The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-03-15
THE BUSINESS MAN N THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE.

THE BUSINESS MAN AND THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE.
Through no special fault of his own, the average North d.
kota business man has developed a distrust of, if not actual an
tagonism to, the Nonpartsan League.
This attitude of aloofness on the part of the business. man is
born of prejudice, engendered by a certain element of the state
press that is either hired for this specific purpose, or is inspired
by politicians who see in the farmers movement a menace to their
own political ambitions.
Subterfuge, lies, deceit and half-truths have been the daily,
or weekly, potion served up by these forces until the average
business man, failing to inform himself through any other sour
ces, gradually drifts into the belief that the Nonpartisan League
is a menace to HIS interests-that the object of the League is to
put HIM and HIS BUSINESS into bankruptcy.
Nothing could be farther removed from the truth-as many
business men OF the state are now commencing to realize.
The Nonpartisan League is endeavoring to do something to
better the conditions of the farmer financially.
Wherein is that going to injure the North Dakota business
man?
Reduced to it's last analysis, the League is endeavoring to bet
ter the marketing conditions of the man on the farm.
Is that going to work any hardship on the business man?
The history of Prof. Ladds expose of the gigantic steal on
the so-called ID Feed" wheat is fresh in the minds of most people.
Dr.. Ladds statement that this I'D Feed wheat makes practically
as much and as good flour for baking purposes as No.. 1 Northern
wheat has never been denied.
Yet there has been a spread in the market between these two
grades of approximately one dollar a bushel.
The North Dakota farmer loses this one dollar a bushel-and
the North Dakota business man does not get it. It goes into the
pockets of the big grain gambler outside the state, who has al
ways found North Dakota a fertile field for exploitation.
Is it going to harm the North Dakota business man if the
North Dakota farmer gets that dollar in place of the market man.
ipulator outside the state?
On the ID Feed" graft alone nearly every farmer in North
Dakota who raised wheat the past season was robbed of several
hundred dollars.
Would it harm you, Mr. North Dakota Business Man, if this
money was in the pockets of the farmers to spend over your count
ers for necessities and Injuries?
A similar condition exists in regard to the live stock industry
and the farmers are endeavoring to stop this big marketing
"eak" by establishing state owned packing plants and storage
houses, as they would stop the "leak" in their grain marketing
with terminal elevators and flour mills, operated on a scale large
enough to command some attention on the world market.
The big outside interests who have waxed fat in their exploit
alton of the state, are hardly to be blamed for fighting when an
attempt is made to loosen their grip. With them it is a cold
blooded business proposition, and they can we'll afford to invest a
small portion of their loot in an effort to manufacture sentiment
against the farmers organization.
But what of those who, through mercenary interest or other
wise, are lending themselves to stirring up this opposition to a
movement that is essentially a benefit to every legitimate bust
ness institution in the state?
When the real objects of the League become generally under
stood by the business men, as they are now understood by the
farmers, how are these newspapers going to justify their course ?
Many of the small town business and professional men of
North Dakota are now friendly to the farmers program. It is
only a question of time until the rank and file will work hand in
hand with the man on the farm, knowing full we'll that what will
better his condition must essentially better the condition of every
individual in the state.
And then there will be several newspapers in North Dakota,
large and small, that will be busy explaining how they have been
with the movement from the start-even though they couldn't
always agree on the method of procedure.
This is the age of wonders. In view of this admitted fact,
there will be little CONSERVATION over the suggestion of the Dew
ills Lake World that Senator Hyland of Ramsey Countrywide help
ed assasinate House bill 44-wil succeed Governor Frazier as
the states chief executive. You should at least give the neon1e