The Montana nonpartisan. [volume], February 22, 1919, Image 1

About The Montana nonpartisan. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1918-192?

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Official Publication oi the National Nonpartisan League in the State of Montana
THE MONTANA NONPARTISAN
VOLUME 8 GRAT FALLS, MONTANA, SATURDAY, T A, FEBRUARY , 1o1 NUMBR 7.
THE. REFERENbUM
LEAGUE LEGISLATION BUTCHERED
GANG GOUGE PROGRESSIVE BILLS
COPP[R COLLAR STILL SUPREME
Stillman Stirs Them Up.
HERD LAW IN SUCH SHAPE THAT OWN GRANDAD WOULD
NOT KNOW IT. COMPENSATION LAW SHOT TO PIECES
AND BURIED WHILE IMPOSTER WALKS AROUND AND
SMILES. SAME FATE MEETS MANY OTHER GOOD MEAS
URES. GANG IN COMPLETE CONTROL DIGGING GRAVE
FOR 1920 FUNERAL. LEAGUERS PUT UP STIFF FIGHT
AND SMILE.
Reports from Helena show very
little progress in getting work done
and a great deal of noise about noth
ing. The copper crowd have things
well in hand and are mixing the medi
cine to suit themselves. The League
delegation are putting up a fight for
legislation along the lines of the pro
gram, but all sorts of obstructionist
tactics are being resorted to in com- 1
mittee to keep the bills from the floor
of the house.
The plan seems to be to kill off the
League bills before they have a
chance to get into the house or sen
ate, and to substitute fake laws un
der the same title. This is a very
old trick and no one is going to be
deceived thereby and it will be found
that this proceedure will be sufficient
to defeat the parties who so conspired
at the next election.
Herd Law.
As an instance of this method of
deception, the herd law as it is now
amended or butchered, is perfectly
uselew and in fact detrimental to the
farmers and is entirely in favor of
the stockmen. It involves a great deal
of legal proceedure which is always
fearfully expensive as any farmer
knowi and it will be poor comfort to a
man whose crop has been damaged
by stock, to find that the cost of col
lection saved is greater than the
amount of the damage.
It is up to the farmer under the
provisions of this bill to take his case
for damages into a "court of proper
jurisdiction" and see whether he can
prove a case. The county attorney
is to take the case up if requested.
Thus the gentlemen who so loudly
proclaim their affection for the far
mer are seen to be at the same old
game of doing the will of "Big Biz."
The Supreme Court.
Another piece of copper manipula
tion is increasing the state supreme
court from three to five. It has been
found that the personnel of the pres
ent court have undertaken to admin
ister justice no matter what interests
were involved, and this of course does
not meet with the approval of the A.
C. M. who look upon the highest tri
bunal in the state as an instrument
with which to work their will on the
producers.
Just as they never reason un
til they had driven from office
the best United States attorney
this district ever had, B. K.
Wheeler and substituted in his
place someone whom they felt
sure would prove more pliable to
their orders, so the copper crowd
have set about nullifying the ef
feet of Justice Cooper and his as
sociates. Cooper, it will be re
membered was elected with the
endorsation of the Nonpartiusa
League and is quite fearless, able
and unbiased, hence his presence
on the supreme bench is a per
etual sore to the invisible govern
ment on the sixth floor of the
Heannesy building.
However, these maneuvers are
serving to advertise as nothing else
could the bare faced Autocracy of the
powers that be in this state, and will
return a hundred fold at the 1920
election where the people will judge
between the League and Copper.
Compensation BilL
The same method has been applied
in dealing with the Compensation
Act. W. F. Dunn introduced a bill
providing for generous compensation
and covering vocational diseases,
closely modeled on the Ohio Act
which is recognised by industrial in
surance experts as one of the best
on the American continent. The
company however, under whose Au
tocratic employment hundreds of mi
ners and smeltermen have died of
miner's tuberculosis, lead and arsenic
poisoning stood to pay for these by
this and the adoption of a bill cov
ering vocational diseases would
therefore be altogether against the
copper profits. Consequently the
minions of the A. C. M. have intro
duced another one from which
these features are absent and it ap
pears likely to carry all of which will
be faithfully recorded and presented
to the electorate when the time comes.
