The nonpartisan leader. [volume], June 21, 1920, Image 5

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
1% i-
kota, and that the legis
lature. the court' and the
people had' all expressed
themselyies, by over?
whelming majorities, in
favor of the industrial
program.
jfj, The supreme court de
cision, rendered June 1,
shows how much Lun
ger's "defense" of the
laws amounted to. -The
court, in its decision,
pays no attention what
ever to the "point" urged
by Langer's attorneys
for &0 minutes, and in
stead decides the case
flatly upon the doctrine
urged by Mr. Pike apd
a
Mr. Lemke, stating, .in
the decision:
"Under the authority
of the constitution and laws prevailing in- North
Dakota, the people, the legislature and the highest
court' in the state have,• declared the purpose for'
which these several acts were passed to be of'a pub
lic nature and vftthin the taxing authority of the
state.. With this united action of the people, legis-
lature and court we are -not at liberty to interfere
unless it is clear beyond reasonable controversy that
rights secured by^the federal Constijtuftpn have.fee.en •.
violated."
Langer's attempt to wreck, at on@ and the gaine"'
time, the Scandinavian American bank of Fargo
and the Bank of North Dakota, are too Tresh in the
minds of the people of North Dakota to require any
explanation. Langer's whole course as a member
of the industrial commission has been to attempt
^**'*d^j(ays and to Vote against almost every important
actidn .$£&en to forward the -industrial enterprises
by the othS^jtgjjbers of the commission.
With Langer as" tJieir "candidate, the oldgangin
North Dakota is m&king" its last desperate attempt
to stem the tide of the farmers' movement. The
industries are under way, they have been approved
by the people* the legislature and now by the high
est court of the land. The only chance to kill them
is to elect Langer and have him sm&ther theih to
.death.
The old gang is flowing the state with literature
costing thousands of dollars and with dozens of
speakers, repeating the same old lies—that the
League stands for public ownership of farms, that
the League stands for free love, that Leaguers are
Socialists, anarchists, Bolsheviki, etc..
BY E. B.
gate's are milling around Hke a bunch of cattle, try
ing to decide whether they want to be for or against
a league of nations and whether they waqt Wood,
Lowden, Johnson or any one of about 30 others for
president, while a little group of the leaders are
deciding what WILL be done. So in these random
notes I will not try to tell what is being done on
the convention floor, day by-.day, because that will
all be in the
daily
(This
A Teti-Million-Dmiar
At the Republican National
Convention for the Leader
HICAGrO, June 10.—By the time this
reaches readers of th$ Leader the Re
publicans will have selected their can
didates for president and vice presi
dent, adopted thteir platform and gone
home. As this is written the dele-
papers. I will try and tell, in­
stead, of a few occurrences. and impressions" that
the daily papers probably will overlook,
In the first place it ought to be remarked that
the "farmers and working people of th6 United
States are having a pretty expensive convention.
There are something over 1,000 delegates Aere
(counting contesting delegates) arid thg same num
ber of alternates, and from every state there are at
least as many additional visitors as delegates arid
alternates put together. This would make 4,000 al
together. Probably the total number who have
come to Chicago is much larger: The Coliseum,
whejfe the convention is held, seats 15,000, and I
would guess that over half are from outside Chi
cago, besides which a considerable number of Visi
tors have failed to get tickets at all. But say 4,000
delegates, 'alternates and miscellaneous politicians.
,They spend not less than $200 apiece, on the aver
age, on railroad fares and during the week they
&re here.
is a conservative estimate. Rooms
The supreme cofart of the United States. Seated, left to right, are justice William R. Day (fho wrote the
decision upholding, "the North Dakota industrial program), Justice Joseph McKenna, Chief justice Edward
Douglas White, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Willis Vandevanter. Standing, left to.
right, are Justices Louis Brandeis, Mahlon Pitney, James C. M£Reynolds and John H. Clarke..
What is happening at the .L
V. A.
throughout the state is told by a.farmer at Berlin,
N. D., writing to the Courier-News of Fargo. This
farmer says:
"The Rey.. Mr. Birchenough and the candidate for
.lieutenant governor on the I, V. A. ticket arrived
hi Berlin last Saturday and at 2 p. m. addressed a
meeting of nearly 200 farmers. Mr. Birchenough's
remarks were not well receivedand a menacing un-«-
dertone of distaste began to gather force..
LEAGUE MEETINGS IN N. D.
DRAWING MONSTER CROWDS
"Mr. Barry, manager of the local elevator., in the"
interests of peace, secured permission to address the
meeting. He requested the audience to listen pa
tiently to the speaker occupying the floor and then
requested the speakierto give someone in the audi
ence an opportunity to answer his Statements and
that if such permission were granted he would guar
antee perfect order no matter how outrageously in
-sulting the speaker might be,
^•',,y'Mr. Barry further stated that every Nonpartisan
speaker .that came to Berlin offered,half time to any
opposition speakers. Mr. Birchenough stated heat
edly that the meeting was his and that he would
allow no speaker to follow him. Mr. Barry stated
that he could claim the hall, of course, but that the
meeting pould not calmly sit down to unanswered
insults, and taking his cap he left the hall, followed
by all. but 10 individuals, counting the two speak
ers:"
On the other hand.„Goyernpr. Frazier and. other
at the big hotels are a day and upwards, with a
great many more rooms at "upwards" than at $5.
