The nonpartisan leader. [volume], March 08, 1920, Image 3

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
^iNi
hi the interest
of a square deal
for the farmers
IN*'* VOL. 10, NO. 10
I
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2*
As Leaguers will remember. Nonpartisan league candi
dates earned Idaho the primaries two years ago, but
lost in the general election, due to a combination of old
line Republicans and Democrats. There will be a dif
ferent situation this ear, this article by the editor of
the Idaho Leader indicates. With labor of the Gem state
lined up solidly with the farmers, no' combination of
mere j?pUticians on garth can beat the Idaho people's ticket.
v, litical campaign.
1
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'W-*
I. P. MacDOWBLL^I&l^iS®
TARTLING the reactionaries of the
West, the Idaho State Federation of
Labdr, at its 1920 annual convention,
broke its historic precedent and as a
unit decided to affiliate with the or
ganized farmers in the coming po-
Pocatello, the scene of the convention, is the larg
est industrial center in Idaho. Here about a year
ago the labor unions insurged, went into politics,
and elected a complete labor ticket, headed by W.
P. Whittaker, a locomotive engineer, as mayor.
That victory was a forerunner of what labor and
_t .if farmers can do in Idaho. In that campaign labor
•'$forces were called the bitterest names known \n
political history. But "they stuck'' and "they won."
Their mayor invited the state federation to meet in
&$$$. that city at their annual convention.,
Political action was in the air. Delegates came
from all over the state, representing miners, the
lumber mill workers, and the various crafts unions.
Labor had been invited by the Nonpartisan
.league in the preceding state election to name its
share on the state ticket, and to nail down its
planks oh the. Nonpartisan league platform. This
was done.' The labor forqes never forgot the wel
come of the Nonpartisan league farmers.
POLITICIANS ATTEMPT TO,
PREVENT CO-OPERATION ,V
So at the state federation convention there was
a determination on the part of the delegates to get
political action-and to carry the Pocatello idea over
the state of Idaho. To affiliated with the farmers
was the first logical step. Rumors of what might
happen had been circulated over the state several
weeks ahebd of the convention. In a frantic ef
fort & prevent this amalgamation with the Non
partisan league farmers the political bosses of the
state hastened to Pocatello. They were busy but
tonholing the Relegates and their friends, trying to
T-i'": head,off the copartnership and warning the labor
union delegates against "those awful Nonparti
sans" T^ese political bosses,-hoping to discredit.,
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-v i-'- WwV ''^*f X--v-.', Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League
"W ..-
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, MARCH 8, 1920
Big Campaign Started to Insure a State-Wide Victory at Gem
.r^ ,• State Elections This Fall
THE coming elections the Non
partisan league will be stronger
than ever before, because of the
active, organized assistance of labor.
Two years ago the workingmen of the
cities, as individuals, largely supported
League tickets. But labor, organized
for political purposes, is just as much
stronger than labor, voting individual
ly, as the organized farmers are strong
er than unorganized farmers.
Idaho is only one of the states in
which labor is organizing this year for
political co-operation with the farm
ers. In Washington the Triple Alliance
was organized a year, ago, in whifeh
Federation of Labor unions, railroad
brotherhoods and organized farmers
work together in one big political or
ganization. In Minnesota.the workers,
union and nonunion, are affiliated in
the Working People's Nonpartisan Po
litical league. This organization will
hold a state convention at the same
time that the farmers hold their state
conVention and" the two conventions
will act jointly in selecting a state
ticket. In Montana similar political
organizations of the wage-workers
will act with the organized farmers
in selecting and supporting a state
ticket.
The Leader, in future issues, will tell
something of the co-operation between
farmer-labor forces in other states.
the farmers, called the Leaguers "I. W. W.," "dis
loyalists". and "Weary Willies."
"Hold on," exclaimed one of the leading labor
men from Pocatello, "that is what the politicians
called us last spring when We. went into politics.
That js your old game—to make political scare
crows and then try to keep us from lining up with
the farmers. Forget it."
IDAftO LABOR DELEGATES WHO DECIDED ON UNION WITH FARMERS
*1 W
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some rf the delegates jit the 1920 session of the Idaho State Federation
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The convention called some of the League' men' day for Idaho as well as for North
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^P_r°8ressive. Tocatello, a year ago, was the scene of labor's first big victory in politics. This year the labor men have started thtf
ball rolling for a bigger -victory this fall through joint action with the organized farmers to elect a complete state ticket for the benefit of the common people^fjg
PAGE THREE
Ray McKaig addressed the convention
"WE'LL STICK" SPIRIT
PERVADES THE CONVENTION
This alignment now of labor and farmer forces
in Idaho is the beginning of the campaign. Big
Sunday afternoon massmeetjngs of laborers and
farmers are being held all over the state.
1
A magazine
that dares to
print the truth
WHOLE NUMBER 233
League
in and requested that they address the members.
Several farmers had credentials ar fraternal dele
gates.
2or
an hour and was enthusiastically received. He por
trayed what the labor movement had received at
the hands of the League farmers of North Dakota.
He toli of the amalgamations from Minnesota to
Seattle of farmer and laborer. Then the largest
State Federation of Labor that has ever met in
Idaho, representing nearly 10,000 workers, voted
for political action and union with the organized
farmers to secure that result. The vote was unani
mous and was received with cheers and much ap
plause.
The state executive committee was made the po
litical executive committee and they decided to buy
immediately 10,000 copies of the "New Day of
North Dakota Laws," to distribute among the labor
unions.
State President R. H. Park, one of those progres
sive leaders that never goes wrtmg but fights for
the cause of better government, made the statement
publicly that over 90 per cent of the delegates to
the state convention were in favpr of the Nonpar
tisan league. And since then President Gompers
of the American Federation and the national ex
ecutive committee have asked the unions to throw
their hat into the political ring. It looks as if
strikes, which were a last recourse for union labor,
have been discarded for the better way of political
action.
As one carpenter union delegate aptly put it,
"I came down here to Pocatello to attend a state
federation of labor convention and I find the Non
partisan league spirit has inspired every one of us."
Thus the farmer will understand the questions
that bother union labor and the union man will
know what problems are confronting the farmer.'
As has been well said, there are only two classes
in America, the "skinned" class and the "skinners."
When the "skinned" classes get together, the farm-?
er and labor forces, there will be a better day, a new-
v. t-
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.Labor, held at Pocatello. Idaho/labor has
won
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si
over
:k
Dakota.
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the reputation of be--''