Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-01-14
CFrom Duluth Herald. J

Il started. a cloud no bisEers 4
manssa hand, In one county,
Dakota. It captured the state OF North
lpekota, allsbut the hoid-oyer haif OF
the senate; and now " out
for Minnesota ana Other ,states;, WIN
Of the United States-IIEoyerniient q
the people. ostensibly Tor thesfarrlers
by az weird a collectt0n.of snonsagrt-a
cultural schemers as political chance
ever threw together.
ii Farmers' movements " have seen
Sbefore-the Changers and the Popu-
lists. for instance-but never b move
Its membership, aside from; the
menacing fact that It has fattened
especially in districts where allen dis
Loyalty is rife, seems to be made up
largely Of hard headed farmers who
are thoroughly honest In; their. belief
that they have real grievances: More
lover, these farmers, as ;saevidence of
their good faith, are paying sixteen
kdollars apiece-thirty-two dollars in
the remoter west, We are Informed
for whatever they get out OF 1t.
It isn't, primarily, an Drgaf ization
at all. The Equity societies were or
g~anizations; the ORANGES were organ
izations; this is not. This Is a. sort st
hierarchy, ruled absolutely by Town
ley, Coates, LIE Seur. Manahan ct al.
| The farmer who, solicited by an or
ganizer whose zeal is assured, by the
fact that he gets $3.50 out Of each
sixteen dollars he takes IN, Joins
the Non-Partisan league, seems to get
merely the privilege of voting as the
rulers. of the league tell himito. vote,
and the hope that somehowSthese ruiz
ers will SO manipulate the affairs Of
state. as to bring In ID golden age
when farmers will have no grievances,
no losses, no reverses--zHothing but
ceaseless profits and q hand flowing
with milk and honey.
The league has, m~anifestly, taken
in millions of doliars-farJmore, ap-
parently. than it could possibly spend
l~egitimately in politics. What has be-
come OF these millions no man seems
to know. Townley and his fellows pro-
fess that they are poor. declare that
they have no money except their more
league. Their accounts are audited,
they assert; and others assert that
the auditors are friends made into
auditors for the purpose. II there Is
any plundering of these funds by the
men who have them absolutely under
their control. unchecked and uncha1-
lenged, the fact has not been discov-
efe1 or disclosed.
The league controls North Dakota.
It claims to have forty thousand
members IN Minnesota, and probably
a thirty thousand with Its mem-
pership increasing very rapidly-al-
ways at, sixteen dollars per member.
II IS u for other states, and
LOT the nation, aiming at full con-
roI;..
Inc legislative plans of the league,
SO far as they have been disclosed, are
reVolutlonary. They are comprehen-
sive enough, IL they can be, worked.
not only to meet every grievance the
Iarlner may have, but all the grew
anceS he can ever imagine. But to
carry them, out would mean virtually
inc ~, iotai Of h business
ana !noustrlal and governmental fab
rict that now prevails, with little or
nosregard to any other Interest," Of the
IaEmer-and there are, al the farmer
Of the league. will admit,
oInef interests that deserve considera-
!tion.., "
nomenoh. associated with this latest
agrartan prairie fire is ids .hirtaann
with: labor. Realizing that a farmers
movement cannot capture states that
are Industrial as we'll fas agricultural.
n especially not states n that are
Industrial than agricultural, the
leaders-of the league are opening me-
EQUATIONS with labor ORGANIZATIONS.
True, labor might want dollar wheat
when the farmer wants three-dollar
wheat, and fifty-cent potatoes when
the farmer wants two-dollar" potatoes:
U still, labor's votes are needed.
True, labor's fundamental creed Is
the eight-hour day, and an eight
hour day on the farm-for instance
IN hayihg or haryesting-would be ca
lamity;s but labor's votes are needed.
VIII farmer, in return for labor's
votes, unionize the farm helpers sand
adopt the eight-hour day? Probably
the farmer a yet to consider that
question.
a more than intimate relation be-
tween the leaders of the Non-Partisan
ieague and the revolutionary I.W. w.
dents tend to confirm the suspicion.
A5hard-headed farmer with the barn
sabotage-practicing outlaw
OF Ia I. w. w. is in strange. company
indeed.
+ X X
is to be done about this
ioWniey -Coates-Le Suer Manahan
neIore It sweeps away all barriers and
turns the delicate machinery ofFgoy-
feirnmens INDUSTRY. commeTce@and az
rleutture over to sledge-hanlner tink,
ering by radical hierarchy that
seems 70 be under no check whatever
trom tne ordinarily solid conserve
.lsm OF the who are finance
ing u with their money and @e%quippinE
IL WIN ,tneir votes!
certainty It is not to be met by
aDusins league, the farmers or
wen n men who gotsN up ana u
II and &proht by 1t. IS
.Certainsy II ~ not to be met. by de-
nytng that h farmer has grievances.
Certainly It is not to be met by