The nonpartisan leader. [volume], September 16, 1918, Image 11

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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good farming as few men have been
given to see them. If ever there was
a man entitled to the respect of his
neighbors and the praise of his
friends, it is Wes Randell. Yet he
was made to suffer the humiliation
and ignominy of arrest simply be
cause he had incurred the ill will of
one tf the sycophants of the Greater
Iowa association, and was dragged 30
miles, to another county seat, to an
swer to a charge for which the pen
alty is sometimes death.
"The crime for which Wes Randell
was arrested was this^ In private
conversation with Robert* Shanahan,
secretary of the Oskaloosa Commer
cial club (which organization is close
ly affiliated with the Greater Iowa as
sociation), he suggested that there
was not time upon the well-filled pro
gram of a farmers' neighborhood club
meeting for Mr. Shanahan to make a
speech. Angered beyond all' reason,
Mr. Shanahan caused an information
to be filed against Wes Randell, be
fore the United States commissioner
at Ottumwa, charging him with se
dition. The affair 'is plainly a part
of the state-wide conspiracy on the
part of the Greater Iowa association and its allied
civic bodies—the chambers of commerce of a hun
dred or more towns and cities—to humble and de
grade the farmer at every turn, to ignore him
politically, and to arrest, intimidate, terrorize and
severely punish every farmer who dares, to as
-sert that he have a choice in public affairs or be
anything more, for all time to come, than a mere
-echo of their opinibns.
"Whatever Mi'. Shanahan's purpose in going to
Cedar, he made it clear that he proposed to de
liver his speech, no matter how long the program,
already prepared and no matter whether he was
invited to speak or not. When Wes Randell mod
estly suggested that the program was long, and
that it might be better for a special meeting to be
arranged (proffering* the schoolhouse, free of
charge, on any date Mr. Shanahan might set) he
was forthwith accused of being opposed to the
Thrift and War Savings stamps, of being opposed
to the government, of being opposed to the war.
When Mr. Shanahan arose to speak (which he did
at the very beginning of the meeting, consuming
the greater part of the two hours for which a pro
gram had been arranged by the club) he launched
forth into a most violent, bitter and unjustified at
tack upon Wes Randell, his neighbors and the
whole township. The audience sat aghast! They
could hardly believe their ears! Mr. Shanahan
announced that the whole township was yellow,
that it was a hotbed of pro-Germanism, that one
of the
moBt
rampant of the pro-Germans had at­
tempted to prevent his. speaking.
ARRESTED FOR FAILING
TO APPLAUD HOG WASH
"When the day pet for the trial arrived and Wea
Randell, accompanied by a score of farmer friends
and witnesses, arrived too, the United States com
missioner lost no time in dismissing the case. He
had found absolutely no ground for the charge ever
having been filed. He is said to have told Wes
Randell that 'if Bob Shanahan ever appeared at
the Cedar school again to kick him out.' There are
plenty of farmers around Cedar willing and anxious
to do it, too. Randell's bondsmen, were dismissed
there had never been anything to the charge against
-him—it was ail a part of the plot to pillory men
who have the bravery.to defy the Greater Iowa
association and its tools—the various commercial
clubs of the state."
Abp"ut the time of the persecution of Farmer
Randell, three men, one a Boston newspaper man,
the other two well-known, reputable citizens of
loWa, yrere arrested at Osceola for discussing pri
vately together the\groB8 misstatements they had
.'just heard in a speech by the assistant secretary
2 of the Greater Iowa association. Haled before a,
"kangaroo court at, midnight, they were /insulted
Mby this gang of w^U-dressed toughs and threatened
with "necktie parties" and tar and feathers. Among
the men present at this "court" was the sheriff of
the county, -who .wanted to put the men in jail.
The county attorney refused to sanction such high
handed ac$ion. Of thisNMr. Pierce writes:
"The 'court,' which assembled at midnight and
.which proceeded to hale the three men before it
£rid to'pass judgment upon them for their, treason/
-W9s :headed by Harty Talbott, president of the
Talbott GrAin & Coal company, which is vainly
endeavoring :to compete with (and therefore hps
no use for) the. farmers' co-operative elevators in^
Clarke county^aptr* Talbott proceeded tor make .•
5*
One of the tile factories at Mason City, Iowa. This and the cement plants
comprise the principal industries of the city. The corporations owning these
plants are the backbone of the Greater Iowa association, which is fighting the
League. What kind of men are they? Well, before the war, the tilework
ers struck for fairer working conditions. The secretary of the commercial
club boasted at that time that he had forced the men back to their toil by in
ducing the merchants to go on a strictly cash basis and starve the em
ployes into submission. You bet they can't starve the farmero.
himself prosecuting attorney, judge and jury and
executioner of the 'kangaroo court.' The charge
against the trio was most serious in subsequent
conversation 'Judge' Talbott acknowledged to a
Homestead representative that he himself was a.
witness of the crime they had failed to applaud
a single utterance of Mr. Moss of the Greater Iowa
association they had sat silent throughout his en
tire harangue. For this, and for their subsequent
private conversation in the hotel office, they- were
arrested, Jat midnight, forced to appear before the
self-appointed 'court,' having no power whatever to
arrest or try them, and were threatened with such
dire punishment as seems impossible even to imag
ine under the circumstances!"
