The National leader. [volume], April 17, 1922, Image 7

About The National leader. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1921-1923

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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cornered .fight in Minneso£ST In 1920 the farmer
labor forces were a close second to the^ Republicans
and the Democrats were a poor third, 'it is not be
lieved the Democrats will make much of an impres
sion in the campaign this year either.
The result of this line-up is that there will'be no
primary contest in June for the farmer-labor forces.
Their indorsed candidates will file in the Fanner
Labor party, which has legal standing, and it is not
expected any other candidates will file in that
party for the June primaries. The contest will
therefore be in the general election against the
three parties. The Republicans will not have any
serious contest in the June primaries Either, so
that this will be the first campaign year in years
BY OLIVER S. MORRIS
HE circumstances under which A. C.
Townley announced that he would
hand his resignation to the national
committee of the Nonpartisan league,
as soon as that body could be assem
bled, are briefly outlined in the arti­
cle dealing with the League conventions, printed on
the opposite page. I intend here to discuss the
matter more fully. Mr. Townley resigned in the
interests bf harmony within the organization in
Nprth Dakota, and to a certain extent to eliminate
issues which also might have a bad effect on the
cause of the farmers in Minnesota and in other
states.,
s-
The originator and founder of the League has
held no office in the North Dakota, Minnesota or
any other state organizatipn. He is a member of
the. NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of
the League, and as chairman of that executive com
mittee of three, is president of the national League.
That has been his. only office. The national execu-'
tive committee, under the articles of association, is
elected by the NATIONAL COMMITTEE. The na
tional committee consists of the chairman of each
state committee bf the League. The office, he held
was in the gift of the national committee, and not
of any state committee or convention.
But to preserve harmony in North Dakota, still
the leading state League organization, and to ayoid
a similar issue arising elsewhere, Mr. Townley told
both the North Dakota and Minnesota conventions
which .met recently that -he would
eliminate himself at once. In spite of
newspaper statements and the belief
of some of his friends to the contrary^
Mr. Townley will stick absolutely to
his announcement. Whether the na
tional- committee urges him to con-,
tinue or not, he will step out.
This was an important decision in
Mr. Townley's life. During the last
12 or 15 years He has devoted his life
night, and day, in jail and out,.to the
cause of the American farmers. He
has probably stood more abuse from
enemies of the farmers, and of reform
than any other m£n who ever became
a farmer leader. He even served in
jail for the cause. He was hated in
certain quarters because he stood
steadfast to the farmers' cause, where
others had compromised or sold out.
The League and its success were his
life-work. He broke down when hes
came to the part of his speech before
the North Dakota convention in which
he announced that he would resign,
toid there were very few dry eyes in
the audience.
FACTS OF CHARGE
AGAINST TOWNLEY.
^Before I discuss what this resigna
tion means to thefarmers' movement,
what his reason^ 'for. it probably
were, and what his plans are, let me
give the facts concerning his1 vindica
tion in connection with the reoent em
bezzlement charge in North Dakota.
That vindication did not come until,
after the North. Dakota convention
had adjourned. Judge Cole at Fargo
threw the charge out of court three'
when the most important fight has not been in the
June primaries. In the past the League and labor
forces have indorsed men in the Republican pri
maries and when, losing" there have run men as in
dependents or Farmer-Labor party men in the fall
election, making two hot campaigns instead of the
one that will be pulled off this year.
The Minnesota farmer and labor conventions
adopted a strong platform, which points out the
reactionary and big business record of Senator
Kellogg and the Preus state government in Minne
sota, and which declares for the program of the
farmer and labor organizations.
A new state committee for the League was also
elected, as follows:
Townley, Vindicated in Court, Resigns
Will Hand His Resignation as President of Nonpartisan League to National
Committee—Embezzlenjent Charge Against Him Thrown Out by Judge
days after the North Dakota farmer delegates went
home.
