The nonpartisan leader. [volume], February 01, 1917, Image 4

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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SENATORthe
C. W. McGray, chair­
man of North Dakota senate
Immigration committee, who is
a hold-over senator from McLean
county, apparently is one of anti
League ,members trying to work up
sentiment against the farmers' pro
grain throughout the state. Senator
McGray according to evidence repro
duced on this page, has had printed a
wholesale lot of copies of an editorial
condemning state elevators, flour mills,
packing plants, eta, which appeared
in the Hannah (N. D.) Moon. He is
sending these to bankers and other
supposedly Influential people with the
request that they use their efforts to
get the editorial printed in the various
town papers.
Senator McGray, if he is the au
thor of this move, as he appears to
be, has taken what he thinks is a
clever -course in influencing news
paper? to oppose the League plan.
He does not send his publicity stuff
to the newspapers he wants to
print it. He sends it to bankers
and other people he thinks have
power over the local newspaper,
believing the newspaper can be
lined up against the farmers by
local people better than they could
be by politicians of the McGray
type at Bismarck.
The Leader is in possession of one
of the alleged letters, addressed to
"Half A. Pence, cashier of the Dogden
State Bank, Dogden, N. D." The
writer says to this banker:
"I am enclosing you an editorial from
the Hannah Moon, weekly paper, which
I wish you would kindly see if \our
local paper will print."
PAPER REFUSES
TO PUBLISH IT
This editorial was offered to the Dod
gen News to reprint. The News has
forwarded it to the Leader with thin
notation on it:
"Dodgen News refuses to copy."
What was apparently Mr. McGray's
letter to the banker was on stationery
of the state senate, dated January 17
and is reproduced on this page.
The editorial inclosed for publication
In this campaign by the hold-over
senators against the League program
says:
"The state of North Dakota at the
present moment proposes to launch
Into aJmost every form of commercial
Sl!2 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
"N «ai7 s*~i
Mr* Half A. Pence,
Cashier Dogden Stat* panic.
Dogden, H. I.
Dear Sir:--
I am enclosing you an editorial from
•Hannah Moon" weekly paper, which wish you would
kindly see if your local paper will not copy.
Vith best wi shea, I cm.
.'8 *ha,r,n?'?- **k"
y°N
I
th«
r'
^n?°r,
rt
activity that has to do with the manu
facturing and marketing of the pro
ducts of the state. Terminal elevators,
flour mills, packing plants, banking,
loans, insurance, are a part of the pro
posed, experiments. To do this the
treasury must be depleted, our credit
strained and the state mortgaged and
bonded to the limit."
This, since Mr. McGray sends it out
and asks bankers to have it printed, is
his idea of the plans of the farmers.
It is a gross misstatement, such as was
circulated before the primaries and
election by inflammatory agitators to
stir up class prejudice against the
farmers. Mr. McGray is a senator.
The League program is before him to
be enacted into law. Yet he seems to De
absolutely ignorant of what it is, but ho
is against it anyway and wants to stir
up the bankers to get local newspapers
to fight it.
FACTS MISSTATED
IN SENATE LETTER
The League proposes with the al
nyjst unanimous indorsement of the
people, to have the state build and
operate a few staCe-owned industries,
to be built after careful plans and
consideration. It does not propose to
"launch into almost every form of
commercial activity that has to do the
manufacturing and marketing of the
products of the state." Secondly, the
farmers do not propose to bond or
mortgage the Btate, "strain its credit"
or "deplete" its treasury. The consti
tution the League senators and repre
sentatives have drafted for this legis
lature to submit to the people limits
the indebtedness of the state that can
be contracted after the constitution is
adopted to 1500,000. But it is not pro
posed to even mortgage the state to
that extent. The proposed new constitu
tion specifically permits and the farm-''
ers' legislators specifically propose to
issue NO bonds against the state. They
propose to issue bonds AGAINST THE
INDUSTRIES THEY PROPOSE TO
ESTABLISH, letting the Earning
power of the industries take care of
the principal and interest, just as the/
state took care of its bonds to build the
state twine plant,-WITHOUT TAXING
THE PEOPLE FOR IT AT ALL.