ANONYMOUS LETTERS
AND THREATS
Editor Pierce finds that anonymous letters are
being made use of as a .means of bluffing farmers,
letters by men and organizations too cowardly to
use theii* (awn dames and at the same time pretend
ing to Tiave authority. The following letter of
threats and lies about the League is typical of what
many Iowa farmers have received:
TO MEMBERS OF NONPARTISAN LEAGUE
Each party who Joins this League will find his name in
the hands of the proper authorities. The head of this League
and six of bis myin men are nnder arrest for disloyalty. They
axe the rankest kind of Socialists. By Joining this League
yf *re encouraging disloyalty and may get into serious trou
ble. The solicitor who saw you made $8 on you.' That other
$8 the men in the office got. All you got {B a bunch of lies.
They are grafters and yon must get out of it as fast as you
can. Tou do not want to encourage socialism, do you? They
may tell yon that they are formed Just to help the farmer.
They are aU Socialists. The head of it is a Socialist and
under arrest for speaking socialism. They tell you it is
merely on good roads. That is'just to get your money. They
are worse than the W. WJ. Tie socialistic idea is that the
state shall own all property.. This means your farm'and per-'
sonal property, too. They may tell yon not. But all you have
to do is to read their platform. The fellow who saw you will
tell yon anything tq get your money.
We are formed to warn the farme* of the danger in Join
ing such an organisation. Get out of it as fast as yon can.
FARMERS' ASSOCIATION OF SIOUX CITY.
The_name of this association, at most an asso
ciation of "side^yalk faimers," was signed on the
typewriter.
BOYCOTTED FOR
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS v-
Another case cited by Mr. Pierce inhere mob rule
was substituted for
LAW
and order,
IS
Swiss .family in northern Iowa, whose religious
tenets were opposed to physical resistance of any
kind. Through failure to understand the situation,
the members of this family thought that their re
ligion would prevent them from voluntarily sub
scribing to Liberty bonds.
"The result,"-says the Homestead, "was that a
social and business boycott was instituted against
the entire family (itself a statutory crime in Iowa)
a yellow monument was erected in the center of
the town, near which they lived, with the names of
all the members of the family inscribed on it local
merchants refused to have business dealings with
them, and the bank in which they were stockhold
ers competed them to sell their stock. They were
absolutely shunned and cot off from the world and
yet they-did not recant, any more than the martyrs
of old repented under the thumbscrew and the
stake. Things went from bad to worse and the
wiser, more conservative feeads of the community
began tb wish that some "other means had been
used,"
When an outside- cattle fcuyer.tor instance,-put
into the town atockyarcUr abm& cattle which he hadv
PAGE- ELEVEN
that of a
purchased of the family, the gateC,.
were opened at night and the cattle
scattered through the country. As„ ,,
an -indication of what lawful methods
would have accomplished, a lawyer
sent out to the community by the Iowa
Homestead was able to smooth ^mt the
entire difficulty and to get a contri
bution. of $1,100 from the family for
the Red Cross to make up for their
failure to purchase bonds previously*'
Yet when this lawyer went to La
fayette Young, chairman of the state
council of defense, that public official
had told him that if he went into that
community on a mission of harmony
the people there had his entire per
mission to ride him out of town on
a rail.
But the effects of official justifica
tion and backing of mob rule are not
wiped out so easily. In this same
community each bit of small-town
gossip and rumor was regarded by
some hotheads as an excuse for mob
violence. The citizens began to settle
private grudges and old scores by
starting these rumors. Not only were
innocent people submitted to personal
violence and yellow paint, but on two
different occasions house-burning parties started
out but were frustrated by fortunate thunder
storms.
What is the duty of a patriot? Is there- any
higher loyalty than is found in this declaration of
Iowa's greatest farm paper:
The Iowa Homestead proposes to devote
itself—heart, soul and pocketbook—to bring
ing law and order. To this end, it hereby re
quests all readers to report to it, without de
lay, any incident in line with those set forth
herewith, wherein any farmer is terrorized or
made to suffer any physical or material in
jury^ The Homestead will investigate every
case reported and, when the facts are found to
warrant it, will put the matter in the hands of
the best attorney that money can hire, with in
structions to him to probe to the bottom and
bring the guilty parties (no matter who they
are, or how prominent they may be in the
state) to bar without delay. Before anarchy
gains too firm a grip, before our state stands
pilloried before all the others as an abode of
lawlessness, THE REIGN OF TERROR IN
IOWA MUST END!"
How Some Banks Fight
the Farmer
0 WHAT desperate lengths will the
special interests go to defeat the or
ganized farmers Here is a letter,
which standing by itself does not have
much significance, but taken in con
nection with other information re­
veals the .last hope of hampering the move for
better marketing. It was written from Creighton,
Neb., -and follows:
"Am sending back my certificate of membership
as I do not care to join the League just at present.
I was to Wausa yesterday and the bankers all
talked against it, so I think I will wait awhile yet."
It is best not to give the farmer's~ name, al
though he is the only one so far to have been in-,
fluenced by this crafty propaganda. The thing for
a farmer to do when he is ganged by his banker
is to remember what Tom L. Johnson wrote in his
book, "My Story." Johnson was a millionaire steel
manufacturer and street railway magnate. He
served as mayor of Cleveland and as an Ohio rep
resentative in congress. This is what he said about,
banking
"The people's money goes into the banks in
the form of deposits. The banker uses this
money to capitalize public service corporations
which are operated for private profit instead of for
the benefit of the people. How incongruous that
the people's own savings should be used by priviv
lege to oppress them!"
Hold that in mind and then read this account
from the New Northwest, of Missoula, on what
occurring in Montana: ,v
"One director of a northern Montana bank is not
in sympathy with the attitude of the banks towards'
the Nonpartisan league. Each banker in the north-,
ern district watches for checks given by farmers
to the League and before cashing them takes a car
antf drives immediately to his place to- persuade
him that the League is a dangerous organization
and operated by a^buifch oft political' ^aftersl^/fife--