The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-06-25
ON THE EVE OF ELECTION.

strategy, revue" JIG WAOl0 SAGunIAOA O@AAhAJ
on its merits, and try to see clearly what is
our duty tomorrow when we go to the
polls.
The one great ISSUE of course, is the So
called "loyalty ISSUE" We wish that it
had not been necessary to raise this issue,
but above all else we must have a governor
and an entire list Of state officials who can
be counted upon to back the war to the
limit no matter what else suffers.
Do you want to know why The Forum
has appeared to "see red" at times on this
question: Well tell you. There are two
reasons, one positive and one negative.
The positive reason is the unquestioned
loyalty of Mr.. Steen and the men who are
backing him. Platforms, Of course, are not
convincing proof in themselves, but Mr.
Stems own platform and the entire Minot
| platform have no reservations on the 10y
atty issue. Then select any man who is
actively working for Mr.. Steen, we don't
care who he is, and you will find man
who has been actively and energetically en-
gagged in every war campaign that has
come along. Remember we are not claim
ing all the supporters Of Governor Frazier,
or even majority Of them, are disloyal,
but we do claim that you can't find a dis
loyalist supporting Steen-
The negative reason is the big mass Of
evidence Of disloyalty brought against the
league leaders. You must admit that the
leagues candidates must answer for the
policies of the leagues leaders until they
i1So ND la%a
has done that yet The numerous arrests
Of league organizers are the first bit Of evil
dence. One or two arrests might be laid
to political activity. But even admitting
that some of the arrests were not war
ranted, and were made in the heat of polit-
ical excitement, there must be some fire
where there is so much smoke.
The nomination Of Mr.. Lindbergh was
further evidence. We don't want to trail
along with political party that presents
as its candidate, man who, when his
country was at war, wrote such book as
"Why Your Country Is At Ware Even
if he cant be convicted under the espion-
age act, he's just not our kind of folks,
that s ALL
We dom like the way Governor Frazier
associated himself with men convicted of
sedition-not just indicted or accused, you
understand. There is no covering up
these facts. They are undisputed.
We don't like the way Townley and
Frazier tied themselves up with La Fol
lette. True, La Toilette has not yet been
found guilty of disloyalty by any court Of
record, his case being still before the SEN
ate committee, but any man who would
make that kind Of speech in wartime isn't
the kind Of man we want to follow, asso-
ciate with or even speak to, when the boys
are fighting in France.
We don't like the way Governor Frazier
leaps to the rescue of people like the
l.. w. W. and the Peoples Peace council.
We don't object to his defending them,
but why not do it as an opponent and not a
sympathizer2 Why not say to them:
You can hold your meeting here and be
safe, If you want to, but we don't want
you, and we IL watch every act and word''Y
But the people he warned were the loyal
law-abiding citizens.
Dozens Of other incidents could be adj
duced, but it can be all summed up in the
statement: Governor Frazier and the
rest Of the league ticket may be loyal and
patriotic according to their views, but
those are not our views of loyalty, we don't
like the kind Of people who dictate to them,
and we're not taking any chances with the
boys in France
Next consider some Of the social and
political phases Of the campaign.
We don't like hearing our fellow towns
men who happen to disagree with the
league being called ''Big Biz" or "hire-
lings" when we know better. We don't
like being called "Kept Press" and hear
ing our fellow newspapermen throughout
the state called the same, when we know
the fine ideals to which most of them are
trying to adhere.
We don't like to hear every resident Of
town or city referred to as a useless para
site and an enemy of the farmer.
We resent charges of "fighting the
farmer, - especially when they come from
man who has shamelessly exploited the
farmers for his own benefit.
We think the Consumers Store plan and
the leagues newspaper plan are the last
word in g frenzied finance" and can profit
nobody but the little inner clique that con-
trolls the league. We resent the shameful