The editorial sent out with the ap
proval of Senator McGray to bankers
also says:
"To do this (carry o,ut the farmers'
program) our steady-gging old charter,
called the constitution, which has given
'v C/Vi'rV.'-
Here is Proof of What Some of the N. D. Senators Are Doing
Jeauary 17, 1917.
Yours rery truly.
On the left is a photographic reproduction of a letter aent to a banker at Dogden, N. D. It is on stationery of the N. D, senate immioratmn
which
which the banker is to influence his focal paper to printy inclosed in the letter, appears at the right, also a photographic reproduction. On the hottom of thm
pipping containing the attack the editor of the Dodgen paper has written: "Dogden News refuses to copy.* This is an honest editor. He saw throuah the aame.
The writer of the letter from the senate forgot to sign his name after he dictated the letter. The notation on the bottom left hand earn** «rf th. 1
shows it was dictated by "CWMcG" to a stenographer whose initials are "ACE." "CWMcGP
Senior McGray dictated the letter and forgot to ,ign it. IT IS ON HIS COMMITEE STATIONERY AND THE DICTATION NOTATION HAS
u*«'*
S,ad Pr5nt thia attack
jrnkerj^ Dakota can read it. Isnt that fair enough, Mr. McGray? Isn't that more circulation than you hoped to get for this clipping through the
By the Editor of the Leader
lb Worth Careful Consideration
Tha tanner wBo owns 111* f»nn uJ
Ma sous fc*n)E account concludes
that lie Till experiment with a (mall
berd of pore bred Ctjdes, Percherons,
Shorthorns. CoUwolda, Dorlaa or Bar
red Rocka, or th*t wfll low a halt
mction-to corn, alfalfa, llax, rye, tim
othy, pea*, or sren peanuts, iiqatM
Justified in """"t the experiment. He
'-VIT a chpnee within his means.
He may win oat in the enterprise. He
nubile benefactor. Hla eSorta
make for true progress. What should
we of this farmer, however, II
ba should exhanat hla bank aeoouat,
mortcace hla farm and atraia his
credit to go Into *1) of these In ®M
and .the «am* year? At the end of
two or three yeare what would be his
rating in the community or' Brad*
atreets? He would land exactly where
the farmer landed who broke op MY
•ral sections and sowed It In lias
when the drought track It. Down
and oat The etato ot North Dakota
•t the preeent moment prepoees to
banc* oat Into a great variety oJ
experiments. It proposes to go lata
almost every fori*, ot eraanardal
actlTity has to do with tha nana*
factoring and peAeUpk of tha pro
ducts of the state. Tt7toiaal elevator*
Boor mills, packing plants, bsnlrtng,
loans, insurance, area part cf the pro
posed experiments. To do this tha
treasury must be depleted, oar crtdit
atralnad and the state mortgaged or
banded to the limit To da this oar
steady-gotng old charter, called tha
•oeatitetion. which has given aa proa-
tlx
banker to have his local newspaper print an attack on the farmers' program in the present legislature. The attack
stends
fw- Senator
W
on a
ua prosperity for over a quarter of a
century and made us envied by every
state in the union, must be torn to
shreds and a new charter substituted
to meet the needs of our great experi
ments."
BETTER GOVERNMENT
THE ONLY OBJEffT
Of course it is not true that League
senators and representatives propose
to tear the ojd constitution "to shreds."
This is another untrue, inflammatory
statement to work up prejudice against
the farmers. A few only of the consti
tutional provisions are intended to be
changed. Besides permitting the
farmers" program to be carried out, it
is merely proposed to give the state
a better government by providing for
four-year terms of office, with elections
between presidential elections, to.
abolish national party influence and
money in state elections permitting
the short ballot, with more responsive
and responsible government giving
the people the right to recall public
officers giving the people a workable
initiative and referendum in place of
the restricted and almost useless one
the politicians of the McGray stripe
gave them.
The rest of the statements of the
above paragraph of the hold-over sen
ator's editorial hardly needs answering.
The people of NortH Dakota know all
about the "prosperity" they have en
joyed "for over a quarter of a century."
