The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-02-27
An Open lstiOr b coudlsr.uows
Continued from page 1

ne Is ABSOLUTELY flDnt. 1ncy
have maligned him. searched
every nook and crook for some
thing on which to hang a just
claim against him, fought him
by every method conceivable
to M who will stop at no.
thing to destroy an antagonist:
what is the result? Not a sim
gle iota of actual evidence, not
a spot or a blemish that they
can find; hence the abuse and
the mud singing in an attempt
to discredit him. Look up the
record of Works, the reaction
airy ex-B Baptist preacher forced
from the pulpit by his immoral
acts. Look up the record of
Grover, the attorney who ap-
peared here to attack Mr..
LOTUS and compare the actual
known facts about these men
with the worst that they have
ever claimed about Lotus. but
have never proved and cannot
prove, and we will leave the
decision to your own judgment.
But this is not a fight of per-
sonalities; it is a fight for
principles. 1t is necessary to
expose the type of men who
are seeking to maintain their
hold on the products of the
farm. We do not blame the
men but their methods; any
one who knows the inside Of
the deal by which the Equity
society was thrown out of the
Fargo auditorium last Friday
night cannot but ponder on
what must be met and over
come in making a fight against
entrenched privilege.
What were the fact relating
to the forcible removal of the
farmers from the Fargo audit
orium? The last half of the
big Tri-State Grain Growers
convention had been turned
over to the Equity society and
its marketing organization, the
Equity Cooperative exchange.
the national board of the
American Society of Equity. the
Minnesota officers, the North
Dakota state officers and the
leaders in the movement were
present and participating. The
evening session was in peace
able progress; a great gather
ing of earnest, honest farmers
was in attendance and quietly
listening to their representa-
tives who were presenting the
issues of the day. Appears on
the scene MI. Smith, accomp-
anied by the police and body
guard of chamber of commerce
men. Mr.. Anderson, the pre-
siding officer, had just begun
to make a statement in relation
to the occupancy of the audit
orium and had drawn from his
pocket a letter from President
Worst assuring him that the
Equity people would have the
undisturbed possession of the
place for their program. MI.
Smith, without the courtesy of
ordinary decency demanded
that Mr.. Anderson leave the
platform. refusing him opport-
unity to make his explanation
and in the coarsest manner re-
peated his demand for the i'm
mediate vacancy of the plat
form. An appeal to the police
resulted in ten minutes being
allowed to Mr.. Anderson, his
statement was concluded and
a great majority of the farmers
present left the hall to assem-
BILE latter at Assembly hall
where one of the greatest meet
ing in the northwest was held,
continuing until after one
O'Clock in the morning with
the hall packed with every per-
son who could be crowded in.
North Dakota and Minnesota
farmers resent this insult.
They do not blame the people
of Fargo. They know the
forces behind Mr.. Smith, Mr.
Hardy of the Commercial club
and President Worst of the
agricultural college. The peo-