The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-05-03
REPUDIATEs
PARTS OF IT
Townley Denies Passages
OF His Speech At
! Williston , -
'FOUR OR FIVE"
!. UNDER INDICTMENT
No Corporation With Equal
Income Failed To Buy
Liberty Bonds

washington. May 8.-(speclal)-
The senate military affairs commit
tee emphaticalIy refused Wednesday
TO be employed as a means Of set
ting forth the objects and purposes
Of. the Nonpartisan league.
When A. c. Townley. head Of the
league, who came here to deny
charges of disloyalty recently made
by Judge j. F. MCGEE OF the Mime
sofa Public Safety commission, at
tempted to talk a minute about the
Nonpartisan league he promptly was
told to confine himself to a denial Of
the charges.
Members of the committee turned
! the spotlight on the writings or
Charles A. Lindbergh of Little Falls,
MINI. a former member Of congress
and now the league candidate for
governor in Minnesota. Townley
clearly was embarrassed by some of
1 the questions asked about Lind
| bergh's views and met them with
evasive answers.
Townley's own utterances early in
tthe war came in for sharp criticism,
but as is his custom, he denied he
! had made some of the statements,
saying "they were chargeable to the
enemy press" The committee also
delved into the league finances, its
support of the Liberty Bond cam
fpaigns and Townley's theory Of gov
eminent.
| A subscription of $4,000 for the
third Liberty loan has been made by
! the. league, 1t was brought out. No
bonds were bought in the first or sec
ond loans. Townley said the league,
all told, has about 100000 members.
IF all paid their dues. SO annually,
? Ia would I l..
! 600. The witness said probably 20
TO 80 per cent is not paid"
tDo you know" Senator Weeks
asked, "of any corporations in the
United States that make $1,6Oo,000
that did not subscribe anything to
the first and second Liberty loans
and only subscribed $4,000 to the
third?" e
NO." Townlev assented in his at
fected way. which at times seemed
to verge on the apologize.
Il do not Weeks replied. 81 would
be ashamed of it. too"
Many at Hearing.
Not since Secretary Baker appear
ed before the committee last winter
have there been so many spectators.
Among these were Representatives
| Rankin of Montana, Young and Baer
| of North Dakota and Lundeen Of
Minnesota. the latter standing UP for
nearly two hours to hear Townley.
The question of Lindbergh's writ
ings since the war was precipitated
by Senator Weeks Unexpectedly and
caught Townley by surprise.
Has he.' Weeks asked concerning
Lindberg11, ISSUED a book or some
thing Of that sort expressing his
views ?"
Supporting Lindberah.
Townley-Not since the nomina-
! ton. that know OF.
.Weeks-Are you supporting Mr..
! Lindbergh?
Townley-I certainly am.
Weeks started to read extracts
from Lindbergh's book and Townley
inquired if he had q copy of the book
Weeks read the following credited to
Iindbergh:
1.-THE next step was to resort to
CONSUMPTION Of men. In some states
even women are forced to register.
The CONSUMPTION is intended to raise,
by force If necessary, armies to
march across the seas to fight in a
foreign land. They did not dare to
submit CONSUMPTION to a vote of the
people, SO congress voted to con-
script men FOR the purpose"
ToWnley She's
do you approve that sentiment?
Weeks asked Townley.
II do not know whether that Is a
part of the book" Townley replied.
81 do not know the context I have
not read it."
WeeksIf that were true. would
you approve it.
Townley-In so far as that inter-
feres with enlistments or the draft I
do not approve Of it.
Weeks-Don't you think that
would have a tendency to affect the
carrying out of the draft act?
Townley-That is q part Of the
book. It is a paragraph, a word, or
a line. The context would have a
meaning OF the part that you have
read. have not read it in the book
or in pamphlet form or in a news
paper.
Not League Leader.
Weeks Have you seen the book?
TownleyI do not know whether
have seen the book or not, how
ever, Lindbergh is not a leader of
the Nonpartisan league. He is a
man Endorsed for governor.
Candidates for governor usually
are considered leaders, Weeks re-
minded the witness.
Mr.. Lindbergh wrote such a book,
ToWn1ey said. "Ra wrote it when he
had no connection with the league"
Senator ReedYou nominated him
after l1e had written this book?
Townley--I presume so.
Reed would like to ask IL you
agree with this statement in his
book: We have been dragged into.
this war by the intrigue Of specu-
lators.
Town1eyIt depends on where the
spectators are understand there
are some spectators in Germany
Townley's War View.
The attempt to twist Lindbergh's
meaning plainly nettIed Reed. He
called Townley to task and the lat
ter finally admitted:
4 think we went in Ito the war;
to protect ourselves against German
military intrigue
Several more excerpts from Lind
bergla's book were read by Senator
Reed, but he failed to get a definite
expression from Townley.
will read one that is specific,
tIle senator finally said. heatedly. He
read as follows:
was the demand OF wealth that
wa should prepare q great navy and
r ereaE srlny To enforce the existing
political and economic system. not
only upon ourselves. but upon al the
WORLD present and future. 1T re-
haG wa SHOULD Impress into