The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-04-26
CARRY THE TRUTH HOME.

The meeting held at Grand Forks last week for the purpose of organiz-
ing in opposition to the leaders now in control of the Republican party and
pose well if it makes men think. The purpose of the organization is ex-
pressed in the "shibbohh' adopted at the meeting: "Carry the truth to
the people-thats all"
Let Is venture the suggestion that while the truth, if carried to the peo-
pile, will make them think, some thinking will also have to be done by those
who stand sponsor for the new organization. Here is subject for
thought:
A business man of Fargo went out into the country to visit a friend,
who a a farmer, and being invited to supper, sat down with the farmer
and his family to eat. AS they were about to eat, the farmer said to the
merchant, taste the bread that is set before you and see if it is good and
sweet to the mouth and worthy to be eaten, for there is a tale to be told con-
corning it. The merchant therefore tasted of the bread and noted its texture
and color and found it to be good flavor, of fine grain and of a color a little
darker than the white bread served upon his W table in the city. Then
said the farmer, that bread is made from flour ground from D feed wheat
took my wheat to the dealer and he offered me sMty-fve cents a bushel
men took eight oushels or 300 pounds of the wheat to the mill at Third
Street, Fargo, and from it received two hundred pounds of flour valued at
$11O0 and bran and shorts, three hundred pounds weight, of the value of
$500. I paid to the miller $500 for grinding and thus l received $3.50 for
that which, had sold it to the dealer, would have given mi $500. 1 have
therefore good bread for my family, feed for my cattle and a $3.50 richer
in purse, which is a sum greater than 1 would have gained had 1 sold the
eight bushels of wheat to the dealer. Am l then mad if I make outcry
against the leaders and against those who take the bread out of the mouths
of my children and the money out of my purse? But the merchant answered
him not, for he w a wise and discreet, and the bread that had been saved
1rom the spoHer tasted sweet IN his mouth. When they had made an end
of eating the merchant arose and returned to the city, for his thoughts were
troubled and his mind heavy as with a burden.
That is not a parable, neither is it a cunningly devised fable. 1t is a
true tale and in it is to be found, for those who think, the kernel of the trou-
BILE that aflcts North Dakota.
Wherein does it avail anything to attack those who have proposed even
lists? 1t will not panate to show that instead of S1O0O00O0OO0 being so-
len from the farmer only on II ten millions have been stolen.
What must be done? Some constructive plan must be placed before the
people by which they "a be assured that the wrongs will be righted and
the evils done away with. 1t must be a concrete, practical program and it
must be backed by Ger who a inspire the trust and confidence of the peo-
pie. NO abstract theoretical proposition will do, II gitering generaites
will suffice.
Does the farmer worry if someone has "stolen the Republican party"
so long as he believes someone is stealing his product? Will the word
"SociaHsn" brighten him as a "haunt" does a negro? So long IS n o other
remedy is offered him, he is likely to accept the only n in sight. You tell
him his leaders are Socialists. He replies that he has agreed with those
his property is protected-From editorial by D. H. Macarthur in The Per-
;scope.