The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 4, 1920, Page 6

-man their trains properly for the protec- All Pledges Fulfilled—And Then Some | What the League Has Done in North Dakota Outside of the Five BY E. B. FUSSELL HE industrial commission of North Da- kota has issued a book called “The New Day in North Dakota,” contain- ing the actual text of some of the principal laws enacted by the 1919 3 North Dakota legislature—the first legislature under the full control of the Nonpartisan league farmers. If you haven’t a copy of this book, write to the commission at Bismarck, N. D., for one. It is worth while studying. The writer was reading his copy of this book the other day and something attracted his attention. There are 129 pages of the book devoted to laws passed by the 1919 legislature. = Of this total 29 pages are devoted to laws covering the five prin- cipal platform pledges of the League, told about in the last two issues of the Leader—state-owned mills and elevators, state inspection of grain and grain dockage, exemption of farm improvements from taxation, state hail insurance and rural credits at cost. The remaining 100 pages are devoted to mat- ters aside from and in addition to the five platform pledges. ‘What are the progressive measures contained in the remaining 100 pages that the state of North Dakota is so proud of- that it is anxious for farmers everywhere to learn more about them? In the first place there is a group of labor laws, the most progressive upon the statute books of any state in the Union. The most important of these are: 3 The workmen’s compensation law, guaranteeing payment of part wages and medical and hospital attention to injured workers and giving pensions to their dependents if they are killed in discharge of their duties, all funds being provided by premium payments made by their employers, who are at the same time protected against costly lawsuits. =~ Al- though more than half of the states have workmen’s compensation acts no act of any kind could be pass- ed in North Dakota before the League came into- control. But now North Dakota has the bestlaw on the subject in the country. - A minimum wage law for working girls ? and women, minimum wages to be fixed for different industries only after full and fair -investigation of the actual cost of living and special expenses incident to the indus- try or occupation in question. An eight-hour law for working women, limiting the hours of work to 48 in any week and providing for one day’s rest in seven. A coal mine inspection law, providing for the safety of miners and making impossi- ble the great disasters that have happened in many states, with enormous losses of lives and property. A full crew bill, requiring railroads to tion of the employes and the traveling public. g WHY FARMERS TAKE INTEREST IN LABOR LAWS ‘A car repair shed law, requiring rail- road companies to provide sheds to pro- tect repairmen from inclement weather. An anti-injunction law, prohibiting the courts from depriving workingmen of their usual rights in time of industrial dispute. A union label law, by which the state, by requiring the union label to appear on all its printing, sets the.stamp of approval on the principle of workingmen.organizing, just as the farmers are doing. Some farmers may wonder why these labor laws are of interest to them. There are three main reasons: First, because the interests of farmer and workingman are essentially the same. There are very few farmers, in North Da- l-ota and elsewhere, but have a son or daughter, a sister or brother, or some other close relative at work in the town or city. Under the North Dakota laws these work- ers are protected against accidental injury or death; working girls, mostly the daugh- ters of farmers, are protected against long cards still to draw. Big Platform Measures hours and unfair pay, and they are encouraged to organize and better their own conditions, just as the farmers are doing. The farmers know, too, that the organized workers will co-operate with them politically. A In the second place the farmers know that the labor.laws they have passed are for the benefit of the entire state, thereby benefiting the farmers in- directly as well as the city workers. If a work- men’s compensation fund is not established to care “for the cripples of modern industry the state must bear the burden of caring for them in poorhouses, hospitals,. asylums and prisons. If the working girls of the present generation are mnot protected from underpay and overwork the next generation will be a poor one. And in many other ways the mistakes and injuries of the present will be re- flected in the future. NORTH DAKOTA SOLDIERS’ BONUS COMPARED WITH OTHER STATES In the third place the farmers are intent upon giving labor its just due because it is right and be- cause organized labor has stood firmly behind the program of the organized farmers. - That fair treatment for labor has been a good policy, besides being simple justice, has been proved by the experience of North Dakota since the League administration took hold of affairs. Middle western states, including North Dakota, in the past