The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 3, 1921, Page 9

T I I . WITH McKENZIE GANG .. trol of the opposition to the organized “there is a chance for him (McKenzie) t o come back as boss of the state if the I. V. A, are beaten. Therefore he will not weep_if Nestos and his 4el- . low e¢andidates are beaten on October <« 28, McKen~ie selieves he can kill the Election October 28—Split in I. V. A. Ranks Threatens Farmer Opposition— Leaguers Prepare for Hottest Campaign the State Ever Held ) BY R. M. McCLINTOCK Mr. McClintock is editor of the Fargo Daily Courier- News, the League daily of North Dakota HE recall petitions against three Non- ‘| partisan league state officers in North Dakota, Governor Frazier, Attorney General Lemke and Commissioner of Agriculture Hagan, who constitute the state industrial commission, have been filed, and the recall election will be October 28. The first task confronting the I V. A., the League opposition organization which brought about the recall, is to heal a threatening split in their own ranks. There are many I. V. A.s who have opposed the recall. At least one leading opposition news- paper has seen fit to come out in open opposition to it. This is the Bismarck Tribune. It has formerly been an I. V. A. paper. The Tribune charges that the I. V. A, have compromised with “Townleyism,” . inasmuch as they at least pretend- to favor the trying out of the League industrial program. The Iribune wants a straight-out fight against the League and what it calls “Socialism.% It says: “The I. V. A. have gone to the people four or five times on a compromising platform and failed each time. They have used Townley’s bait in every elec- tion this organization was a factor. The Tribune” knows when it has had enough of the I. V. A. That stand does not mean the Tribune is holding up the . Nonpartisan league hands either. It means just this: Get into the primaries next June; scrap the Townley program honestly; tell the world North Dakota is through with socialistic panaceas and is ready to return to representative government; ban- ish forever from the anti-League program, cheap political vote baiting expedients and tell some of the renegade Nonpartisan leaguers who are about to stump the state for Nestos, the I. V. A. recall candidate against Frazier, that redemption lies not with these wreckers of the state, even though they have taken on the 1. V. A. coat of many colors.” The Tribune supported Doyle, Lan- ger and O’Connor against Frazier in former elections which the League won. The professions of friendship™ for the farmers’ program of O’Connor and Langer were at least as feryent as those of R. A. Nestos, the present I. V. A. candidate, so that there are those who look for the explanation of the Tribune’s present opposition to the I. V. A. in some other motive than the high-minded one of opposition to any compromise with the hated prin- ciple of public awnership. NO DEAL IS MADE It is charged by other I. V. A. _v' papers, for instance, that the Tribune is the mouthpiece of Alex McKenzie, former old guard boss of North Da- kota. These I. V. A. papers charge that McKenzie has made a deal with the Nonpartisan league, and will help the League in the recall election, in return for certain unspecified favors to be extended later by the Nonparti- san league. Of course; no such deal has been or would be made. A~ As a matter of fact there is no one in the Nonpartigarn league authorized to enter into a deal with McKenzie, even if any Leaguer had a mind to do such a thing. The simple explanation of the threatened split in .I. V. A. ranks is that there is a fight for con- farmers. Undoubtedly Alex McKen- zie, who is working hand in hand with Senator P. J. McCumber, believes e In this article and another in the next issue, the Leader will give readers the full facts about the situation in North Dakota. . The author, Mr. McClintock, is on the ground and in better position than any one the Leader could obtain to describe the fight to the people of other states. The North Dakota farm- ers, due to general agricultural condi- tions and repeated crop failures or only half-crops, are hard up financially, while the opposition has raised a huge fund for the recall. Persons wishing ' to contribute to the North Dakota farmers’ campaign should send con- tributions to Nonpartisan league.head- quarters, Fargo, N. D. Contributions of from $1 -up will be welcomed: I V. A. this year and the Nonpartisan league in 1922, Leaders of the I. V. A. realize the danger they run. They know that if they lose the recall they will be supplanted and another organization will take up the fight against the farmers. Even if they win they will be in office only half a year before ‘the 1922 primaries are held, and most political ob- servers realize it will be utterly impossible for them to redeem any of the flamboyant promises they are making to carry out the League program in the short six months before the June campaign next year. b ! : Nevertheless the I. V. A. have gone so far they can-not back up. Undoubtedly they would rejoice if through some legal technicality the election could (R0 - "l'(( T J e @I/)II, 1‘/ A ':—Drawnrex-pi'evssly for the Leader by W. C, Mor:ip.‘ s 7 PAGE TEN it . without funds. Cal be called off, without their appearing as the insti- gators. Failing the calling off of the election the L V. A. are counting on whipping their half-heart- ed supporters into line, through the use of the-big.._ campaign funds they expect to get from the rail- roads, the grain trade and the big bankers. They also believe League farmers are so nearly bankrupt on account of general farm conditions that they will =~ be unable to find money with which to carry on a~ campaign, thus permitting the I. V. A. to win by default. It is quite true the farmers have but little money. Their state committee realizes that the campaign will have to be conducted practically Over 150 farmers and farmers’ wives have volunteered to act as local speakers. John Skelton Williams, former comptroller of the currency, will spend several days in the state af his owh expense as a League speaker. Judging from - all reports from the country, if the farmers are short of money, they are long of determination to carry their program into effect. It is the belief of, the state committee that through the women’s clubs and precinct locals, workers-will volunteer in every precinct, to see that the Nonpartisan league voters cast their ballots on October 28. L V. A. REALLY HAS NOT “COMPROMISED” WITH LEAGUE No one doubts, despite the criticism of the Bis- marck Tribune, but-that the real purpose of the L V. A. is to destroy the program altogether. The I. V. A. could do this if they were to elect their three candidates, even though their initiated meas- ures were defeated. On the other hand, even if they were to lose the recall, they could cripple the program if one or more of their initiated measures were approved by the voters. The I. V. A. initi- ative measures, to be voted upon at the time of the _ recall, while they purport to permit the carrying out of the League program in better : - - 2 shape than the League .proposes to A THUG’S P AR ADISE 2 l carry it out, as a matter of fact would hamper and delay the program, which is, of course, the secret I. V. A. pur- pose. : . So it is not true, as the Bismarck Tribune alleges, that the I. V. A. have in any real sense “compromised with Socialism.” The I V. A. are just as determined in the end to destroy the farmers’ program completely as is the Bismarck Tribune. Only, where the Bismarck Tribune comes out honestly and says what it intends to do, the I. V. A. are still trying to fool the vot- ers. .They pretend that they are go- ing to save all that is good in the pro- gram. But they have initiated a pro- gram of legislation that, if it is ap- proved by the voters, will cripple the entire farmers’ program immediately; . and probably make impossible the sale of the state bonds that even the I. V. A. admit must be sold to “thaw out” “funds in the state-bank loaned to the industries according to law, with the " expectation that these funds would be replaced by the sale of bondss The. Nonpartisan league speakers charge, and as yet there has been no denial by any lawyer of standing, that these I V. A. measures are so drawn that they will leave the state in a maze of legal - complexities that can be wunraveled _ only by years of litigation. f The I V. A. recall petitions were filed on September 15. They contain=- ed 74,000 names. ' The required num- - ber is 68,400. The I. V. A. has claim- * ed they would have .80,000 names. Numerous and specific charges. of fraud in securing names, and charges that many of the names are not those of legal voters, have been made by the: Nonpartisan league, but Secretary of State Hall, who is an I. V. A., filed the petitions and called the election be- fore -any opportunity had been given _ (Continued on page 14) : \ Recall Petitions Filed in North Dakota S