The nonpartisan leader. [volume], June 30, 1919, Image 7

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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this in the Leader.
Besides the huge loss which
t£e government would thus sus
tain there is another danger—a
danger which threatens labors
Before the war there was little
American shipping on the seas,
so little in fact that the govern
ment was forced to go into the
business of building ships.
Those who had shipping reg
istered, it under foreign flags to
escape provisions of the Amer-5
ican shipping law. The Amer
ican law provided just terms for
sailors on vessels entering Amer
ican ports. It was known as the
La Follette seamen's law and
was bitterly attacked by great
business interests.
Ti
1
I
v6e^cfe
I HE attitude of the American soldier toward the peace treatjr
is indicated by the following excerpt from an editorial on
the subject in Stars and Stripes, official organ of the Amer
ican expeditionary forces in France:
If the American delegation to- the conference had written the
terms there is no doubt they would have been different. But
if some of the fine idealism", some of the altruistic perspective of
President Wilson's 14 points is lacking from the mandate that the
vanquished enemy must accept, there is still, underlying the whole
stern message of reparation, punishment and unyielding command, the
•"l promise of the league of nations.
The peace treaty is written in the bitter blood of millions the
league is traced in the hoping letters of life for those for whom the
millions died.
It musfte remembered that the men who edit Stars and Stripes
"are still under military discipline. Possibly they can not express
themselves as strongly as they might wish. There can be no doubt
that the soldiers are right when they point to the "bitter blood"
apparent in the peace treaty and that they realize the disregard
uf the 14 points.
We join in their hope that the league of nations will be able,
eventually, to undo the harm that we firmly believe is done in
the rest of the peace treaty. But the league of nations is being
given a bad start.
THE SHIPPING PROBLEM
HE question of what to do with our shipping is now agitat
ing congress. There is, of
course, the move to turn
the vessels over to the shipping
trust at much less than they'
cost the government to build.
There has been attention paid
That law has riot been re
pealed, The rigid American pro
visions for the protection of
seaman still stand." Will the per
sons who obtain the ships built
by the government, if they are
permitted, to buy them and op
erate them privately, conform
to these laws after the war when
they refused before it Or will
the ships, after the government
sells them, be transferred to
foreign business by the new own?:
ers? There is no reason to be
lieve that the American shipping trust will fly the American flag
on the high seas for patriotic reasons when they believe there is
ah advantage in flying the flag of some other nation.
THE PEACE TREATY LEAK
HE fact that Wall street got a copy of the peace treaty be
fore the United States senate received its copy is not at all
surprising when it is reflected that the peace conference at
Paris has been letting any but those most interested obtain copies
as they would.
While Clemenceau refused to allow the chamber of deputies to
have an authenticated copy of the treaty, other copies, containing
the whole text, were for sale on the streets of Paris. A newspaper
correspondent received one and brought it with him to the United
States, and still the senate didn't get a copy.
And yet, every member of the peace commission agreed to the
proposal of "open covenants, openly arrived at." Bourbonism ig in
the saddle at Paris.' The government of the United States is bound
by custoiri and diplomatic usage to withhold the treaty until it is
officially agreed by the other powers that it should be made public
Wall street and the other interests are bound by no fcuch agreement,
halted by no such custom.
?7«^But"the big question will not down. Why was the treaty of
_i
peace congress, whe
withheld in Paris? President Wilson's explanations of the
_i. .. *-j.- _j* i*
The Sower's Prayer
(After a Scandinavian Idea.)
Now -in the fields I've put the seed,
And, Lord, I've done my best indeed
Look now with kindness, Father dear,
To all the little kernels here!
Protect my fields from winds and frosts,
From every pest—the insect hosts.
Stay with thy hand the tempest's hail
Lord, grant my labors do not fail.
Give rugged health instead of gold
For my whole fate your hands now hold.
My work, my home, in peace to live—
Is all I ask of you to give.
