The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 23, 1920, Page 4

man of his standing could make such mistakes. . never did have, and as yet has never tried to get a member in those states. It has never had an organizer or headquarters in Ohio and: . Illinois, never took any part in politics there and mever claimed those as “League states.” ' Mr. Kimball’s statement is immaterial except' as it shows the - misinformation of peanut politicians everywhere: If anything more than*these misstatements ‘and ridiculous- charges were needed to ‘label Mr. Kimball properly, it is furnished by the following, culled from further down in his'statement: The farmers back there (in the East) are Republic;m and this fall will vote the Republican ticket, just as they always have. This, alas! may be true, for all we know. The League hasn’t ] “penetrated” the East yet, but when: it does there won’t be so many blind Republican : farmers there, or Democratic ones either. The farmers are getting pretty well organized in Mr. Kimball’s own state and he may find it necessary sooner than he expects to find‘a new political job, and we suggest “back East’ as a ‘proper sphere for him to operate in—till the League gets there! i \ ' TAPT STILL BADLY MUDDLED of the narrow_and partisan comment of William Howard Taft regarding the farmers’ movement in North Dakota. Mr. Taft’s original attack was written just before the.recent pri- “maries. -Since then he has written another editorial on North Da- kota, this time trying to account for the result.: i He concedes that the League gained in the cities, and says it was because “Townley jojned his forces with the Socialist labor vote.”. 'This is not an intelligent conclusion. North Dakota has no RECENTLY we quoted the New York Evening Post’s cfiticisni- big eities, practically no large industries, and hence very little in-- - dustrial population in which alone Socialists and radical labor ideas make progress. The North Dakota trade unions are conservative A, F. of L. or railroad brotherhood bodies, strict followers of Gom- pers. - And what is more, the trade unionists are a very small mi-, nority of the city population in North Dakota. The Nonpartisan _ league has ALWAYS obtained the union labor vote in.North Da- kota—every year the State Federation of Labor and affiliated bod- ies have indorsed the League and its candidates. The League in the recent primaries got ALL the union labor vote, the same as it does: “in every election in the state. = The gain in the League’s city vote there this year was purely a gain among the unorganized middle class—the store and bank. clerks, small merchants and other city population which is net affil- iated with labor unions, and most emphatically not radical or social- istie. Mr. Taft’s comment is completely unintelligent. One other example of Mr. Taft’s method will sgrv?'to fllustrate his entire lack of comprehension: He says: The’ attempt to force gtate -ownership of land by increasing the! - assessments ‘of farm lands'is sure to increase the breaking away of land ownérs from the League—and with this the League loses its power. Than this, nothing could be more inaccurate and misleading. State ownership of land is the DIRECT OPPOSITE of the purpose of the League. The League aims to extend and safeguard private ownership of the land by the man who ‘works\it and lives on it. This is being‘accomplished by making’farming a safer and more profita- 'SPREADING THE ‘ s gy "JAM" ON" THICK- - - ble business, through elimination of'tile ’marke_f‘ parasites now living off both the farmer and consumer of farm products. Besides this, the North Dakota legislature has adopted several specific measures to extend private ownership of land and offset the trend toward ténancy. The home building law is one of these measures. Under - it, any citizen, with state aid,.ean acquire and own land for a farm. Other laws facilitate farm credits, making it possible’for farmers to maintain their land when otherwise they would be foreclosed or . forced out of business. BE < T Finally, the increase in “assessments on land”—taxes, in other words—have been LESS in North Dakota than in Minnesota and Wisconql:n, for instance. There are few, if any, states where taxes per quarter section of land or per capita are as small as in North Dakota. This is not an opinion. It is a fact revealed by the actual figures on taxation in the various states. We would'be glad'to-fur- nish Mr. Taft or anybody else the statistics on'the matter.: Yet he says-taxes in North Dakota are so high that they are forcing state ownership of land. Rot, pure and simple! The state'does not own 3 any land, except public land in' the way other states own it, and there kota, that would permit state ownership'of land. ' are no laws 'on the books, or‘contemplated by anybody in -North Da- Tll-informed critics 'of North Dakota like Mr. Taft can hope to accomplish nothing by such methods. Tt is amazing that a public e L AN EMOTIONAL