Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-07-16
MISUNDERSTANDING MINNESOTA

The New York Evening Post publishes a long le,,e,
from one Frank Plachy, Jr, whose address is not given
giving a description. according to his viewpoint. Of con.
ditions in Minnesota According to Mr.. Plachy, the pub.
lie safety commission is ruling Minnesota with a rod OF
iron. and is tyrannizing over the peaceful people Of the
state in order to work. out political purposes of its own
Horrible tales are told OF farmers who had committed no
sign their membership in tho Nonpartisan league on pain
of being depored, and It is stated that several have act.
uany been deported, either under the orders Of the com
mission or by local officials who feel sure that they Will
have the support Of the commission in the performances
of their illegal acts. Special mention is made Of Rock
county in which it is said that out of 4o7 league members
who were ordered to register at the Luverne Loyalty
club and renounce their membership in the Nonpartisan
league on pain of deportation from the state, 37s have
already complied with this order in order to be permitted
to live in peace and occupy their own property.
The Herald Is not in possession Of the exact facts
with reference to these 4o7 Minnesota people. but the
show that Mr.. Plachy himself disproves the case which
he is trying to make out. We are to understand that in
a thickly peopled section Of the state Of Minnesota nearly
four hundred people who have been residents Of that
section for years-for there are no new settlers in that
part OF Minnesota-who had committed no crime, who
were conscious Of no %offense,. who were orderly, law
abiding farmers, were frightened by the order and the
threat of a local official into renouncing membership in
a society to which they felt that they had a perfect right
to belong. That statement carries its own refutation to
the mind of anyone who knows the state Of Minnesota
and the character of its people.
Assuming that some fool official were to have the
asininity to issue such an order, those against whom it
was issued being orderly people. the first and most ef-
fective protest would have come from the %neighbors of
these people who are not members Of the league and who
do not. share the opinions Of it's members. In the second
place, had the order been issued under the conditions
stated, and had there been no protest from non-league
people, it is impossible to conceive Of a community of
American farmers in which nearly four hundred people
could be found to lie down and let some official puppet
walk over them. It isn't done.
The facts are that in a good many localities in Min
nesota local pro-German sentiment has over-reached
itself. and has expressed itself so openly and so brazenly
as to arouse the indignation Of the American section Of
the community: that in some sections there has been
such q close relationship between the Nonpartisan league
and a vicious and persistent German propaganda that it
has been impossible to separate the two; that the eyes
Of the people have been opened to the enormity of the
conditions, and that loyal members Of the league have
fastened to sever their relations with il. while others
who were disloya. have lost no time in taking a step
which they believed would set them right in the eyes OF
their %neighbors.
In the working out of these things it is quite likely
that indignation has carried individuals beyond the limits
of strict legality, that officials have not always been dis
Greet, and that injustice has sometimes been done to IN
nocent individuals. but when any writer tells US that in
any county in Minnesota 37s farmers have done some
thing they did not want to do because somebody told
them to do it, he demands too much OF the credulity Of
the people who read this article.