Mr. Townley was charged with advising and
urging J. J. Hastings, then vice president of the
Scandinavian-American bank at Fargo, to embez
zle $3,000 from the bank, to loan to a corporation in
which Mr. Townley was said to be interested, but
with which he claimed, as a matter of fact, he had
nothing to do. Mr. Townley was arrested on this
charge as he stepped from the Jackson county
(Minn.) jail, after serving 90 days on a charge
trumped up against him and against the farmers'
organization by Minnesota politicians during the
war. The embezzlement charge was a political
move intended to discredit the League leader, who
had obviously gained in public regard since his rail
roading to jail for standing up for the rights of the
people during the war.
The embezzlement charge was flimsy on its face.
He was not accused of taking the money, but of
influencing to take it a responsible officer of the
institution, a man supposedly able to stand on his
own feet and run a bank. Mr. Townley held no
office or stock in the bank. Judge Cole said, after
hearing the evidence of the prosecution, that there
had not even been any embezzlement by Hastings.
All that was proved by the state was that a loan
had been made to a company prdmotiiig a sisal
farm in Florida, and that this loan had been piaid
back to the bank within three months after it was
made. Before the judge could order the dismissal
of the case, the prosecuting attorney himself moved
HE WHO LAUGHS LAST LAUGHS BEST
PROFIT efc*
—Drawn expressly for the Leader by J. M. Baer.
The fellow in the middle, since the excess profits tax was repealed, has a right
""!s:sr! ri:to laugh—hat there is an old proverb, vhkh the cartoonist
has nsed ms the title to this drawing.
A. C. Welch, Glencoe Mrs. Harold Baker, Ren
ville Henry Arens, Jordan Mrs. Otto Brinkman,
Glencoe Ole Langhaug, Evansville.
The state committee will meet soon to outline
plans for the campaign and for the League organ
ization work, which is expected to start at once,
intensively, in all parts of the state. The conven
tion asked the national committee of the League to
more clearly define the powers and duties of state
committees, as .the Minnesota committee expects
to take a more active part in the work than former
committees. Tne national committee of the League,
consisting of members of the various state com
mittees, is expected to be called soon for its annual
meeting.
for a dismissal, which took place at once. Mr.
Townley's vindication could not have been more
emphatic or sweeping.
What has caused the most effective, the most
feared and the most loved farmer leader in America
to resign from leadership of the organization that
he originated and built into the most powerful
agency for agricultural progress in all the history
of the country? Well, I think I know. Mr. Town
ley himself has said nothing except what he told
the North Dakota convention. That was that he
believed he Should eliminate himself in the inter
ests of harmony in the League in that state.
THE SPLIT ON THE N. D.
STATE FARMERS' COMMITTEE
The majority faction of the old North Dakota
state committee had used League publications and
speakers to attack Mr. Townley personally. He
was charged by the majority committee faction
with trying to "sell out" the organization. It was
intimated he was a crook. The publications under
control of the majority faction made no attempt to
explain the embezzlement charge against Townley,
which was obviously a frame-up and so proved in
court later. It was charged he wanted to seize con
trol of the North Dakota l^eague and use it for
personal power.
Mr. Townley made no attempt to fight back at
the majority committee faction, not even using his
page in the Leader, which he might well have done,
to defend himself. He was willing to let the ma
jority of the committee, have its say
and do its worst, and to abide by the/
decision of the state convention of £h£
farmers. Thatcoirvention.as
vised, elected a new state comfruttee
members of which had taken no pirt
either for or against the majority 'on
the old committee. But before that
was done Mr. Townley announced that
he would resign. The unity of the
League, in North Dakota could not
have been assured in any other way.
The fact is that aside from this
particular internal fight in Nortlj Da
kota,. Mr. Townley believes the time
has come to let others step in and man
age the League. The League origin
ally and for years was organized on
what may be termed a "democrat-...
ically centralized" plan. The
League
members reserved, under the articles
of association, the right, through state
and national conventions, to indorse
candidates for office, to shape the
League program as they saw fit, and
to elect a national executive commit
tee of three to handle the business af
fairs and organization work of the or
ganization. UnJer this democratic
plan the members themselveB indorsed
candidates, shaped their own political
program and named their leaders.
But these leaders, the national execu
tive committee, had wide and exclu
sive powers so far as the business and
Organization work was concerned,
ones they were put on the job by the'
'farmers. That is why I haye called
the form of organization a "demo-i
cratically centralized" one.
The League was an army with a fewj|
(Continued on page 12)