Stillman Stirs Them Up.
Meanwhile a little humor has been
injected into an otherwise dreary
business by a "Satan reproving sin"
performance on the part of D. M.
Kelly of Silver Bow county. Mr.
Kelly wanted the house to take some
action in protecting the members of
the house from the calumnies of the
political libeler. We reproduce part
of his speech herewith and note that
nothing is said of the scandulous li
bel continually spread over the state
against the Nonpartisan league of
ficers and members. Mr. Kelly's so
licitude for the tender feeling of Sil
ver Bow legislators, did not also cov
er the person of Messrs. Harrington,
Dunn and Bulware of the Labor dele
gation and since there seems to be
ample proof that the delegation
from "the hill," with the exception
of Dunn and Harrington, were seat
ed by election fraud, Mr. Kelly should
not complain that somebody gets up
and says something about it.
Mr. Kelly said in part that he did
not know whether fraudulent votes
were cast in Silver Bow county last
fall and asked to have an investiga
tion, but if Mr. Kelly does not know,
the general public are wondering
who does. He said "I and my col
legues do not want these seats, if we
are not the choice of the majority of
the voters of Silver Bow county. We
do not care to sit here from day to
(Continued on Page Four)
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A CHANGE NOT ALWAYS A REST
A PRAE LETTER
i Londoi Mills, Ill., February 10, 1919.
Mr. John F. Burnett.
Dear Sir: We, the pe of the richest and most prosper.
Sous and most influential try of the world, the United
States, are faoing two most questions today: Aristocracy
or Democracy, and the two *hich will follow inevitably, Mili
tarism or Freedom of Speech, which shall it be.
Our soldiers have shown the spirit of God, both physically
and morally in their bravery k'Over There" in ending the most
criminal and bloody war the ..vcrld has ever known. Now are
weto fall back in the very ut so many lives were sacrificed
to get out of, or are we going to build a higher standard for the
future welfare of our people. i
If we have Militarism it means Autocracy and then we
will be following the very tracks of Germany, which will mean
a great humiliation of the people of this country sooner or
later.
° If we are to have Freedom of Speech and Demooracy, we
the Farmers and Laborers of America must make ourselves
heard through the governments of this government. We must
not leave it to the War Lords to speak for us, for they are -
clamoring for Militarism in every state in the union.
There is but one way to combat this movement and that
is to join an organization with broad views that cover all these
points, cutting out profiteers, grafters, junkers and reaction
ary politicians and thus get a cleaner government and better
laws for the farmer.
It is time for us to wake up and let it be known what we
want, and then get it.
I wish you would investigate the Nonpartisan leagne, send
in for a year's subscription to the paper and join it. You will
find it covers all the points of the farmers and is really doing
things for the farmers, and is not afraid to print the truth.
Don't listen to what those reactionary politicians say, for
we have furnished them with a fat j q at purse at our ex
= pease long eOnigh.
= Investigate the League, you will never regret it.
Your friend,
NELSON ALPAUGH,
Geraldine, Mont.
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MONTANA MEMBERS SOLID
MAJORITY ELECT TOWNLEY
GANG UTTERLY DISPAIR
Slander Proves Boomerang.
CAMPAIGN OF SLANDER COMES HOME TO ROOST. GANG
EXPECTED TO DISCREDIT TOWNLEY, BUT FOUND THEY
HAD BEEN BARKING UP WRONG TREE-MONTANA MEM
BERS VOTE SOLIDLY FOR MAN WHO HAS LED LEAGUE
IN MOSBT TROUBLESOME PERIOD-BIG BIZ SAID TO BE
GOING OVER KEPT PRESS BUNCH TO FIND OUT WHAT
HAS HAPPENED-PEOPLE REPUDIATE SLANDEROUS
METHODS AND ADMINISTER JUST REBUKE TO TAR.
BRUSH ARTISTS.