God—Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Send rains when they are needed most,
But if my prayers selfish seem,
Lord, give to me as best you deem.
—John F. Talcott, Weethope, N. D.
JOHN SCOTP, PARMER—HIS LETTER
HE "Farmer," a so-called farm magazine published in St.
Paul, reprints in poster form a letter which it recently pub
lished. The letter was written by "John Scott, a real flesh
and blood farmer, living in Grand Forks county, N. D.," as the
poster announces. Farmer Scott writes in defense of "big busi
ness." He says:
If there is any one thing that has helped to increase the price of
land more than others, it is the greatly increased production of better
livestock on the .farm, and that was made possible by the packer.
The packer has furnished to the farmer or stock grower an every
day market for his stock.
And there is the big modern mill, with its efficient and labor
saving devices, its modern cleaning machinery, making it possible to
take the poor and smutty wheat, clean, wash and scour it and convert
it into good flour that sells at top prices. The modern elevator also
is a factor.
And so on, ad infinitum, regarding railroads, bankers and the
rest that go to make up "big business." But if the farmer lives in
North Dakota, we wonder how much he has saved through the new
grain grading law of the state? When the time comes, will he
sell to the state mill or elevator or to the Minneapolis or local mills
Will he take advantage of the dairy laws that were passed to pro
tect the dairy farmer? If he wants to borrow money, will he take
advantage of the low rates of the Bank of North Dakota, or will
he pay the old high rates to the local banker?
John Scott, farmer, if he is as shrewd as the "Farmer" says
he is, and successful as they say he is, probably will leave "big
business" flat on its back when
it comes to turning his produce
over to them instead of selling
it to the state at a better price.
QjB*. should be interesting. &%ers. This is \phy their campaign is so vuljgar and contemptible,
THE SCARE MARKET
HE fear of man bringeth
a snare," declared the
ancient writer of Proverbs.
Today an unscrupulous band of
politicians and other get-rich
quick schemers are laying snares
for the fears of the special in
terests, and are getting by in
great shape.
ing their best to discredit arid destroy the organized farmer and
labor movement in America. 5
They well know that the words and acts of a few isolated
anarchists would not bring the desired money-producing fear in
the hearts of the beneficiaries of special privilege. It is nec
iessary to show a widespread movement to reform by violence
so the schemers misrepresent the organized farmers and work
ers without limit. They cany on a great propaganda designed
more to influence the owners of concentrated wealth than the gen
eral public. They put spies in the ranks of organized labor to
Tijakeincendiary speeches and commit acts of violence.. They buy
up large quantities of the most radical out-of-the-way^ papers to
send to the fearful magnates. 1
All of these and other tricks have been used by the anti- pi
farmer forces of the Northwest to collect huge anti-League funds
in the East. The Leader has previously described the exploits of
F. G. R. Gordon, Tom Parker Junkin, Norman Black and many
others along some of these lines. When they think the poison they
have sent out has had a chance to work, they make a fund-collecting If
||§tour to the big centers of frightened plutocracy. f|
Not men with honest differences of opinion,, but politicians look-1|
feeing for new sources of funds now that the railroads arid the liquor
interests are out, and schemers anxious to have big funds going If
through their hands, furnish the opposition to the organized farm-?
They work not only on the
justifiable fears which the spe
cial interests have that the day
of special privilege is drawing
to a close, but they increase I
these fears by pouring in their I
quickened ears stories of revo
lution and upheaval in Europe
and wild yarns about revolution
ary activity here. The bigger
the scare these schemers can I
concoct the more Wall street and
its subsidiary interests will hand S
over for fighting purposes.
No one outside of the spe
cial interests, however, is going
to feel very sorry to find the
war profiteers giving up some of
their ill-gotten, loot on false pre
tenses. People who have been
gouged with war prices would be
more likely to applaud the leg
pulling crooks. But in playing
upon the fears of special inter
ests the scare mongers are do- ft