The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-07-05
BIG CROWD AT
FARMER PICNIC
Monster Gathering Turns Out for An
nual Outing of Nonpartisans on
Saturday.

: Despite the rather threatening wea-
Their and showers the previous eve
: ming, a large gathering of farmers
and their families from every section
of Bottineau coHnty turned out Sat-
urday to the annual Nonpartisan
County Picnic held in this city.
Encouragement had been made for
any forenoon program and the bulk
of the crowd did not commence to ar
rive until after the noon hour.
Just as the procession, headed by
the Omemee Band, started for the
fair grounds about two o'clock in the
afternoon, a decidedly wet shower
sprung a leak and there was a mad
scramble for shelter. The rain was
of short duration, however, and the
balance Of the afternoon was quite
pleasant until about six o'clock, short
ly after the conclusion Of the speak
ing program, when another soaking
shower came down.
Representative Stair presided at
the meeting and first introduced H.
r. Wood, speaker of the late house
of representatives. AS stated by the
chairman, MI. Wood is an "honest to
God" farmer, his home being at Deer
ing, where he has farmed~ successfully
for many years.
Mr.. Wood devoted most Of his time
to explaining the origin of the Non
partisan League. And he speaks with
considerable authority, as he was the
first member of the organization and
also the first man to go out with
President Townley to secure men,
bers. His simple, straightforward
recital of the humble birth Of this or
g%anization, which now covers eleven
states and has a membership of more
than one hundred thousand, all with
in the space of about two years, was
interesting and impressive. While
Mr.. Wood does not lay claim to being
an orator, he is a speaker who carries
conviction with his argument and can
not but give the impression of SINGER
ity and honesty.
The next speaker was O. M. Thorn
ason, we'll known as an editorial writ
er on the Nonpartisan Leader and also
as a public speaker. Mr.. Thomson
is an orator with few equals in the
northwest. He has a vast fund of in
formation concerning the Nonpartisan
League and it's program and, although
he spoke for an hour and a half, he
was urged to keep right on by the in
terested audience.
Mr.. Thomson devoted most of his
time to a discussion of the attitude of
the League towards the North Dakota
business man. He emphasized the
fact that the league was not and new
er had, attacked or opposed the North
Dakota business man.
"When we speak of middlemen,"
said MI. Thomason, 1--WE do not mean
the tail-enders. We mean the long
string of toll-takers that stand in line
to fitch the product of the farm from
the time it leaves the farm until it
reaches the mouth Of the ultimate
consumer"
He pointed out the need of the
North Dakota business man, IS well
as the North Dakota farmer, and that
these two classes have common inter-
ests and therefore should work. for a
common cause and purpose.
II am unable to understand" said
the speaker, "why any North Dako-
to business NINA should oppose the
Nonpartisan League. The. farmers
have no other purpose than to better
their economic conditions. And if
they can better these conditions SO
that a few million dollars now being
sent out of the state, never to re-
turn, will remain in the state, they
will have these few million dollars to
spend over the counter Of the North
Dakota business man. It would not
then be necessary for the farmers
wife to sit down and pore over a
Sears-Roebuck catalog and try to fig
ure out where she can save a few
cents on her purchases. And the bust
ness man would have more money, so
that it would not be necessary for the
business mans wife to sit down with
a National Cloak & Suit Company
catalog to figure out where she could
save some money"
Mr.. Thomason's forceful logic was
interspersed with a fund of wit and
humor that kept the audience in a
continued roar Of laughter and many
expressed the wish afterward that he
would have continued for another
hour or two.
At this point in the program there
was a slight variation by the intro
duction of Attorney Bowen, who spoke
in behalf Of the Red Cross Society, OF
which organization he is county chair
man. In a masterful address MI.
Bowen urged that all the people OF
Bottineau county interest themselves
in the work Of this noble organize
ton BY digging down deep IN their
pocketbooks, to the end that Bottlneau
county may come 70 the front honor
able with her sdbit" in assisting TO r.
lieve the suffering and devastation