The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-08-30
TRACYBANCS IS
EX0NERATED
CITIZENS DENY THAT HE
MADE DISPARAGING RE-
MARKS.

The Courant is in receipt of a
letter from Tracy r. Bangs of Grand
Forks, wherein he denies having made
the disparaging remarks about the
N@orwepians of the state at a recent
Larimore meeting, as credited to
him in the Grand Forks Normanden.
In SUPPORT of his contention, Mr..
Bangs submits a statement signed by
twenty-five citizens of Larimore.
AS the Courant in a recent issue
made editorial reference to the re-
marks credited to Mr.. Bangs, we
GLADLY submit the denial Of the Larl-
more citizens. which follows:
TO WHOM TT MAY CONCERN:-
The undersigned, residents Of Larl-
more and vicinity, who were present
at the City Hall in the City OF Larl-
more on Monday evening, July 3Otn'
1917. on the occasion of an address
delivered by Tracy r. Bangs OF Grano
Forks on the subject Of the ked
Cross and the present war, having
had our attention directed to an arti.
Gle appearing in the "Normanden" OF
Grand Forks, of date August 7th.
1917, entitled:-"God is Tired II
Hearing Prayers in the Morse Lam
puape in North Dakota" which artl-
Gle contains excerpts from a letter
written nv n J. A. Meyer OF
Michigan to the Editor OF the NOR
manden, desire to refute and deny
+he statements contained in the article
and the letter. charging Mr.. Bangs
with statements d~erooatorv to the
Norwegian people, and with respect
RI the closing of schools and pa
pers, etc.
Mr.. Bangs did not saw that North
Dakota was The hlacb snot IN tne
ma, IF the United States. He DID,
ear,v in his remarks rotor TO the state
ment that was contained in one OF
Tho New York raners in which. re-
ferr;nc to the 1irht suhs"r'ntIon IN
+b;c s+ote. MT orlv ~ Tihertv Loan
pords h,+ N Tho wnr Pa1;nf Find of
The Pod Cross it. rho New York Pa
nor. had d~os;~ra+od Month Dakota AS
the h,ack c-c+ On tho man h"t in TINS
connection there was no reference
made to N%orwegians or to any other
nationality.
The only mention that was
d,r;no the address. If Norwegians,
was in connection with the rrosnect
~ Increased activity IN +hie State. in
which Mr.. Bangs said, if not in e.
,c+ words. in effect. that we. I n North
Dakota, are so far from the Atlantic
Coast and 80 far from the PACING
Coast, IN fact 80 far removed from
the scenes Of war preparation that we
had not vet become fully alive to the
fact that our country was at war, or
at least that we had not reached q
no;nt where we realized the full i'm
mort If the war situation. hut, ne
stated that with the registration OF
our bovs. with the call that was now
he;np made to the colors. and with the
~%canninp of the casualty list. which
would come in a very short time. we
would be fully alive to the situation
and that when that time came. Norm
Dakota would he as er+hus1ast'c IN
;ts LOYALTY and patrio+ism as any
State in the Union and in this con-
nection. he said that about 40 per cent
~ o,r noru,ation were either Norwe-
oian or of Norwegian descent, and
that considering the fact that o
wav had suffered more than any other
neutral country at the hands OF Ger
many the people in this State, who
had Norwegian blood in their veins
had a double reason for being loyal
to the cause of the allies, namely;
their loyalty to this country. and the
sentiment that must attach them to
the land of their fathers.
There was no criticism of the
Norwegian people. On the other
hand the suggestion made bv MI.
Bangs in his address was that because
of the LOYALTY and double patriotism
on the part of the Norwegian people.
thew would be nspeciallv active as
soon as conditions were reached
where we became fully alive to the
situation.
Mr.. Bangs made absolutely no
statement with respect to the news
papers. There was nothing said by
him with respect to German news
papers. Norwegian newspapers or any
other newspapers.
We desire further to say that Mr..
Bangs made no statement to the ef-
feet that schools should not be al
lowed in which foreign language
was taught, and made no statement
that could possibly be twisted into the
statement contained in the letter from
Mr.. Meyer.
In speaking of the condition in
Canada. and of the opposition that
was being made in lower Canada tt
49, -R-->1 l.