The nonpartisan leader. [volume], December 13, 1920, Image 3

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
,'•?, vv:*vc^'
ISj, M«"
n.
•V.
t-
f1"-^
ijt
'-tV i*
ONE
The Situation
One Year Ago
—and Today
N
1
The'
Western
s*
IN THE INTEREST OF A SQUARE
DEAL FOR THE FARMERS
Entered as second-class matter at the postoOce at
Minneapolis, Minn., under the act of March 3, 1879
Publication address. 427 Sixth avenue 8., Minneapolis.
Minn. Address ail remittances to The Nonpartisan
Leader, Box 2075. Minneapolis, Minn.
year ago bank wreckers seized the Scandinavian Ameri
can bank of Fargo, believing that, by "breaking" it they
could break the Nonpartisan league. It was an astounding
plot. It failed because the bank wreckers, adopting illegal methods,
were thrown out by the supreme court of North Dakota.
But the plot to wreck the Scandinavian American bank, hatched
up by anti-League politicians and bankers, was a
small matter compared with what the same in
terests are doing in North Dakota today.
As this is written 18 country banks in North
Dakota have been compelled, at least temporarily,
to close their doors. More are being added to the
list every hour. By the time this issue reaches our readers the num
ber of banks closed may'be doubled or quadrupled.
It is hard to write calmly of a deliberate attempt to bring finan
cial disaster and suffering upon a whole state. But here, in plain
words, is what is happening in North Dakota today:
ORTH DAKOTA has two main geographical divisions. The
eastern third of the state, principally in the Red River val
ley, was the first portion settled. It has abundant rainfall,
is more convenient to the markets of the Twin Cities and conse
quently has as much wealth as all
the rest of the state.-
two-thirds of
North Dakota is newer country and
is largely farm
ed under "dry
farming" condi
tions. While bad
years may mean
partial or total
crop failures, on the other hand
farmers have on occasion grown on
its virgin soil in one year a crop that
would pay the total cost of the land.
Why Bank of
North Dakota
Was Organized
But both eastern and western
North Dakota are but parts of one
state. When the Bank of North Da
kota was organized it was planned
to help bind the two sections closer
together and to enable them to help
each other. In a year of heavy rain,
for instance, many of the farming
sections in the east will be flooded.
Or the eastern crop might be spoiled
by rust, while the west was bearing
bumper crops. Under such circum
stances eastern counties would need
help from the west and this help the
Bank of North Dakota, custodian of
all public funds, could easily give.
INCE the Bank of North Dakota
has been in operation, however,
the demand for money has been
in the opposite direction geographically,
North Dakota had partial-or total crop failures. 'Farmers were
compelled to get their notes renewed at their country banks and to
borrow more money.
This year the western part of the state had a fair crop. It was
not a bumrar crop, but under ordinary conditions farmers could
have sold it and paid off all their loans. But just
"Big Squeezer^8 the
cr°P
1
Official Magazine pt the National Nonpartisan League—Every Two Weeks
OLIVER S. MORRIS. Editor.
VOL. 11, NO. 14 MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 13, 1920 WHOLE NUMBER 261
Bank Wreckers Trying to Ruin a Whole State
The Scheme
to Kill the
People's Bank
THE BIG SQUEEZE
For four years western
~wras harvested grain gamblers at Chi-
Qfavtod V»v cago and Minneapolis, anxious to get the wheat
Vi forla fraction of what it was worth, "rigged" the
the Gamblers market and beat the price down, down, day after
tot day, far below the cost of production. Under
these circumstances the farmers refused to sell and the country
t^spkers of western North Dakota would not and could not force Bankers Rejoice
farmer-neighbors to dispose of their grain.
But for the Bank of North Dakota dozensT of bank failures
$ have occurred In the late summer arid early fall. How was
able to prevent this? jfThe law creating
./-^o^oustodian of all publi® funds allows the
the Bank of North Dakota sees
J^akota re^eposits the great
i.
Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris.
TBut
People .Ruined
But Mortgage
PAGE THREE
*%?•£%.
A MAGAZINE THAT DARES TO
PRINT THE TRUTH
One year, in advance, $2.50 six months, $1.50. Clas
sified rates on classified page other advertising rates
on application. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations.
B. C. Beckwlth Special Agency, advertising represen
tatives, New York, Chicago. St Louis, Kansas City.
bulk of the public funds in the same section that raises the funds,
but to help the western part of the state, just as the eastern part of
the state would need help if it had experienced four successive years
of crop failure, more than $1,000,000 of the public funds were re
deposited in the western counties in addition to their own funds.
With this help the western banks could have continued business
until the farmers of their section sold their crops. If they needed
any further help the Bank of North Dakota stood ready to give it.
ESIDES using the public funds to prevent bank failures the
Bank of North Dakota had loaned approximately $3,000,000
to farmers at 6 per cent interest, at least 2 per cent lower
than the rate* prevailing throughout the state before the people's
bank started operations. It was this use of the
people's funds to benefit the people, instead of to
benefit the private bankers, that aroused the
bankers and professional politicians. They pre
pared an innocent looking bill and submitted it at
the recent election by initiative. The purpose of
the bill, they said, was to allow cities, school districts and other po
litical units to get abetter rate of interest on their funds than they
could get from the Bank of North Dakota. But the bill did not re
quire these funds to be placed at
higher interest. It allowed the local
politicians, controlling the city,
county or school district, to deposit
their funds with any private bank
they chose, regardless of the rate of
interest or whether they got any in
terest at all.
The Nonpartisan league called
attention to the. dangerous features
of this bill, but misunderstanding of
its purposes enabled it to be adopted
by a margin of less than 8,000 votes,
although it received less than half of
the votes cast at the election.
I HE adoption of the initiative
law not only prevented the
Bank of North Dakota from
lending any further aid to the banks
5 in the western part of the state, but
with I. V. A. politicians of eastern
Ti
Impossible
Now to Help
Western Banks
ready has been demanded by them.
The result was that the western banks, one after another, with
no hope of securing the comparatively slight help that would have
enabled them to pull through the next few weeks or months, until
the farmers could sell their crops, had to close their doors.
HERE is a bad financial condition in North Dakota today..
in Minneapolis, Saturday, November 27, the little group
of conspirators who deliberately brought about this condition
had a meeting to congratulate each other. The secretary of the
North Dakota Bankers' association met with
the "investment bankers" of the Twin Cities
to tell them what had-been done. These "in
vestment bankers" are the members of the
Mortgage Bankers' association, which claims
credit for putting the federal land banks out of
business. With the federal land banks out of business the farmers'
only source of cheap money was the Bank of North Dakota. Now
they believe that the Bank of North Dakota is out of business and
they announce in the Minneapolis Tribune that they are ready to
"re-enter the state of North Dakota to assist "the farmers"—with
10 and 12 per cent money! mom
31
'^J
North Dakota
demanding im
mediate surren
of
funds, the Bank
of North Dakota
had to notify the western banks that
they must be ready, if necessary, to
pay in cash the $1,000,000 that would
probably be demanded immediately
by the bankers in the eastern part
of the state, and much of which al­
IS
gjptj