Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1918-06-27
.NONP ARTISAN
LEAGUE MEETS

/
o. M. Thomason, of st. Paul, MINI,
deliverd an interesting and instruct
i've address in one Of the fine groves
la mile or SO northeast Of Bryant last
| Monday afternoon
| The speaker, leaving Minneapolis
about 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon,
drove his little old Ford through to
Bryant, distance Of nearly 300 miles,
reaching the scene about 1870 Monday
afternoon.
| Going on to Bryant to get his mail,
a large number of automobiles, which
had conveyed the farmers and their
families for many miles roundabout,
proceeded to Bryant, also, and formed
a procession at the head of the main
street, led by Joseph Kramer and his
Ford, carrying a large American flag.
and returned to the grove in single
| file.
TIE speaker was introduced by Mr..
Kramer. Fresh from the conflict in
Minnesota. MI. Thomason said that
the farmers have the satisfaction of
having received for their ticket three
times as many votes as they have
membership in the state. With only
about fifty thousand members, for the
organization of the state has just be-
gun, there were 100000 votes cast,
largely as a protest against the exist
ing order Of things in Minnesota
The Nonpartisan League, he de-
clared, may be likened unto a head
ache. Nobody has headache unless
something is wrong with him physical
ly. The headache is not itself an
ailment but it is the symptom of
something else. There is no way of
permanently prevnting these recurring
headaches except to remedy the cause.
If there were not something radi-
cally wrong with existing systems and
conditions, there would be no protest.
The Nonpartisan League is a protest.
There ought to be no such thing as
the Nonpartisan League, for the sim
pie reason that there ought to be no
cause fes it's springing into being
Had the cause been removed. declar-
ed the speaker, before the formation
of the league. there would have been
no league.
But conditions are growing worse
instead of better There is more rea-
son for the existence of the league
now than when it was organized. The
politicians who are shouting out
against the league are taking no steps
worth while to remove the cause
which gave rise to its formation.
They are telling us, it is true, that
we should wait until the war is over
| Agitation is bad for the country dur
| ing this great war, they say But no
man is justified in permitting palpa-
| BILE wrongs to exist when remedy is
at hand No man is justified in not
trying to improve conditions if they
i DC IIIpIUVtu.
4 This war is a struggle to maintain
/ the principles of democracy No sane
American is opposed to the prosecu-
I ton of the war to the end, until the
objects which brought America into
/ the conflict are attained All true
! Americans believe in sustaining the
I cause for which America and its al
4 lies are contending. They know that
lit is a contest, a supreme contest,
between autocracy and democracy,
and they believe that, the war having
been forced upon lis by autocracy,
there is but one consistent thing to
do. and that is to continue the strug-
1 gle until autocracy is overthrown
4 root and branch.
4 But because we are in the midst of
war, the American people are assur-
|edly not justified. the farmers who
have been the victims for years OF
this commercial piracy on the part OF
I what nav be termed big business,
are certainly not justified. in failing
Ito strive to bring about a remedy:
4 This is exactly what the Nonpartisan
League stands for: it stands for the
]. Icontinned prosecution of the war until
z Victory over autocracy is attained and
/ It stands for anplying a remedy for
. the existing evils in our system. 81
u distribution
Why not wait until the war is over.
Simply because the longer We wait the