CAPTAIN : X TE NEVER heard of Captain Paul V. Collins, if there is such / a person, until we saw his name at the top of an article at- tacking the Nonpartisan league; printed in the Philadelphia North American. But we.admit that his style is‘lurid,"however ac- curate it may NOT be, as the following sample shows: “This League, beginning in North Dakota and now active in 13 -states, is essentially not an uprising. of farmers, by farmers and for farmers, but is a rape of farmers, ensnared by the cunning and allur- ing piping of Pied Piper Socialists. = To call it “nonpartisan” is a fraud; it is the most formidable bolshevistic movement: in America - today—a state issue of corruption where it is active, but a festering cancer, sure to become a national issue in the near future if not cau- terized at its roots next November. = ) It would serve no purpose to take schoolboy bombast like this paragraph seriously. It. destroys itself. |But interspersed with writing of this kind the captain uses enough concrete half-truths, misrepresentations, half-baked opinions and outright errors relat- ing to the League and North Dakota to make it worth while fo dis- cuss his article, which the Philadelphia paper gives prominent front- page space. .. - ; b s e ‘To mention just a few of thefminor inaccGracies, which are false as a matter of public record, the tain talks about “William Lemcke,” probably meaning Willilam Lemke, and -brapds him with oy o GREETINGS! (Y a flourish as a “Socialist lawyer,” although he was a lifelong and deep-dyed Republican before joining the League movement; Gov- ernor Frazier appears as having first been elected in 1915, when as a matter of fact there was no election that year in the state; “S. H. Griffith” is given as national secretary, when there is no such man or office; Joseph Gilbert and Arthur LeSueur, who have not been connected with the League in any capacity, directly or indirectly, for two years, appear as present active lights in the movement; League ndfional headquarters are reported as being in St. Paul, when they have been in Minneapolis for six months—and so on and on, with not the slightest care as to even the plain facts of record. Nothing much could be expected of such an irresponsible “investi- gator,” and’ expectations are not disappointed.’ Listen to the fol- lowing harrowing sensation: =« ° ; RO . He (Mr. Townley% and two other members of the triumverate of League officials have absolute cantrol of all funds, including more than $2,000,000 annual dues coming into the Nonpartisan league treasury from 250,000 farmers, and t is no audit nor check except when the triumverate itself calls for it. S i ‘When any member has been rash enough to ask President Townley what has been done with the.funds; he has been told, “It’s none’ of ' your business”—and it isn’t.for the members have signed away ~their rights to inqu\it'e. SRy S ol Blameworthy if true—but the facts happen to be that the League’s income is not anything like the sum stated; that the books and accounts are faithfully and honestly kept-AS TESTIFIED TO' BY A UNITED STATES COURT; that there is an annual audit of the books and accounts by the national convention of farmer mem-=' bers, who employ independent, chartered accountants for the pur- pose; that the resulfiof this aucit is printed in League publications and open at all times to League members; that League members are welcome, and invited:at all'times to-call at headquarters and go over: the books; even employing their own accountants for the pur- pose, providing the investigation is'in good faith and not for the: purpose of giving the opposition access to facts that are none of their ‘business; that members and committees of members fre- quently-avail themselves of ‘this privilege, and their reports are on record—in:fact— R e Rl SR " But why argue with a writer whose facts are hopelessly twist- ed, ‘whose opinions and' conclusions are violent and ‘irresponsible, and:whose stock in’ trade is cheap penny-a-paragraph invective and sensation?: You tell ’em,’captain!: i T R T 7 o f - ° “/ ., THE RAILROAD QUESTION = ' «/ * I W VHE Leader desires to call especial attention to our treatment ‘B of the railroad guestion in this issue. This is the biggest "B question befdre the people at this time. The ordinary sources of publicity have not told all the facts or discussed the matter fully. 'The big press, with the object of ‘stalling off ‘eventual government ownership and discrediting organized labor, has been interested in' backingtup the railroad owners, S Lo 0 el Bt % Mr. Roylance, an economic expert, discusses the traffic conges- tion in this.issue; and our Washington bureau furnishes articles on the new railroad rates and railroad wages. An ‘index to these arti- cles appears on the front cover. "This is'a timely subject, and every thinking citizen owes it to himself and the cause of the grea ' of the'people to familiarize himself with the facts. * =~ PAGE FOUR . S = N i e b e b ——