I saw'the reservations made for one delegation—
New Hampshire—at one hotel. The cheapest room
any member of this delegation had was $20. Visi
tors like Judge Gary of fie United States Steel cor
poration nave a whole suite of rooms, which cost
anywhere from $200 to $1,000 a day.
One farmer whom I met told me about his first"
dinner in town. He wandered into the Congress
hotel dicing rooin and in addition to his meat order
decided to have some peas. He ordered without
looking at the price. They brought him two or
three spoonsful of peas (canned peas,, not fresh
peas) and he paid 75 cents for the single order.
ALL IN ALL, IT IS
COSTING $10,000,000
Spl' Four" thousand delegates at ,$200 for the week
liieans a total expenditure of $800,00.0. Add $200,
000 for the expenses of presidential headquarters
and the Coliseum for the week of the convention
alone, and it brings the total to $1,000,000 for the
week. But this is only a small partoftheexpen&es.
The senate investigating committee showed expen
ditures of $1,000,000 from Wood's national head-'
quarters alone (not counting what was raised and
spent locally in many states). Of course not all
the candidates spent quite as much as Wood, but
their total expenditures undoubtedly are not less
than $9,000,000. Added to the $1,000,000 of con
vention v?eek expenditures this makes $10,000,000.
Yes, it is a pretty expensjve luxury, this national
convention, for the farmers and working people.
Of course someone is bound to say that the farmers
and workers don't pay for it. As a matter of fact
-•^he largest spenders, both in Chicago and during the.
meetings
1
J|fp
candidates on the League
ticket are speaking to
thousands of farmer^p
daily and are holding^
their crowds to the end
of tne meeting. John f.
N. Hagari, commissioner
of agriculture and labor,"
was speaking to several
hundred farmers at Re
gan, 40 miles from Bis
a he of
decision of the supreme I
court was received. J§lf ^f|
"Great st'Bff,"fe^»i|
shouted, and then an^fi
nounced the decision to
the big crowd. As they ^1
rose and cheered their
But North Dakota farmers, tired of these e^%
pensive dilatory tactics promise, as Governor Fra
zier says, to take care of the interests and the poli
ticians, for all time, June 30. Remembering their
previous victories and getting ready for another
one, the' farmers' motto' isV
"We'll stjicj£land:we'U wip again.
S'.t"."'
Show af Chicago
I'
A
t.
voices could plainly be
vheard
over the telephone
line at Bismarck, -40
miles away.
Governor l?razier received telegrams of congratu?, J|:
lation from joints as far distant from North
kota Newark, N. J., and the Pacific coast.
"We have nothing to fight now bift the interests ft
and the politicians opposed to the industrial pro- I
gram, and we'll take care of them June 30," said
Governor Frazier, when notified of the decision.
The hostile interests and politicians who took the
appeal to the supreme court of the United States, I
while unable to, stop the North Dakota industrial
program, have caused a delay of many months and §1
the loss of. many thousands of dollars.
At the time the appeal to the supreme court of J§
the United States as taken a contract had been I
.signed with eastern bond buyers, providing for the
sale of the state's 5 per cent bonds at par. When li
the appeal was taken the bond buyers canceled their 8
contract, stating that it would be difficult to sell 1
the bonds while an appeal was pending. Since that
time the interest rate has advanced throughout the gj
United States and Minnesota and many other states
are junable to sell 5 per cent bonds at par in conse- •Jf
quence. Raising the interest rate will mean an If
added expense of thousands of dollars a year to
the state,.
"fell
1
pre-convention campaign* are the manufacturers
and bankers, whb contribute to the various ,, presi
dential campaign funds, and the politicians. The
politicians expect to be repaid, a good many times
over, by getting good jobs in which they will be
supported by the taxpayers the manufacturers and
bankers expect to get laws from the next congress
and president that will enable them to get back
their money, a good many times over. How are the
politicians and the bankers and manufacturers and
other contributors going to get their money back?
From the farmers and workers, who else So the
.farmers and workers are paying, for the $1,000,000
show now under.^-ay. ia .Chicago, though they're
-not runmng.it. g|:C
Why shouldn't they run it?
On the opening day of the convention I met, in
side the Coliseum, the president of a big state farm
ers' organization^. He had come to Chicago to see
the big show and to try to get some kind of a co
operative plank in the Republican platform. The
day before he had been having some trouble getting
a ticket to the convention, though Judge Gary of
the steel corporation got a whole box. So I asked,
this farmer if he had gotten a seat all right.
"Oh. they treat us all right," he said. "I got
more than & seat—1 got the freedom of the floor,"
and he pointed, to a badge on his coat lapel signify
ing that the wearer was an assistant sergeant-at
arms.
I didn't say anything. Four years ago I had seen
every assistant" sergeant-at-arms barred out of the
Coliseum, when: nominations were made, because
Mayor Bill Thompson of Chicago put in his firemen
and poMcemen an^ political hangers-on to start a
demonstration for him—and threw the sergeants
at-arms out, because there wasn't room enough foi*
*. (Continued on page 7