The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-06-17
LEADERSHIP OF
LEAGUE ALLIED
In War TEST, IS
DAHNING VERDICT
F'The Country Gentleman"
Editorially Exposes
Falsity of Position
DID NOT MEET
NATIONAL NEEDS
Continued to Cater to Pro-
Germans and Stir Dis
sension
DIsLOYALIsTs
ARE ACCEPTED
Organizers Worked Among
That Glass Particu-
larly
DISLOY.ALISTS
ARE ACCEPTED

That a wise and forward looking
league could have capitalized this
ureat national crisis to great and
lasting ADVANTAGE is the sentiment
expressed in an editorial in the cur
rent issue of The Country Gentle
man. But. the editorial adds, the
lrecord of events during the last year
reveals that this wise and forward
looking leadership was lacking.
The leaders of the league are crit
ieized in the editorial for their at
titude against the government which
they have assumed actively and pas
.siveIy.
A year ago The Country Gentleman
gave the league movement a great
simpetus when it dealt with the Ques-
Sfion on such basis that the matter
published proved splendid organiza-
tion material for the league leaders.
WORKED AMONG GERMANS.
''Wherever there were compact
neiahborhocds of Teuton SYM
pathizers there you heard of
league organizers aarnerina $40
membership fees fer the leagues
war chest" is an excerpt from
the editorial.
The editorial follows:
1.-THE Nonpartisan league won the
sympathy and support of a great
body OF worthy farmers on a plat
form that declared for the better
ment of local farming conditions in
North Dakota and adjoining states.
'sThe Country Gentleman was the
s1rst national publication to comment
at length on the growth Of the
T..
cluded in the weeks OF our entry into
the war against kaiserisn. We
pointed out then that the league was
in a strong position to render a great
patriotic service by mobilizing agri-
culture for war within the zone Of its
immediate influence.
LOYALTY HELD ISSUE. p.
"It did not eeem in any de-
gree probable that the sort of
farmers who had pioneered the
northwest prairies could be mis-
led or hoodwinked into standing
for a type of leadership that
would indorse any other course
than straisht-out Americanisn1.
eThere was but one logical as
sumption, in our Judgment. That
the men. no. matter of what origin,
who had invested their lives and
fortunes in American soil would, in
crisis which threatened the very
existence of the American nation
ana American institutions, demand
OF their leaders and all of their lead
ers representatives unqualified sup
port Of the government.
Wise Policy Lacking.
"A wise and forward looking lead
ership could have capitalized the
crisis to great and lasting advantage.
But the record of events during the
last year. as set down in ample de-
tail in a series now running in The
Country Gentleman reveals that this
wise and forward looking leadership
was lacking to the Nonpartisan
LEAGUE.
"straiaht-out loyalty and AM
erieanism were not adopted as
the keynote of the league doe
trlne. On the contrary. the anti
war sentiment OF rabid pacifists
and BoIshevisto was allowed to
run riot.
Called Rich MaRfs War.
Mr.. Townley arranged the lament
able La Toilette mass meeting.
League leaders and league owned
newspapers branded our war to set
men free a rich mems war. Few OPP
portunities to snarl and whine at our
beginning efforts to wage war We're
overlooked Every PROSPEROUS ana
successful institution Of our indus
trial structure which made 1t pos
sible to make war in a great way
became target for attack.
League politicians truckled to I.
w, w. trouble makers and anti-war
hyphenates. Wherever there were
compact neighborhoods of Teuton
gyrnpadhizers there you heard OF
league organizers garnering SIG
membership fees for the league 81
war chest.
nBEGAN TO HEDGE
saso it was until millions OF
families, among them many
thousand members of tae league,
Confined on page 50