The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 4, 1920, Page 3

IN THE INTEREST OF A SQU'A.'REI DEAL_ FOR THE FARMERS Entered as _second-class matter at the postoffice at Minneapolis, Minn,, under the act of March 8, 1879. Publication address, 427 Sixth avenue 8., Minneapolis, Minn. 88 remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 2075, Minneapolis, Minn, VOL. 11, NO. 9 Tonpariisén Teader OLIVER S. MORRIS, Editor. MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, OCTOBER 4, 1920 One year, in advance, $2.50; six months, $1.50. Clas- sified rates on classifled page ; other advertising rates ber Audit B on appllcauon. 8. C. Beckwith Special Agency, advertising represen- tatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City. A MAGAZINE THAT DARES TO | PRINT THE TRUTH 58 M reau of Circulations. League—Every Two Weeks iz & preser WHOLE NUMBER 256 Why Not a Real Campaign Fund Investigation? substitute for the word “thieves” the words ‘“professional ; politicians” (with apologies to the politicians and also the thiéves) we have the situation existing today in relation to the in- vestigation of campaign contributions. , While the investigation has given the public some interesting facts it may as well be understood from the start that Governor Cox ‘ and the Democratic party deserve no espe- Why the Noise ci;il credit for it. Govern_or Cox only started This Year About his Qemand for an investigation after Demo- : < 2 cratic fund collectors had found it impossi- Campaign Funds? ple to “shake down” the big interests. The ; Democrats would have liked just as big a campaign fund as the Republicans. But it seems that Wall street figured some months ago that Senator Harding would be an easy winner and the big moneyed men decided to economize and subsidize only the Republican party this year, instead of both of them. Finding they couldn’t get the money, the Democrats have “hollered” because WHEN thieves fall out honest folk get their dues.” If we THIS point the enthusiasm of the senatorial investigating committee began to wane. This is the reason: Republican fund raisers testified that the list of city quotas cited by Governor Cox was correct except that it had been decided not to raise the $100,000 assigned Minneapolis, the $100,000 assigned St. Paul, and the quotas assigned Dallas and Houston, Texas. They didn’t say why. But we will tell the committee. The reason that Pfgpkl)lblican' national head- '« quarters decided it wou e unnecessary to raisé %hFele?gc,tf $200,000 in the Twin Cities is: because the so- £y ian called “Sound Government association” of Minne- Bring Out sota already has raised between $1,000,000 and b $1,500,000 from Minnesota-business interests and this fund has come under the control of the Republican bosses of Minnesota. The so-called “American committee” of Minneapolis has raised another big jackpot, reported to be $250,000, and the chair- i 3 man of the American committee, Charles R. Adams, has been elected chairman of the Republican state central committee of Minnesota. The the Republicans are getting it. Also it may be stated that no evidence connects Senator Harding, personally, with the solicitation of corrupt interests. Senator Harding has been merely a lay figure put for- ward to get votes, while a group of wily politicians, including Will Hays, Senator New and the discredited former Minnesota congressman, Clarence Miller, have assumed entire charge of Republican affairs. . We hope that, if he is elected, Senator Harding will cut himself loose from this group and assume a position of leadership. It is possible that he will. It is also possible that the At- lantic ocean will dry up this winter. HAT has been brought out by the fund investigation thus far? Briefly the facts are these: Governor Cox charged that the Republicans were raising a fund of $15,000,000. He based this charge upon a list of quotas assigned : 51 %ities, in . 27 : states, totaling %rFleh’{‘(‘)cfi $8,145,000, esti- oug mating that the by Probers rest of the country would raise the balance of the $15,000,000. He also charged that while Republicans were announcing that they would receive no campaign contributions in excess of $1,000, active steps were being taken to get larger amounts. - hairman Will Hays and Treasurer Upham of the Republican national committee, taking the stand, denied the existence of any: quotas for the cities named by Governor Cox, declared that the Re- publican campaign fund would total only $3,000,000 instead of the $15,000,000 charged by Cox, declared that the fixed policy of the party was to accept no contributions in excess of $1,000, and, de- scending to particulars, stated that the quota for the entire state of Ohio was only $400,000, while the list of city quotas submitted by ‘Governor Cox showed this to be the quota for Cleveland alone. Whereupon standpat Republicans all over the country immedi- ately raised the cry that the charge of there being an enormous Re- publican campaign fund had been ‘“utterly disproved.” o They rejoiced a day or two ahead of time. Within the next week the actual Republican fund raisers were put on the stand and admitted that the $8,145,000 list of city quotas was correct, with minor changes ; that $400,000 was the quota of Cleveland alone, and that specific instructions had been received from national head- quarters to get contributions of $5,000 and $10,000. : ! i OUR CAMPAIGN FUND / 7, | IVE GOT A FEW DOLLARS IN THE K Vras —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. No charge of corruption can attend a campaign fund like that of the Nonpartisan league, made up by the people themselves. business contributes to a party campaign fund it does so because it expects special favors. The only way the common people can expect just treatment is to raise their own campaign funds and elect their own officials—just what Leaguers are doing. PAGE THREE secretary of the American commit- tee, J. F. Gould, and many others of the American committee have taken up connection with the Republican committee, either as members or sal- aried workers, so that this entire fund, in addition to the $1,000,000 or $1,500,000 jackpot of the Sound Government association, is at the command of the Republican bosses. No wonder the Republicans didn’t need the miserable little $200,- 000 that was provided in the original Minneapolis and St. Paul quotas, when they had nearly 10 times that - much, already provided, to draw upon! : T IS not so much the size of the slush funds raised by anti- League forces in Minnesota and turned over to the Republicans that suggests corruption. It is the way these funds are being used. Both the Sound Government as- sociation ‘and the 4 Ametican committee gg:: ugit = raised funds with the Me tls) d Sg announced purpose of “fighting socialism.” according to announcement of the Socialist committee of Minnesota, the American committee has offered. to finance the Socialist party, in the _belief that Socialist candidates would draw votes away from Henrik : Shipstead, George Mallon and Tom . Sullivan, League candidates at the November election. EPUBLICAN bosses, testifying before the senate investigating commiittee, have tried to raise a smoke screen by alleging that the organized farmers had collected an immense cam- paign fund of their own. One of the witnesses said he had “heard” the Nonpartisan league had a fund of $4,000,000! j : Now here is our offer to the senate investigat- ‘When big Let’s Have a ing committee: If the senate committee will call Sure En h before them the farmer-hating, labor-hating cap- € Lnougn :i.1ists of Minnesota and other states, who have Investigation collected the million-dollar anti-League cam- paign funds, and make them tell where they got their money and what they are going to do with it, the officers of the Nonpartisan league will be only too glad to take the stand and tell where the League got its money and what is being done with it. ° Come on with your investigation! Let’s make it a real one and get all the facts before the public! . Instead of doing this, -