Only 80 League members in Mon
tana out of the League membership
of about 25,000 in the state are dis
satisfied with the present leadership
and policies of the organisation.
This was proved beyond the possi
bility of a doubt by the vote in this
state in the League referendum re
cently held, in which the League mem
bers voted whether or not they
would sustain the national committee
of the organization in re-electing Mr.
Townley to another term as president
of the organization.
By a vote of 10,917 to 80, Mon
tana League members, in the re
cent referendum, have voted to
sustain the national committee!
This overwhelming vote of the
Montana farmers carries with it ap
proval of what the League has done
I to date and the plans it has already
outlined for the future. Every dis
satisfied members of the League in
e Montana of course east his vote
Sagainst the action' of the national
committee in re-electing Mr. Towiley
: -and there are only 80 dissatisfied
members in the League's big roll of
5 farmers in this state!
Grand Big Total
The referendum vote in the 18
states where the League is organiz
ed was as follows:
r For sustaining the League as
tional committee, 98,391.
Against sustaining the national
committee, 978.
Montana has the honor of giving
Mr. Townley and the League manage
ment and policies in general as over
whelming a vote of indorsement as
any other League state, not except
ing North Dakota. Of course, the
vote in all League states, especially
in North Dakota, is overwhelming
enough to put the League opposition
completely to rout. Scarcely one
member on a hundred in the 18
states as a wholq where the League
is organizing voted not to approve
the national committee, but the vote
is especially significant in Mon
tana.
The Montana League has faced
an opposition that would have
been too much for any organizas
tion which was not solidly united
and enthusiastic in its cause,
The Lieagu..,s A thetlie, .
oppisition of practicblly the en
tire daily press of the state; it is
fighting a political ring and a
copper and water power trust
that has dominated the state's
politics since the state was or
ganized; it has had to withstand
the open and underhanded attacks
of councils of defense and has
been persecuted with trumped-up
charges in the courts.
Yet Montana League members
have been unshaken by these
conditions. They have given a
demonstration of solidarity and
enthusiasm for their cause as
overwhelming as has been given
by League members of the other
states where it is organizing.
In North Dakota, the League mem
bers voted 28,875 to 219 to sustain
the national committee; in Minne
sota, the vote was 26,180 to 188 to
sustain the national committee; in
South Dakota, the vote was 11,027
to 264 to sustain the national com
mittee, and the proportion was prae
tically the same throughout the rest
of the 13 states where the organiza
tion is working.
Unanimous Verdict.
Never in the history of any organi
zation has there been so nearly a
unanimous agreement.
The referendum board met at
League headquarters, St. Paul, to
count the ballots on Jaunary 27. The
two Minnesota members of the board,
David H. Evans and Charles A. Lind
bergh, were present, as was Mark P.
Bates, the South Dakota member ap
pointed by the national committee to
supervise the count. Lynn J. Frazier
of North Dakota and H. F. Samuels
of Idaho, the other two members of
the board, could not be present. But
the board had a majority present and
the absent members sent telegrams
authorizing the three members pres
ent to proceed with the count with
out them.
The referendum board found all the
ballots from the 13 states in their
original envelopes, still unopened.
They filled four or five packing cases
and a trunk. To pen the envelopes
and count the ballots was a tremen
dous task. The board put several
groups of clerks to work. The bal
lots were first taken from their seal
ed envelopes and sorted as to states.
They were then put in piles "for" and
"against' sustaining the national
committee. All the ballots "for"
were done up in packages of 100 by
the clerks, and so were the ballots
"against," in the case of states where
there were more than 100 against-
but, alas! in only three out of the 13
states were there more than 1100
League members dissatisfied with the
work of the organization!
Letter Enclosed.
It was an immense task to sort and
count the ballots. Much time was
lost opening the envelopes, and it
took almost three days to finish the
counting, although about 15 clerks
were on the job under the supervision
of the canvassing board. Several
!rooms and tables were used, and bal
lots were stacked about in piles sev
eral feet high.
Besides this work, the clerks
had to take care of thausands of
letters which were inclosed by
League members with their bal
(Continued on Page Three)