The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-10-25
WHEN big BIZ TURNS SOCIALIST.


Just suppose that a railroad attorney
should venture into the press with an in
dorsement of S. j. Doyle for governor
that Alex Mckenzie should advise North
Dakota to put Mr.. Doyle in the governor s
chair, or that Jud LaMoure, if he were hv-
ing should advocate against the adoption
of the Socialist constitution.
Can anybody imagine the hue and cry
that would be raised in the subsidized So
cialist press of the state. Sinister in
fuence'', "Big Biz, cold Gangsters' ,,
political tricksters' "Prussian Spies d,
would all be trotted out, curried and comb
ed, and turned into the track at :01 clip.
The "Moneyed Crowd would at once be
lined up as being with Mr.. Doyle: the
"gangsters would be seeking the destruc-
tion of the farmers interests the Cham
Der of Commerce would be pictured with
dagger in hand; the "profteers would be
found in the role of the farmers "enemy'
But these same papers bazon to the
world the position taken by one of North
Dakota S wealthiest men, Mr.. NJ. F. Muir
ply of Grand Forks. Mr.. Murphy is gen
orally reputed to have paid the second
highest income tax collected by the United
States in North Dakota for the last year
He is fiscal agent in North Dakota of the
Union Central Life Insurance Co., an old
line insurance concern, and his vast wealth
has been realized by commissions collected
on farm mortgages.
Mr.. Murphy comes with a plea for the
q IF o,,J
proposes, also, the ratification of the So
cialist constitution. AS a citizen of North
Dakota, Mr.. Murphy is entitled to his opin-
ions, and it ism likely that the indepen-
dent press Of North Dakota will see in his
announcement anything other than the YER
dict of an honest right thinking voter ar
rived at only after thorough study of the
issues involved. The Forum believes Mr..
Murphy's judgment is in error but it
doesn't believe that the old line insurance
company for which he lends money in
North Dakota is responsible for his at
titude.
And while on this subject of gangs
ters'' there are other interesting things in
the North Dakota situation that cannot
but arouse the interest and attention of the
voters who are making an intelligent and
honest effort to follow the trail of the So
cialists who are today dominant in the
state administration. One need not go far
to discover rather ridiculous sidelights on
the situation, particularly in view of the
constant appeal that is being made by the
Socialists to the prejudice of the voters
against anything savoring Of the old days
OF b0ssism in North Dakota. We find such
old time politicians as E. G. Patterson of
Bismarck, first lieutenant Of the Mckenzie
machine, standing close to the throne of
the new machine, welding sceptre and
holding place on the Nonpartisan- Repub-
lican-Socialist executive committee: we
find John Fl. Wishek of Ashley, stalwart of
stalwarts, fighting the Socialist battles in
Logan, Mcintosh and adjoining counties:
we find "Tommy" Poole, faithful emissary
Of the political dictators of days gone by,
carrying out the orders of the Socialist
chief; we find Leslie Simpson of Dickinson,
prominent for years as a leader in the old
Stalwart Republican camp, fighting j. w.
Brinton's battles in the courts, and aiding
the Socialists, as he did two years ago, to
take control of the Republican machinery
of the state.
The old saw about 'Fpolitics makes
strange bedfellows" was never so pat as
it is to the North Dakota situation TODAY.