The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 13, 1920, Page 7

BY E. B. FUSSELL N THE last issue of the Leader we studied the banking game a little. We - decided that farm- a2 ers had a right to be interested in the banker’s business because bankers were so much interested in the farm- er’s business. Let us see if that same reasoning doesn’t apply to newspapers. Take, for example, the Min- neapolis Journal. With_one pos- sible exception the Journal has the largest circulation of any daily paper published in League territory. Is the Journal inter- ested in the farmers? Sure, it is. Hasn’t it been advising farmers, for their own good, to have nothing to do with the Non- partisan league? The Journal, also, has the same friendly sort of an interest in the small country papers of Minnesota and other states as the $100,000,000 - First National bank has in the small country banks. ' Last spring there was a convention of the editors of Min- nesota country newspapers in Minneapolis. The Journal gave -them a banquet and provided, as the chief speaker, Dean ° Thatcher of the farm school of the University of Minnesota. Dean Thatcher told the country editors to go home and tell the. farmers to grow more wheat, that there was a world shortage and the mills and elevators would undoubtedly take all they ; couid produce and pay them a high price for it. That was just last spring. The Journal was help- ing out the general chorus of “Produce more, it is the highest form of patriotism,” in practically ev- _ery issue. . Now there is a different situation. Day after day the Journal is playing up the falling price of wheat and in editorials is urging farmers to sell at ; any price they can get. It is, furthermore, making - the preposterous claim that even at present prices farmers can sell at a profit! Why was the Minneapolis Journal, last spring, anxious to have the farmers plant all the wheat : they could possibly plant; and why is it anxious b now to have them sell at a low price? ! HERE ARE THE FINANCIAL & INTERESTS BEHIND THE JOURNAL Let us turn to the last statement of ownership, o management and circulation of the Journal, which and published in the Journal of October 7, 1920. The government requires publications to answer this question: - § “Who are the bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of the total amount of the bonds, mortgages and other securities?” : i Answering the question the Journal certified the following three names: F. A. Chamberlain, Minneapolis, Minn. E. W. Decker;‘wngxnneapolis, Minn.' E. P. Wells, Mi olis, Minn. Who are Mr. Ch:!:pb}}lamin, Mr. Decker and Mr. Wells? b Mr. Chamberlain is chairm rectors of the First National bank of Minneapolis. As the Leader pointed out last week, 12 of these direcfors are membe = ~f the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, and C. T. Jaffray, president of the banlk, hag been one of the leaders in the movement g country banks in which he urged the “to get their loans reduced at an was filed at the postoffice in accordance with law an of the board of di- o call in loans to farmers, writing a letter August frermeer B ¥ 37 Our Newspapers—Who Directs Them? A Few Facts to Show Why They Are So Anxious to Have the Farmer - Sell His Wheat at Starvation Prices HIS HYMN OF HATE The fair-minded public is getting pretty tired of it, Morris says. In this connection turn to page 11 and read the editorial and letter there. to the markets by loans to all grain merchants.” E. W. Decker is president of the Northwestern National bank of Minneapolis. He holds a mem- bership in the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce directly. Eleven other directors of the Northwest- ern National also are members of the chamber, either directly or through com- - panies with which they are con- nected. i E. P. Wells, the third security holder of the Journal, is one of the directors of the Northwest- ern National. He is also presi- dent of the Russell-Miller Mill- ing company, a member of the chamber of commerce. There is no particular mys- tery now as to why the Journal urged the farmers this spring to plant big crops, and why the Journal urges them now to sell regardless of the price, and why the Journal urges farmers to avoid the Nonpartisan league as if it were the plague, is there? However, the Journal is not alone in its shameless subser- _viency to the big financial in- Z terests. J § a The Minneapolis Tribune, g morning and evening, has the | § S x same editorial policy as the Journal. It attacks the Nonpar- tisan league, just as the Journal does, . supports identically the same - candidates for office in city, county, state and nation, _urges farmers to plant big crops and to sell their wheat instead of - holding it. ' The Tribune’s > - statement - of ' ownership. and management shows Rome G. Brown .s president and execu- tiv manager of the Tribune~ | - any. Mr.:Brown's o’s Who” lists sident, director | PAGE SEVEN : _say they are against the Nonpartisan league be- FIRST NATL. BAN S CHATM and general counsel of the Minneapolis Mill com- pany. He sits on committees of millers’ organiza- tions along with the Pillsburys and the Crosbys. ; And F. M. Crosby, A. F. Pillsbury and Charles 2 S. Pillsbury are among the directors of the First National bank, whose chairman holds the Journal’s securities; and John Crosby and J. S. Pillsbury are among the directors of the Northwestern National, whose president holds the Journal’s securities. Is it any wonder that the policies of the Journal and the Tribune are the same? SAME CONDITIONS IN OTHER CITIES OF THE NORTHWEST . ‘ But conditions in Minneapolis are no worse than in other cities. The papers of the Northwest, with few excep- tions, fall into two main classes, those that are owned outright by the big financial interests, which | maintain these papers, regardless of expense, as “organs” to influence public opinion, and those pa- i pers owned as -money-making propositions and { adopting any policy that will please the advertis- | ers, from whom they get the bulk of their revenue. In the first class fall such papers as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has been supported by one railroad and one bank after another, and most | of the Montana dailies, which are owned outright by the Anaconda Copper Mining company or its subsidiaries. In the second class fall such papers as the St. Paul Daily News, which discharged its editor after he had displeased advertisers, the Seattle Times; the Cowles publications of Spokane and many others. Whether they are owned outright by the chamber of commerce, the steel trust and the copper trust, or whether their editorial policy is controlled by [ | the business office, the outcome is the same. They give different excuses for opposing farmer and la- i bor candidates in different states. Sometimes they cause, though its principles are all right, its candi- dates are the wrong men; in other cases, when they find no shadow of excuse for opposing the League candidates on the ground of their ability and public record, they say it is the principles of the League that are “wrong”; in any event it can be depended upon that any farmer-labor movement will be op- posed by these servile sheets if the organization in any way threatens the continued rule of big business. I ' HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS l Secuority || Hooers NORHWESTERN NATIONAL BANK RusseL-MiLLER MiLLING Co. R oF COMMERCE) The financial interests behind the Minneapolis Journal and their connections.