The nonpartisan leader. [volume], October 03, 1921, Image 9

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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BY R. M. McCLINTOCK
Mr. McCJintock is editor of the Farero Daily Courier
News. the League daily of North Dakota
HE recall petitions against three Non
partisan league state officers in North
Dakota, Governor Frazier, Attorney
General Lemke and Commissioner of
Agriculture Hagan, who constitute
the state industrial commission, have
been filed, and the recall election will be October 28.
The first task confronting the I. V. A., the League
opposition organization which brought about the
recall, is to heal a threatening split in their own
ranks. There are many I. V. A.s who have opposed
the recall. At least one leading opposition news
paper has seen fit to come out in open opposition to
it. This is the Bismarck Tribune. It has formerly
been an I. V. A. paper. The Tribune charges that
the I. V. A. have compromised with "Townleyism,"
inasmuch as they at least pretend- to favor the
trying out of the League industrial program.
The -Tribune wants a straight-out fight against
the League and what it calls "Socialism.• It
says:
"The I. V. A. have gone to the people four or five
times on a compromising platform and failed each
time. They have used Townley's bait in every elec
tion this organization was a factor. The Tribunex
knows when it has had enough of the I. V. A. That
stand does not mean the Tribune is holding up the
Nonpartisan league hands either. It means just
this: Get into the primaries next June scrap the
Townley program honestly tell the world North
Dakota is through with socialistic panaceas and is
ready to return to representative government ban
ish forever from the anti-League program, cheap
political vote baiting expedients and tell some of
the renegade Nonpartisan leaguers who are about
to stump the state for Nestos, the I. V. A. recall
candidate against Frazier, that redemption lies not
with these wreckers of the state, even
though they have taken on the I. V. A.
coat of many colors."
The Tribune supported Doyle, Lan
ger and O'Connor against Frazier in
former elections which the League
won. The professions of friendships
for the farmers' program of O'Connor
and Langer were at least as feryent as
those of R. A. Nestos, the present I.
V. A. candidate, so that there are
those who look for the explanation of
the Tribune's present opposition to
the I. V. A. in some other motive than
the high-minded one of opposition to
any compromise with the hated prin
ciple of public ownership.
NO DEAL IS MADE
WITH McKENZIE GANG
It is charged by other I. V. A.
papers, for instance, that the Tribune
is the mouthpiece of Alex McKenzie,
former old guard boss of North Da
kota. These I. V. A. papers charge
that McKenzie has made a deal with
the Nonpartisan league, and will help
the League in the recall election, in
return for certain unspecified favors
to be extended later by the Nonparti
san league. Of course, no such deal
has been or would be made.
As a matter of fact there is no one
in the Nonpartisan league authorized
to enter into a deal with McKenzie,
even if any Leaguer had a mind to do
such a thing. The simple explanation
of the threatened split in I. V. A.
ranks is that there is a fight for con
trol of the opposition to the organized
farmers. Undoubtedly Alex McKen
zie, who is working hand in hand with
Senator P. J. McCumber, believes
there is a chance for him (McKenzie)
come back as boss of the state if
the I. V. A. are beaten. Therefore he
will not weep, if Nestos anid his •fel
low candidates ara beaten on October
28. McKenzie jeLeves he can kill the
Recall Petitions Filed in North Dakota
Election October 28—Split in I. V. A. Ranks Threatens Farmer Opposition—
Leaguers Prepare for Hottest Campaign the State Ever Held
In this article and another in the next
issue, the Leader will give readers the
full facts about tjie situation in North
Dakota.. The author, Mr. McClintock,
is on the ground and in better position
than any one the Leader could obtain
to describe the fight to the people of
other states. The North Dakota farm
ers, due. to general agricultural condi-
tions and repeated crop failures or only
half-crops, are hard up financially,
while the opposition has raised a huge
fund for the recall. Persons wishing
to contribute to the North Dakota
farmers' campaign should send con
tributions to Nonpartisan league.head
quarters, Fargo, N. D. Contributions
of from $1 -up will be welcomed.
