The Bismarck tribune., 1918-08-28

Walla- Walla Bulletin, and Is as fol
lows: -t
.'cRookED NoNPARTlsAN PLANS
ARE LAID BARE At WiNLocK." )"
On the night Of Thursday, April 26,
1918, Alfred Knutson, state manager
of the NOnpartisan league of North
/ Dakota, and Roy w. Edwards, an or
ganizer for the league, held two
hour conference, in Knutson's room
at the Winlock hotel, at Winlock,
Wash. The entire conversation was
heard by four witnesses, whose affi-
davits appear below. Knutson's pur-
pose throughout the conversation
seemed to be to give Edwards who has
worked for the league only a few
lweeks, inside information as to its
workings and real object The gist
of the conference is herewith given.
Sinister Objects.
"The object of our organization is
to gain control of the politics of the
country-that is, the states Offices and
those Of the government. We do not
wish to meddle with county affairs,
they are of no consequence. We find
most OF the farmers SO provincial,
however, that we have difficulty in
keeping them from messing up mat
ters with their petty politics. What
we want, Of all things, is control of
the supreme bench, the attorney gen.
eral and the governor. We have al
ready succeeded in subjugating North
Dakota, and if a revolution were call
ed tomorrow, fully 80 per cent of the
people of that state would respond to
the call" a,
"All organizations of this nature
Heretofore have not been efficient.
| Why? Because they were built on the
principle OF democracy While we wish
the people to think that they have
democracy in the organization, we
will give them an oligarchical rule,
control in the hands of the few. You
see, the league has taken LESSON
from Big Business and we have found
ed our organization on the same prin-
ciples That's why we are SO success
full. With all her sins-Big Business
has taught us this valuable lesson.
Control of the banks the products
of labor and the government in gen.
eral There will be no middlemen, for
in reality they are only the clerks Of
Big Business
Some Secrets.
1--WE are not giving out these facts
he said to subordinate, 'as we or
ganize This must be fed to the farm
ers little at a time ~
At this point Governor Alexander of
Idaho was mentioned and his chain of
stores. I'VE are merely following in
the footsteps of Big Business, perfect
ing scientific organization to control
the world for the people. But the
control must be in the hands of a
few
"Will it be necessary to resort to
forceful means?" was asked by the To-
cal organizer, who is comparatively
new to the game. "The time is not
yet ripe" was the reply. why, if it
were not for North Dakota today, Min
nesota could not stand. We must
secretly build our machine-then
strike. We have IA states fairly or
ganized now. We have in Washing
ton 5000 members, that is, we SO re-
port although the actual figures are
something over 4,OOO. We have gained
\ momentum anu Iney cdHnOL SIOp US
now IT'S TOO LATE"
! "IF THE GOVERNMENT HAD IN
ST1TUTED THE MILITARY FIRING
| SQUAD 1T WOULD HAVE PUT THE
FEAR OF GOD INTO US. BUT NOW
1T IS TOO LATE
| There was about two hours. of this
stuff and adjectives were mostly of an
unprintable nature. The Farmers were
spoken of as tools to attain the ulti-
mate purpose In speaking Of organ
izing solicitors he said, What we
want is man of physical strength,
4 and one who can sign them up by
forceful means, browbeating talk. We
want a man who has endurance to
work nights, If the fishing is good.
One who is not too honest. Tell them
anything to get them In"
| Crowds Welcome.
His subaltern then put the following
question: Does mans past act as
a hindrance?" Men with past are, as
a rule, the most desirable, but take
them away from where they are
known.
County of Lewis, IS: 4s
r. We, r. s. Rees, w w Webb,, lacy