speak of), not the platforms (which are prac- < This: maJorlty of voters w1ll conclude that, before all thmgs, it is impera- tively necessary in this election to pumsh a party in power which has been incompetent and autocratic in administration and utterly false to the high principles and ideals it professed We state it thus positively. because it is a fact, not -becaise we have a particle of faith in the Republican platform, or any admira- tion for Mr. Harding, or for the reactionary Republican ring which his election will bring into power. ‘We advise no reader as to his choice between Mr. Cox and Mr: Harding. 'We simply survey the . field and point out what 'the result is going to be; and why, The Leader would have hailed with acclalm a Democratlc can- dldate and platform which'would have created a real issue with the ~ Republicans, ‘and thereby not left it‘a choice between' two evils: But failing in that, the!Democrats must go to the polls on their record since 1912, and however little the people have to expect from -the Republicans, as a whole they will' consider it their first duty, and ‘their surest protection'for:the future, to serve a warning on parties and politicians by punishing the party that “kept us out of war” only to get-us into it; that promulgated the 14 points and then consented to, and defended an imperialistic peace; that fought for “democracy and justice” abroad and then abolished the constitu- tional guarantees of liberty at home; that in fine phrases pretended 0 have some degree of social and economic vision, and yet com- pletely failed to meet the reconstruction problems of peace, and that, pretending faith in Jeffersonian: principles, raised up the un- speakable Palmer and’ Burleson, with: their mefiicxency and “gag rule,” their injunctions and fake “red drives.” _] wpeople What if proved at the ‘worst . wasg an 111-adv1sed loose statement in the heat of a political campaign is deemed sufficient to disfranchise the people of a congressional district. Representative government is scrapped.. To hell with the Constitution! they say. - ‘The real “reds”’—the robbers of our liberties and constitutional guarantees—do not carry bombs, wear bristly whiskers and haunt dark alleys. They sit:in high places in the government, wear white collars and—publish the newspapers Wthh gloss ‘over or 1gnore ‘these inroads against the people. e . YOU TELL ’EM, HORACE! : 2 I l ORACE KIMBALL, Repubhcan party - boss at Spokane, Wash., says that farmers i in his state.ought to be informed about the “truth” concerning the Nonpartisan league “by someone they will believe.”” We agree, but doubt if Mr. Kimball fills his own specifications: Surely the farmers of Washington will not beheve a man who can tell as many fibs about the farmers moves ment in as short a space as Mr. Kimball.. -, Pl tell them the truth when I tell them this League is not a na- tional affair at all ‘(says Mr, Kimball). It’s only a North Dakota- anesota-W1scons1n-Washmgton thing. This “charge’ is unimportant, if true, and it isn’t true. The League has more members.in South Dakota and Montana, to men-« tion only two states not mentloned by Mr. Kimball, than lt has in Wisconsin or Washmgton The facts are perfectly plain.: The League has something over 300,000 members in some dozen states, and a votmg strength of probably 2, 000 000 as shown by the latest | THE er-recrs OF 'tus‘hoonsmflq 4 1 y 1 election figures in the states where it is orgamzmg Call 1t a “na-x tional” movement or not, these are the facts: = s They (the. League)' haven’t: gotten anywhere in fine, upstandmg agricultural states hke Ohlo, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Tllinois (Mr.. Kimball gces on). ik % T ‘spent. some: time in Ohio and the League there is an absolute joke with the farmers, .. ‘As to th;s, it ought to be enough to state that the League hag more members in Nebraska than it has in Mr. Kimball’s state or in) Wisconsin—yet he mentions the League as a. Washington and Wis- consin. movement and excludes Nebraska as a. League state. Furd thermore, the League has not a smgle member in Illinois ‘or Ohio 7 E .