The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 22, 1921, Page 4

3 by B farmer how to grow two ears of corn where formerly only one grew. But farm bureaus should keep out of politics entirely. The Nonpartisan league ought to present Mr. Mansfield with a medal or something for this honest, illuminating statement! Or- ganizations which teach the farmer how to grow The Kind of . tWwo ears of corn where one formerly grew are val- Srieiire uable. They serve a valuable purpose and have Organization their place. But Mr. Mansfield, by inference, says They Want that is the only kind of farmer organization that he approves. “You farmers go on and produce more corn and we’ll continue to attend to the marketing and handling of it,” he says in effect. The duty of farmers is to pro- duce and produce and produce—but that’s all. What right have farmers to consider the matter of what they get for what they produce? What right have they with organizations that act on plans to get the farmer more than he now gets for what he already produces? No right at all, says Mr. Mansfield. But if Mr. Mans- field and the interests he represents believe that a two-ear-in-place- - of-one-ear organization is ideal, it naturally follows that an organi- zation that does NOT particularly concern itself with EARS OF .CORN, but with the PRICE of ears of corn, is the most menacing to Mr. Mansfield and to the interests he represents, and most BENE- FICIAL to the farmer. Such an organization is the- Nonpartisan league. Again— S e * * * * * BSERVE that Mr. Mansfield is much concerned about farm- O ers getting in politics. His ideal kind of an organization for farmers keeps OUT of politics, he says. Now this is another boost for the Nonpartisan league, because the League is vitally con- cerned with politics—it is, in fact, the farmer’s political weapon, the ONLY one he has. Mr. Mansfield proves that the farmers ought to be in politics, and ought to rely on politics as their principal means of fighting at this time. For if farmers in politics are a menace to Mr. Mansfield and the in- terests he speaks for, politics are certainly a GOOD thing for FARMERS to be IN. The moral of all this is that the farmers ought to, and do, we believe, think as much of the im- portance of the Nonpartisan league and its effectiveness in fighting their battles as Mr. Mansfield does. No member of the League, certainly, would be willing to put a value on the League LESS than Mr. Mansfield puts on it, for the League is a creation of the Ameri- can farmers, and farmers have spent much money and given much Farmers Need Action in Politics effort to build it up. They have built it up until it is admitted by . Mr. Mansfield that it is the GREATEST MENACE TODAY to grain gamblers, the bank monopoly and big business. Now, if Mr. Mans- field gives the League credit for all this, and. thinks the League this big and important, how much MORE important the FARMER should think it! 2 More than at any other time it is necessary for agriculture to have an organization like the Nonpartisan league. - More than at any other time should the farmers stick to the League and continue to build it up and make it strong. For never before since the League was organized have the farmers as a whole been as bad off. Never before since the League started have the rulers of America brought about such a disastrous condition for the producers. Now if ever is the time for the farmer to fight, and fight his hardest! Now is the time to organize and educate for the political campaigns next be sure to digest the second article in this issue. money barons of America. The Leader asked its readers and the members of the Nonpartisan league whether they were ready to “go” on a big educational and organization campaign the coming fall and winter. We asked you to write us your opinion and any suggestions you might have. We outlined the pres- ent agricultural crisis and showed that, while the powers-that-be have stripped the farmer during the deflation period of about everything he has, he still has his courage and fighting spirit. And they can’t take that away from you unless you let them. Shall the farmers use the power, which they still retain, to organize and fight harder than ever? we asked. We haven’t had time to hear from more than a few hundred of you. But such answers as we have are unanimously to the effect, “Yes, let’s go!” Read the article on the opposite page for details. ' year! Whatever you do, don’t miss the sensational revelations about deflation by John Lord, now being published in the Leader. The first article appeared in the issue before this. The second is on page 6 of this issue. Look up the August 8 issue and read the first article, if you haven’t done so, and tem in the deflation plot. Never has such a story of cold, heartless greed been told about the . What farmer can read these facts and not be ready to give these’ sinister, selfish interests the fight of their lives through the Non- partisan league? Now if ever the League must be your weapon! No other farmer organization in America has a chance to make this needed fight successfully for the farmer. If you think a minute you will see that THAT is TRUE. Let’s get back of the League and “go”! That is what Mr. Mansfield’s speech ought to teach all of us! = ' - * * * *® * OME radicals are saying that the coming disarmament confer- ence of the nations and discussion of rights in the Pacific, called by President Harding as a result of the passage of the Borah resolution, can not possibly do any good. They say that lib- erals or reformers who put any faith in it will be fooled, just as they were in Wilson’s 14 points. Nothing can come, they point out, from a conference of hardened diplomats held In secret, in which each delegate will be there to obtain everything pos- sible for his country and let other nations get as About the little as possible ](g(l)sr?fl:;}:r:::nt They predic;t it will be the same old game of compromise, wire-pulling, log-rolling, and fight over division of the spoils that marked the Ver- sailles peace congress. It will not be an honest effort of enlightened statesmen to take adequate measures to prevent war and assure the safety of civilization, for such a policy would require all the powers, including the United States, to give up 'some of their “rights” and nationalistic aspirations, and our rulers won’t do that. Anyway, they add, the verdict of the conference, even if good, can not be en- forced, and national jealousies and fears will lead the nations to violate it—or at least the nations will accuse each other of violating it in secret—and this will cause suspicions and hatreds that will .’ again lead.to the mad armament race the world is now engaged in. * On the other hand, those who hope and believe some good will come of the conference point out that it can not possibly serve any good purpose to scoff and predict failure—that the thing to do is to educate the peoples of all countries as to the importance of the mat- ter and lead them to bring what pressure they can on the diplomats to force them to do something good. They point out that the com- mon man and woman of every country are demanding that some- thing be done to assure the world’s peace, that there is a clamor from every corner of the earth for a cessation of war and prepara- tions for war that are leading only to one end, another world con- flict that will submerge civilization. The diplomats must do some- thing in the face of this world opinion. They also point out that the governments of all countries are sweating blood to find means of raising taxes to pay for the last war and to keep up the race in. armaments, and that there is really an incentive for the govern- ; ments and their diplomats to do something at the conference. In the Leader’s opinion, we all should do what we can to force our representatives in the conference to assume an attitude that will be favorable to good results. One thing we can insist on. That is that the conference be public. This is too important a matter to be handled behind locked doors. The people of the world must know what their representatives do and say so that blame can be placed on those responsible for failure of the conference. If the diplomats know that the world knows what theéy do and say, there is less chance for failure—less chance that they will betray the world as they did at Versailles. If President Harding is really hon- est in this matter he will insist first of all that the conference be open to reporters and the public. If he does so insist he can have his way. It concerns the part of the federal reserve Sys- PAGE FOUR s CNTAC S ML P L R 2