The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 18, 1921, Page 3

tered as_second-class matter at the postoffice at Minneapolis, Minn., under the' act of rch 3, v , 1879, Publication_address, 1 Min e-S,, Minneapolis, n, ress all remittances The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 2072, Minneapolis, Minn, 2 IN THE INTEREST OF A SQUARE s DEAL FOR THE FARMERS En und t of Ma bli 427 Sixth -S,, Mi is, VOL. 12, NO. 8 TonpartiSén Teader | R S. MORRIS, Editor. MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, APRIL 18, 1921 A MAGAZINE THAT DARES TO PRINT THE TRUTH One year, $1.50. Classified rates on classified page; other advertising rates on application, Member Audit ureau of Circulations, . C, Beckwith Special Agency, advertising representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louls, Kansas City. 2 WHOLE NUMBER 270 Who Shall Cohgress Serve—You or the Profiteers? many problems, but there are three which probably outrank all others and which are themselves closely connected. These are the questions of the army and navy, the railroad question and the tax question. ; The Leader has previously expressed its views at length on the question of militarism versus disarmament. We believe our present military and naval program, if persisted in, will CON GRESS is again in session at Washington. It is faced with. : inevitably lead to another war in the near future. }Vat‘ll; 0111'1_Pe:ce In addition it will mean increased taxes. The Gsreai Plll":blem only way to decrease taxes is to declare an end to our present militaristic policy and to cut appro- priations in half, if possible. We need not fear future wars if we do not-go around with a chip on our shoulder. The only powerful neighbor we have is Great Britain and the 38,000-mile unfortified border between our nation and Canada has proved safer than the armed borders of Europe, “which our militarists would imitate. = HE railroads are again before congress asking further sub- I sidies. To understand the sit- uation read the article on page 5. Under the Esch-Cummins bill and other acts passed by the last congress the rail- How Shafl roads have received Graft Be approximately four Prevented? billion dollars of the ‘people’s money — two billions in in- creased rates collected directly from passengers and shippers and two --billions in grants or loans from the government. Divided among the population of the United States-this amounts to $200 per family. As a matter of fact, the cost of the Esch-Cummins act to the farm- . ers has been much higher. The man- ufacturer, who has to pay increased freight on his product and increased passenger rates for his traveling men, simply adds the increased transportation rates onto the price of his product and passes it to the consumer. Money raised by govern- ment taxes and then given to the railroads is similarly passed on .to the consumer. Now consumers are mainly of two classes—farmers and city workers. City workers, faced by increases in their cost of living, have been well enough organized to demand and get higher wages. But the farmer, who never sets the price on his product and never strikes, has paid increased prices on all he bought and taken decreased prices for everything he sold. ; There are two remedies for this condition. One is to send hon- est men to congress—men who will not make a gift of the people’s - money to the railroads. The other remedy is for the farmers to have something to say about price-fixing. Organized farmers.can use both remedies. Unorganized farmers can use neither. HE tax problem is dependent, to a large degree, upon both the armament problem and the railroad problem. If we are to go on shoveling gold into the treasuries of the munition makers and the railroad barons we must raise more taxes. If arma- . ments can be cut in half and the drain of the rail- —— - = —Drawn Who Will Pay roads upon the public funds can be stopped, taxes’ Mr. Morgan’s 20 be reduced. _ A OLE ° " Whether taxes are Federal Tax? reduced or not, farmers , must be watchful to see:. that big business does not get away with its plan to shift taxes now being borne by the rich (in the form of income taxes and excess i PILING IT ON xpressly for the i;&er by W. C. Morris. “The strongest bond of human sympathy, out- side the family relation, should be one uniting . all working people, of all nations and tongues - and kindreds.”—~ABRAHAM LINCOLN. profits taxes) to the poor (in the form of sales taxes, turnover taxes or additional commodity taxes). The most powerful influences in the nation are behind this scheme to shift additional taxes to the consumer. Only by a united protest of the farmers and workers can this shift be prevented. If you, Mr. Farmer, want to pay the taxes that Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Morgan are now paying, do nothing. .Congress will gladly attend to making the change, without a word from you. If you DON'T want to pay- Mr. Rockefeller’s and Mr. Morgan’s taxes— write your congressman TODAY—protesting against any changes in the income or excess profits tax laws. ERHAPS there are some men who think it is “unmanly” to read the woman’s- page in a magazine. If there are any such among the readers of the Leader we want to ask them to turn po the woman’s page in this issue and read the information set forth in column one. Regardless of what church they attend, or whether they attend any, we know every member of the Nonpartisan league is a believer in the social teachings of the Christ who Which Shall drovetheprofiteers It Be—God from the temple, N who declared the or Mammqn ¢ laborer was worthy of his hire and who taught that no man could serve two masters—God and Mammon. Pittsburg millionaires, the bar- ons of coal, iron and steel who piled up blood-tainted hoards of gold dur- ing the war, and are still-profiteering at the expense of the people, are calling upon their brother million- aires throughout the country—to do what? To tell the churches of Amer- ica that they must make their choice immediately between the teachings of Jesus and further financial sup- port from the millionaires. In one thing the millionaires are right. The churches must make the choice. What will the choice be? N THE month of March just past, I in one week, more farmers joined the Nonpartisan league than . during the corresponding time dur- ing any one year since the League was started. Governor Allen of Kansas, bitter opponent of the or- ganized farmers, admitted recently in a speech that the League would have 40,000 members in his state alone by the end of summer. In North Dakota League opponents, facing certain defeat, have aban- doned their plan for an immediate recall election and the head of the state Farm Bureau federation, heretofore counted as a member of the opposition, has come out flatly for immediate sale of state bonds and completion of the terminal ghf Osn e and elevator and flour mill. : y : nly ure.. Everywhere public sentiment is turning to- Way to Win | ward the League. But sentiment alone is not enough. Sentiment alone will not complete the terminal elevator at-Grand Forks and it will not force special privi- lege and the public officials they elect to turn about over night and serve the people. Two things must be done. The North Dakota bonds must be sold. Since Wall street will not buy them, the people must. And organization work must go forward with undiminished vigor. Then ; the North Dakota industrial program can be put in full operation, can be protected against scheming politicians in that state and can be introduced into every farming state of the West. ; Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. We must be able to pay the price. PAGE THREE *