have had their annual troubles with harvest hands. ‘Wage disputes have grown and been aggravated, burning of haystacks and explosions in harvesting machinery and pitched battles have often been brought about. But upon assuming office Governor Frazier notified peace officers throughout the state -that he would expect them to keep within the law and prevent violence. The result has been an en- tire absence of trouble. with traveling harvest hands in North Dakota during the past three or four seasons, though in other states so-called I. W. W. troubles have been as rife as ever. A North Dakota’s treatment of the returned soldiers is another example of generosity and justice com- | | A WINNING HAND | \ KN, L LT ] PIETR A ‘°§§ o‘;;\oqe AT w % — ; —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. With five “aces”—the five platform pledges of the Nonpartisan league —the North Dakota farmer has a hand that is impossible to beat. But besides the benefit that he has gained from the fulfillment of the five original pledges, the North Dakota farmer has a whole deck full of What has been done for the farmers in North Dakota by the League administration, in addition to carrying out the five platfog'm pledges, is told on this paze. PAGE SIX bined with good judgment. North Dakota was the first state to make any provision for the returned service men. It provided a payment of $25 for each month spent by the soldier or sailor in service. After North Dakota had taken action, Minnesota and Wisconsin were compelled, by force of public opinion, to make some provision also. Minnesota legislators refused to ac% at their. regular session, not passing a soldiers’ relief measure until after a special session had been called, while Wisconsin would not act until the people had spoken, more than four to one, at a special election. The Minnesota and Wisconsin laws, instead of providing $25 per month for service men, provided $15 and $10 a month, respectively, but instead of limiting the purposes for-which the money could be spent; as was done in North Dakota, the Minnesota and Wisconsin laws provided for cash payments. This was brought about mainly by pressure of re- tail merchants and others, who hoped to see a large amount of cash put in circulation at once, out of which they could reap exorbitant profits. . The North Dakota law, on the other hand, pro- vides that the bonus money must be spent for cer- tain definite objects—the purchase of a farm or city home, investment in a business, securing an educa- tion, the purchase of tools of trade or farm equip- ment or for needed medical or hospital attention. The result has been that every dollar of North Dakota bonus money has resulted in a permanent benefit both to the service man and the state. In Minnesota, on the other hand, less than half of the service men have obtained their money and those who have secured it, in large number, have spent it immediately, so that there has been little petma- nent benefit. : One of the most notable achievements of the . League administration in North Dakota has been the ‘inauguration of the home building campaign. Two years ago it became apparent that.there was a housing shortage throughout the United States. Durmg.the war there had been almost no building, and while soldiers were in service their families had “doubled up” for economy’s sake. With the signing of the armistice and -the discharge of the soldiers these families wanted to set up for themselves and there were no houses for them. 3 This condition existed throughout the nation, but North Dakota was the only state in the Union to grapple with the problem boldly and seek a solution. = The solpti_on was the creation of the Home Building association, a state enterprise, to encourage savings and home building. The North Dakota plan provides for the creation of local Home Builders leagues, »efi which accumulate funds deposited by mem- bers. When an individual member has de- posited 20 per cent of the purchase price of a home of $5,000 or less, he can make application for this home and can complete his payments in monthly installments, run- ning from 10 to 20 years. OPPONENTS TRY TO BLOCK HOME BUILDING PLANS It was intended, when the law was draft-" ed, that the Bank of North Dakota should loan 50 per cent of the value' of the com- pleted home, that 80 per cent should be ‘made up by the deposits of other members - of the _Home Builders league, who had not yvet accumulated sufficient funds to start * their own homes, thus making up the 80 per cent to be added to the 20 per cent that the individual home owner would provide. In practice it was found, however, that the housing shortage was so acute that the state could not afford to wait for individual depositors to build up sufficient funds to meet the 30 per cent that they would have to provide. To meet this situation a spe- cial session of the North Dakota legisla- ture, in 1919, provided for the issuance of state bonds to bridge over this period. At this period, however, the suit attacking the validity of the entire North Dakota indus- trial program was brought before the su- preme court of the Unitde States, bonds o