The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 21, 1921, Page 5

~to the state bond issues. -given a list of all officers of international unions, “sources and property, not including clay - 'showed that it was weakening. 1.V, A, forces lost control of the lower Labor Ralhes to Ald of the Farmers Bond Sellmg Campalgn of Bank of North Dakota Under Way—-Opposmon NDISMAYED by the financial boycott of North Dakota decided upon by Walt street banking interests, the farmers’ administration in North Dakota is go- ing direct to the people of the United States in an effort. to.sell $6,200,000.0f state bonds to. estabhsh the state industrial pro- gram. - Governor Frazier appeared recently at Washing- ton, D. C., before a -hational conference of labor leaders, The governor told the labor men in brief, pointed style, what the farmers of North Dakota had done - for -organized labor and asked organized labor to show its friendship for the farmers. The conference not cnly adopted resolutions ex- pressing sympathy with the government and peo- ple of North Dakota, but also recommended that all labor organizations give “friendly consideration” Governor Frazier was with whom the state of North Dakota is correspond- ing directly. Of 200 labor leaders represented in this confer- ence, only one man, Matthew Woll of the photo-en-« gravers, raised his voice against the -plan to help North Dakota. Besides offering its bonds for sale, the Bank of North Dakota has responded to a demand that has been made for many months by North Dakota farmers, and is receiving deposits direct from in- dividuals.” On such deposits it is paying interest of 4% per cent on six months™ deposits and 5 per cent on yearly deposits. Principal and interest are both guaranteed by the state. The state bonds draw interest of 5% and 6 per .cent. They are issued in denominations of $25, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000. ~ The saféty of the bonds is shown by the follow- ing statemént of the Bank of North Dakota: “The state of North Dakota has'a population of 645,730 people. A bonded indebtedness of $6,200,- 000 is less than $10 for each person in the state. * The interest charge per person is less than 60 cents. “North Dakota has 29,259,300 acres of farm land. The bonds offered will amount to a trifle over 20 cents an acre on this land, 1f all” other property were omitted.’ -“The estimated total value of all North Dakota property, not including 600,000,000,000 tons of coal and vast ’t‘:lay deposits, is $3,000,000,000. The state is attempting to borrow about $1 for every $500 of thls valuation. s “A geological expert has estimated the average value of coal in the ground at 10 cents per ton. If the present value is only 1 cent per ton, North Dakota’s coal alone is worth $6,000,000,00C and her tofal re- depqslts, will amount to $9,000,000,000.” "SUMMER FALLOW AND FIGHT” SLOGAN OF LEAGUE FARMERS * Full details regarding the bond issue, dates of maturity, method of payment, ete., will be given to inquirers by addressing the industrial commission, Bismarck, N. D. - Farmers of North Dakota are rallying to the support of the state administration. At a state meeting held following adjourn- ment of the North Dakota legislature, hundreds of farmers declared that if the opposition forces attempted the recall eléc- tion that had been announced, they would let their farms go idle and devote their en- tire time to working for the League. “Summer fallow and fight,” one farmer suggested as a slogan, and with a roar of approval the crowd-adopted it. Farmers set out to raise a $200,000 campaign fund to beat the recall, if it is attempted. At the same time the League opposition On the closing day of the legislative session the house of the legislature, which they held by five at the beginning of the session. On an appeal from the decision of the-chair the house overruled Speaker L. L. Twichell representing 4,000,000 union workmen. . Weakens on Recall Plan and proceeded to approve bills passed by the League-controlled senate, which Twichell and his gang were trying desperately to beat. Appropriations for League officials, which the house had previously voted to decrease to an extent that virtually would have meant the closing of many state offices, were reconsidered and increased. A _bill was passed to allow the citizens-of Bismarck \ . A HARD NUT TO CRACK to take over the privately owned, water system and to establish a publicly owned ‘and operated light and power plant to compete with the plant now operated by private interests. LEAGUE OPPONENTS FEEL THEMSELVES SLIPPING; SEEK TO DODGE RECALL Bankers and business men throughout the state also protested against the proposed recall election, satisfied that it Would mean another League victory, and some of the newspaper organs of the I. V. A. announced that the recall plan had been abandoned. Other elements of the League opposition tried to get former Senator Gronna, ousted from the senate at the last primary, to run against. Governor Fra- zier. Decision as to whether there will be a recall election, it