The nonpartisan leader. [volume], September 13, 1917, Image 8

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
3
$
BY E. B. FUSSELL
WHEN
BANNERS CARRIED
BY AUTOMOBILES
Above—Lynn Thompson telling the Minnesota farmers at Alexandria of the
benefits that labor has received from organization and advising them to stick
to their sixteen-cylinder machine "and drive it to the limit."
Below—Charles J. Lindstrom, "that little, dried-up, wizened farmer" and the
flag presented to him for the Mde and Urness farmers' band.
A Real Labor Day
Meeting
Remarkable Demonstration of Farmers and
Working Men at Alexandria, Minn.—
Five Thousand Attend
townspeople of Alexan­
dria, Minn., came downtown
to their places of business the
other day they started rubbing
their eyes. It was Monday,
September 3. It was labor day, Jhe
townspeople knew that. But why
Bhould so many farmers be in town?
Why was it that every street was
packed, jammed full, with farmers'
automobiles and teams? What inter
est could the farmers have in Labor
day? They ought to be back on the
farms, laboring on next year's crops.
Then the townspeople remembered.
Yes, they had heard something about
the farmers celebrating Labor day
themselves. A fellow named Townley
was going to |p.lk to them. They re
membered that representatives of the
farmers had asked the Commercial
club to co-operate with them to make
the meeting a success, but the Com
mercial club didn't think.much of it
and had turned the plan down cold.
The farmers kept pouring in. Every
road was black with them. They came
In delegations from every town of
Douglas county, of which Alexandria
Is the county seat. They came in
droves from Grant county to the west,
from Otter Tail county, to the north,
from Pope and. Stevens to the south.
Every car had a sign on it Indicating
what township the owner came from
and bearing "a motto, too. The autos
•were decorated with flags and bunting.
The townspeople had seen plenty of
flags and bunting. A week before
Alexandria had celebrated Loyalty day.
Loyalty day had brought out the
largest crowd that Alexandria had ever
seen up to that time, a crowd estimated
at 6000 people. But this crowd was
bigger even than the Loyalty day
crowd, it showed just as much flags
and bunting and those cards with the
queer mottoes besides.
One bunch of automobiles, for In
stance, had these signs:
Holmes City: We believe in or
ganization.
Then there was:
Brandon Town: United for
square deal.
FIVE OR SIX THOUSAND
PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE
THOMPSON PLEDGES LABOR AID FOR FARMERS' MOVEMENT
1
Another, short and pat, was just this:
Osakis: We'll Stick
s-
Some of the other signs were:
"Lake Mary: We battle for our
rights."
"Hudson: United we win."
"Urness: Divided we fall."
"Solem: We stand for our rights."
"Lund: Jjistice to all."
"Alexandras.: Organized for honesty."*
"Evansville: Equal rights to all."
"Carlos: Our rights must be up
held."
"Ida: In the race to win."
"Millersville: In union there is
strength."
"Spruce Hill: Organized for our
rights."
One resident of Alexandria, of an in
quiring turn of mind, started to count
automobiles. He counted 1000, and told
the writer he had forgotten to go over
to the baseball park, where many more
cars were parked.
At 11 o'clock there was a big auto
mobile parade, headed by the Moe and
Urness cornet band, composed of 25
farmers, dressed in blue overalls and
Jumpers and wide white straw hats.
But not nearly all the autos could get
In, there were too many of them.
After the parade it was lunch time.
Many of the farmers had been wise
and brought their lunches with them.
Those who hadn't were out of luck.
The writer of this account didn't bring
his lunch along, and he knows- At 15
minuee before one I tried restaurant
after restaurant and^found their doors
locked. They hadn't" figured on much
of a crowd coming to town. They
been eaten out of house and home and
had locked their doors to prevent more
people from getting in. After being
turned down at three places I got the
last piece of beef tongue there was at
a fourth restaurant I took beef tongue
because It was a choice between tongue
and nothing, and after I had eaten that
piece of tongue it was a choice be
tween nothing and nothing.
Long before 1 o'clock, when the
meeting was due to begin, the farmers
and their families started flocking to
ward the courthouse grounds, where
the meeting was to be held, and by 2
o'clock, when the speak«m were ready,
they were faced by a throng that at a
fc if uiyt £L
PAGE BIGHT
mm
S-.
conservative guess contained from 6000
to 6000 people, stretching in every di
rection as far as the voice could carry.
Because it was Labor day, and be
cause the interests of the workers of
the country and city are really the
same, Lynn Thompson, a leader of the
Minneapolis Trades & Labor, council,
was introduced as the first speaker.
Thompson was given a big hand. He
congratulated the farmers on their do*
cision to organize in Minnesota.
'.*We need your help and yon need
ours," he said "and between us veil
elect a new governor in the state of
Minnesota."
The crowd cheered.
PRESIDENT TOWNLEY
THEN INTRODUCED
Thompson told how labor men, long
ago, had learned the necessity of or
ganizing, but spoke of the smaller ex
pense connected with the fanners' or
ganizations on account of the large
membership. One labor organization,
he mentioned, had been forced to in
crease Its annual dues from $60 to $100.
Thompson warned the farmers to
pay no attention to enemies who woold
tell them that organization was ct no
use, or that money was not needed. He
"H you've got an auto some people
-\K Ci
may tell you 10 save money by running
it on one cylinder. But we don't want
any one-cylinder maehlne and neither
do you. What you want is a 16-cylin
der machine, hitting on every cylinder,
and drive it to the limit." The crowd
cheered again.
Then President A. C. Townley of the
National Nonpartisan league was in
troduced. President Townley told the
farmers he was no stranger to that
section. He had been raised on a
Minnesota farm, and had gone through
the Alexandria high school.
"When I went to high school ia
Alexandria," said Townley, "the busi«
ness men used to be pretty progressive.
They used to have a band and get it out
to furnish music whenever there was a
big meeting in town. But they dont
seem to be so progressive now they
didnt get any band out to welcome the
farmers.
"But the farmers have been lucky*
enough to have a band of their own.
4
1*
to be able to make their own musia
Pn sure we're all glad to have had a
real farmers' band with us today, since
the Commercial club wasn't progres
sive enough to get out a band for the
farmers.
"And I want to call on that little,
dried-up, wizened farmer that they had
mm*
*§&<1