The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 7, 1921, Page 4

Gossip and Comment on Current Affairs take when they chose John J. Blaine as their candidate for governor. A few persons criticized the choice because Mr. Blaine was a lawyer. There are, of course, lawyers and lawyers. Mr. Blaine is a farmer at heart and a lawyer by accident. As a young man working on the farm he broke his arm. Governor Unable to work for a time he started studying law. NONPARTISAN leaguers in Wisconsin evidently made no mis- Blaine’s -Most lawyers gradually grow hostile to the cause of the people and friendly to big business because the Message bulk of their practice comes from big business. As the Bible says, where their treasure is, their heart is also. Mr. Blaine, as is plainly to be seen from reading his message to the Wisconsin legislature, has not fallen under any corrupting influences. He is standing firmly by the people’s cause. We wish we had space to print Governor Blaine’s message in full. But on page 5 we quote the governor’s most important pronouncements. They are well worth reading, whether the reader lives in Wisconsin, North Dakota or in some state not yet in the League fold. From the Chicago Inter-Ocean of December 31, 1862, we take the follow- ing: “George M. Pullman of the firm of Pullman & Moore, house raisers, is experimenting with what he calls ‘a palace sleeping car.’ The ‘wise ones’ pre- dict it will be a failure.” Let’s see, weren’t there a few “wise ones” who predicted the Nonpartisan league would be a failure, too? : PECTATORS rose and cheered Governor Blaine when, in his message to the Wisconsin legislature, he denounced militarism. Governor Blaine urged the legislature to tell congress what the people thought about the tremendous military and naval pro- gram being saddled on the nation. If a few congressmen had been at Madison during the demonstration they would The People have needed no further telling. : Want Peace We now have a navy nearly as large as Great "~ Britain and much larger than Japan. Jingoists are —Not War urging that we increase it so that it will be larger than Great Britain’s. Among the jingoists, we re- gret to say, is the paper at Marion owned by President-elect Hard- ing. Maybe Mr. Harding allowed his paper to make this statement merely to learn what the people thought about it. The people should lose no time in telling him. If we start in-' creasing our navy it is certain that Great Britain and Japan will do likewise. The lovers of war in each of the three countries will urge increased speed. Tremendous added burdens will be laid on the peoples of the three countries. War hysteria will reawaken and war will follow. Public men in America and Great Britain are urging an imme- diate international agreement to limit armaments. We should lead in such action. I know but two ways by which society can be governed: one is by public opinion; the other is by the sword—MACAULAY. OME anti-League politicians S say the farmers should be al- lowed to co-operate, instead of expecting the government to help them. Farmers have been allowed to co-operate for years. It is worth while noticing that Why Not the men__who have - Help Mak been in the co-opera- Sip ?e tive game the long- the Price? o5t are the men that are strongest for the Nonpartisan league. This doesn’t mean- that co-oper- ation is wrong. It means that every co-operative leader has found that co-operators mneed protection from interests that would destroy them. The co-operators also have found that they are unable, in many instances, to cope with the power of organized big business. The Equity Co-Operative exchange, the largest co-operative enterprise in the Nor.th- west, advertises, “We get the price, but we don’t make it.” Isn’t it about- time that the farmer, instead of merely getting the price that the grain gamblers make, had something to say about making it ? _a pound on coffee, sugar, ete., says big business. l DON'T BE A BEGGAR! I This is not a picture of an out-of-a-job workman or a lazy tramp seek- ing aid from a wealthy man. The man at the left is nat out of a job and he is not lazy., He is a farmer who works, early and late, the year around. But in spite of his industry he has to play the part of a beg- gar to secure credit to operate his while the banker of whom he seeks aid belongs to a strong nation-wide organization. How much better it ) mand the credit they need, as a right—not beg it, as a favor! They can do it—by organizing as strongly as the bankers. PAGE FOUR . ° would be if the farmers could de- duties (handed on to the consumer) and by direct taxes on the consumer, either through a sales tax of 1 per cent on all sales, or by “commedity’”’ taxes of 10 cents a pound on tea, 2 cents It seems to the Leader that there should be a more feasible way. ] l OW is our war debt going to be paid? By increased tariff How Shall In 1918 Richard Spillane estimated on the basis of We Pay th the income tax returns that there were 22,696 mil- erayt ?e lionaires- in the United States, whose cpmbmed - War Debt? wealth was $68,000,000,000. The total interest- bearing debt of the United States government April 30, 1919, was $24,000,000,000. If these 22,696 millionaires were compelled to pay the entire debt of the United States in one lump sum, they would have left $44,000,000,000. Divided among the 22,696 of them this would leave each one an average of nearly $2,000,000, after the whole debt had been"paid. ‘They wouldn’t ex- actly be the objects of charity then. It will be harder to get the money from the millionaires now than it would have been during the war. Then it would have been a simple matter to have merely taken for government use all profits above those of pre-war years. But it is still simpler than attempt- ing to collect $24,000,000,000, a cent at a time, from the 100,000,000 people who are not millionaires. : . And the biggest argument of all is that it would be more just: Ray McKaig, arrested during the last campaign when he attempted to speak at St. Maries, Idaho, is freed by decision of the district court. The court held the St. Maries ordinance requiring permits for meetings was void. We are : glad the Idaho courts still recognize the validity of the constitutional provisions for free speech, even if they do wait until after the campaign is over before rendering a decision. : F YOU don’t read another article in the Leader this week you should read the facts set forth on page 7 about the steal that has been put over on the wheat grower this year. We have not attempted to call names; we simply cite official figures and tell where we got them. It is not easy for the av- erage farmer to learn the conditions of trade %:(éts 'f?ha‘t and figure, on that basis, what he should get for Shml;lyd Ka;(l:;:r his product. As Mr. Baruch states elsewhere in this issue of the Leader, government agen- cies supply the.buyers of farm products with information, enabling the buyer to drive the best possible bargain, but the farmer has to depend, very largely, on what he is told in news- papers and trade journals controlled by the market gamblers. During the past year these organs have peddled the farmers one set of lies after an- other. Study the figures cited on page 7. Read them over two or three times. Then decide whether the law of supply and demand has been re- sponsible for the ruining of thou- sands of American farmers this year. . Employ your time in improving your- selves by other men’s documents: so-shall you come easily by what others have la- bored hard for.—SOCRATES. NTI-LEAGUE newspapers pre- dicted that the state conven- tion of the League in-North Dakota would result in a “revolt” against President A. C. Towhnley. The state convention, by unanimous g.ote, ?asse% . resolu- L ions of confidence in S:;lflli:rs President Townley and United € other mernbers of the executive committee and in League state officials and legislators. They fur- .ther wished success to Mr. Townley in his organization work in Nebraska and Kansas, There was not a dis- senting voice when any one of these resolutions was considered. The farmers of North Dakota are pre- answer to the lying attacks of those who picture them as divided. Read the resolutions printed on another page. They speak the old “We’ll Stick” spirit, - Sl farm, because he is unorganized, sentinga unitéd front. This is their - & e o+ R 3 % ¥ E Y