was finally given out by the I. V. A. forces, will be made at a state convention March 31. ‘While the newspaper attack upon the League and its program continues unabated in the Northwest, eastern papers and magazines are beginning to tell some of the facts to their readers. . The New York Journal, under the heading, “Financiers Make Mistakes—Boycotting a State May Be One of Them,” told the story of how Wall street had blocked the sale of North’ Dakota bonds ‘because they didn’t like the League program and added: “Doesn’t it impress the average reader as mter- esting that the government of a sovereign state is considered presumptuous when it pretends to do for itself and for the profit of ‘every citizen what private individuals do for themselves and for their profit. “Private INDIVIDUALS own grain elevators, banks and railroads. But the people of a state must not combine to do the same things, for that, dearly beloved, is a combination of bolshevism, socialism and anarchy, with perhaps a dash of ‘free love’ and atheism thrown in. “Sixty years ago it was a crime for a slave owner to teach his slave how to read and write. That is PAGE FIVE —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. ended now, the slave owners lost their grip. “Today it is a financial crime for the people of = state to try to learn how to govern themselves and control their own resources. But that also will end. The private owners of public monopoly and publie property will lose their grip just as the slave own- ers did. It is to be hoped that the operation of let- ting go will be less painful and less expensive than the experience of 1865. “Financial boycotting of a state as punishment for the attempted crime of self-government may seem to the boycotters wiser than it really is. They may kill off the Nonpartisan league, for individuals are selfish and soon get tired of an idea. But that ~ won’t mean anything. “The slave owners killed John Brown, hanged him neatly and completely. But THAT was a mistake. John Brown stayed buried, but his idea came back.” The New York World, which has been a bitter enemy of the Nonpartisan league, confessed m its own editorial columns: “The general disposition to regard the business crash. in North .Dakota as a result of wild-cat financing by leaders of the Nonpartisan league is at least a little exaggerated. North Dakota would be in a bad way just now no matter what party was in control and even though the grain buyers and bankers of Minneapolis were free, as of old, to dic- tate rates and prices to the wheat-growing farmers. * * * The basic reasons for the crisis which may close 200 banks are the tall in the market price of wheat, business depression throughout the country and the natural enmity of former controlling in- terests toward the Townley-Lemke group.” The Nation, New York, says editorially that the recent conferences between North Dakota state of- ficials and Minneapolis bankers showed the attempt at “frank, direct and unabashed control of the poli- cies of a sovereign state exercised by the financia’ interests in and about it. North Dakota’s plight i due mainly to these financial interests and only ir a lesser degree to recent hard times. Had the state been ?lowed to float its bonds when they were ap- proved by referendum of the people in 1919, it would probably have been spared its present diffi- culties. But the flour mills, the elevator companies and béyond all, the banks, saw a chance for a first blow at the system of marketing and credit service at cost for which the farmers were working. It was not until last June that obstruction was finally cleared away by a favorable deci- sion by the United States supreme court.” GO TO THE PEOPLE WITH THE BONDS, SAYS THE “NATION” The Nation adds: “Probably there is still a way out, without compromise, if the North Dakota officials have the courage and the time to take .it. There is every reason to believe that these securities (the North Dakota state bonds) could be sold direct to the public if offered in the East and properly advertised. “But in any event the industrial pro- gram of North Dakota is not dead nor have the farmers of that state failed in their effort toward economic freedom. At the worst the result is only postponed, and regardless of what happens in North Da- kota similar experiments will be made elsewhere. “North Dakota's plight is a shining ex- ample of ruthless and open nullification of our present democracy when it attempts to run counter to the great financial inter- ests that are the dominating power.” Arthur Brisbane, editorial writer for Hearst newspapers, said in the San Fran- cisco Examiner and other papers: “Big men stick together, little men not. Therefore big men remain .big and little men stay little. “North Dakota wants to borrow six millions from the bankers; Very tempting to the big men, state bonds being free of income tax. But North Dakota also wants - to rule herself and to own her banks, grain elevators, railroads. That would never do. - “North Dakota ean’t borrow a dollar ’ (Continued on page 17) .