They know all about the highway rob
bery In the market place, "feed" wheat,
crooked grades and the middlemen's
system tha£ has been in incubus on
their necks and has made the farmer
the brother of the ox. So other states
have "envied" this condition of the
farmer? It doesn't look like it, when
farmers by the thousands are organiz
ing in other states to do exactly what
the North Dakota farmers hope to do,
in spite of the prejudice, the bitter op
position, the untrue attacks and the
"people-be-damned" policy of such
politicians as Mr. McGray.
NO BETTER MARKETS
POSSIBLE, HE SAYS
FOUR
The McGray appeal to bankers goes
on to say:
"With all these experiments in full
swing North, Dakota will not be as
sured of better markets than she has
at the present time."
Well, will North Dakota be as­
perlty for over a quarter of a century
and made us envied by every state In
the union, muct be torn to shreds and
anew charter substituted to meet tha
needs of our great experiment la tha
etate any wiser In taking along gam
bling than the farmer Joel
cited With all these axperfcnsats In
full swing North Dakota will not be
assured ot any better marketa than
she baa at the pressnt time. A farm
er with three fat steers In his corral
cannot control the beet market of the
United States 'no mora can the farm
ers of North Dakota control the nlar
kets of the world. When we get our
products ground te a. pulp wa are
compelled to throw It oat on the mar
ket In competition with similar pro
ducts —in.tiny (ma enterprises
which have passsd the experimental
stage. By specialised effort, skilled
labor, scientific management and the
mastery of economic drtalls bpaght by
a half century of experience tha pri
vate owned and operated manufactur
ing plants can back us clear off (ha
•tap on the competitive market Why
do .we buy our flour sow In Minne
apolis with scores ot flour mills stand-1
tag Idle over the state 7 Why do wa
ship our cream to Minneapolis and tha
weeds growing up around scores o(
creameries In this state? What God*
given virtues has state-owned enter*
prise over private enterprise? We ba
tieve .this Is a good time for every
laaa oven farmers—to exerdae cau
tion and sound business sense.—Tke
Hlirtiah Hooo.
,v
h°Wm9i.
a
Senator McGray, shown on the right above, so that 100,000 reader*
H|T?n"tIAL&
sured of any WORSE markets,
when grades are made fair, when
useless middlemen's profits are
eliminated, when the producer can
get a fairer share of what he pro
duces and the consumer can buy
.without paying toll to the gamb
lers in food products? Will they
be any WORSE, Mr. McGray? And
isn't there a chance for them to be
BETTER?
Further on the editorial says: "By
specialized effort, skilled labor, scien
tific management and the mastery of
economic details, bought by half a cen
tury of experience, the private-owned
and-operated manufacturing plants can
back us clear off the map on the com
petitive market"
So? Has any private postal system
backed Uncle Sam's government-owned
postal system off the map? Has any
private-owned school system backed
the state-owned school system off the
map? Have private terminals ""-i
privately owned marketing machinery
backed the state-owned cotton mar
keting system of the state of Louisiana
off the map? Have privately-owned
grain elevators, cold storage plants and
docks in Seattle, Wash., backed
Seattle publicly-owned facilities ot
this kind off the map? Come again.
Senator McGray. The people are too
b'gJ° b®
Pushed off the map. The state
of North Dakota is too big to be push
ed off the map,
WE'LL ADMIT IT
FOR ARGUMENT'S SAKE
Let us admit, if necessary, that nri«
vately-owned mills and elevators, as
this editorial says, can be made effi
cient by "pkilled labor, scientific man-
and
mastery
!n
of economic de­
tail. But whom are they made effi
cient for? Fo* YOU? Never. Thev
are made efficient for PROFITS FOR
PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS.
Do
you
think private capital, monopolizing our
ft'*3'
ta,
»uttInir economies,
skilled help, scientific management!
fc-.
order to increase the price paid
to farmers for grain and live stock,
and lessen the price consumers have
to pay? Hardly. They may give you
a few crumbs from the table, but they
win carve and serve to. themselves the
roasted bird of profits. Do you think
somebody else is going to get some
thing for YOU? You have waited 2S
years under the present North Dakota
(Continued on page 16)
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