I. V. A. this year and the Nonpartisan league in
1922.
Leaders of the I. V. A. realize the danger they
run. They know that if they lose the recall they
will be supplanted and another organization will
take up the fight against the farmers. Even if they
win they will te in office only half a year, before
/the 1922 primaries are held, and most political ob
servers realize it will be utterly impossible for
them to redeem any of the flamboyant promises
they are making to carry out the League program
in the short six months before the June campaign
next year.
Nevertheless the I. V. A. have gone so far they
can- not back up. Undoubtedly they would rejoice
if through some legal technicality the election could
A THUG'S PARADISE
—Drawn expressly for the Leader by W«
.V .- PAGE TEN S
C,
Morris.
7
be called off, without their appearing as the insti
gators. Failing the calling off of the election the
I. V. A. are counting on whipping their half-heart
ed supporters into line, through the use of theHsig^J
campaign funds they expect to get from the rail
roads, the grain trade and the big bankers. They
also believe League farmers are so nearly bankrupt 1
on account of general farm conditions that they will
be unable to find money with which to carry on a"^
campaign, thus permitting the I. V. A. to win by
default.
It is quite true the farmers have but little
money. Their state committee realizes that the
campaign will have to be conducted practically
without "funds. Over 150 farmers and farmers'
wives have volunteered to act as local speakers.
John Skelton Williams, former comptroller of the
currency, will spend several days in the state at his
own expense as a League speaker. Judging-from
all reports frgm the country, if the farmers are
short of money, they are long of determination to
carry their program into effect. It is the belief of,
the state committee that through the women's clubs
and precinct locals, workers will volunteer in every
precinct, to see that the Nonpartisan league voters
cast their ballots on October 28.
I. V. A. REALLY HAS NOT
"COMPROMISED" WITH LEAGUE
No one doubts, despite the criticism of the Bis
marck Tribune, buk-that the real purpose of the
I. V. A. is to destroy the program altogether. The
I. V. A. could do this if they were to elect their
three candidates, even though their initiated meas
ures wer-e defeated. On the other hand, even if
they were to lose the recall, they could cripple the
program if one tor more of their initiated measures
were approved by the voters. The I. V. A. initi
ative measures, to be voted uporijit the time of the
recall, while they purport to permit the carrying
out of the League program in better
shape than the League. proposes to
carry it out, as a matter of fact would
hamper and delay the program, which
is, of course, the secret I. V. A. pur
pose.
So it is not true, as the Bismarck
Tribune alleges, that the I. V. A. hav&
in any real sense "compromised with
Socialism." The I. V. A. are just as
determined in the end to destroy the
farmers' program completely as is the
Bismarck Tribune. Only, where the
Bismarck Tribune comes out honestly
and says what it intends to do, the I.
V. A. are still trying to fool the vot-
ers. They pretend that they a^e go
ing to save all that is good in the pro
gram. But tKey have initiated a pro
gram of legislation that, if it is ap
proved by the voters, will cripple the
entire farmers' program immediately,
and probably make impossible the- sale
of .the state bonds that even the I. V.
A. admit must be sold to "thaw out"
funds in the state-bank loaned "to the
industries according to law, with the
expectation that these funds would be
replaced by the sale of bonds« The..
Nonpartisan league speakers charge,
and as yet there has been no denial by
any lawyer of standing, that these I.
V. A. measures are so drawn that they
will leave the state in a maze of legal
complexities that can be unraveled
only by years of litigation. 1
The I. V. A. recall petitions were
filed on September 15. They contain--'
ed 74,000 names. The required num
ber is 68,400. The I. V. A. has claim
ed they would have .80,000 names.
Numerous §nd specific charges of
fraud in securing names, and charges
that many of the names are not those
of legal voters, have been made by the
Nonpartisan league, but Secretary of
State Hall, who is ah I. V. A., filed the
petitions and called the election be
fore-any opportunity had been given
(Continued on page 14)
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