Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-10-30
POLITICS IN MIN OTA

It is good to hear that there is no
for the report that Presi-s
dent Wilson had Endorsed Senator Knutes
Nelson Of Minnesota for recollection, and
that instead the Wilson Democracy Of
Minnesota is working actively to re-
place this arch reactionary with a man
whose understanding Of what demo-.
cracy means is that Of the President
himself The land-grant railroads and
the power monopoly of the Northwest
never had more faithful friend in
Congress than the aged Senior Senator.
He Is a man after the late Jim Hills
own heart. His latest service was his at
tempt to amend the railroad Control bill
SO as to guarantee the return of the
railroads to private ownership within
six months after the conclusion of the
war, an attempt which bellies his claim
to recognition as a staunch supporter of
the President, who wished no specific
time limitation in the bill and who re-
luctantly accepted the eighteen months
proviso on which Congress finally COM
promised. +
The failure of the Minnesota Demo-
cratic Party organization to name a
candidate to oppose Senator Nelson is
alliances between the bipartisan agents
of reaction which are common enough
in states where the true public inter-
est is but feebly represented in the
controlling machines of the two big
parties. The situation has been saved
by the new National Party, which nom
mated Mr.. w. G. Calderwood of Mime
apolis for Senator and has now got him
accepted by organized labor, the farm
ers of the Nonpartisan League, and such
Wilson Democrats as Ex-Governor John
Lind and Chairman William B. Colver
of the Federal Trade Commission. Mr.
Colver's influential st. Paul newspaper,
the, Daily News, is urging Mr.. Calder
wood as the only candidate who stands
for the Wilson policies, not only of war
but of reconstruction, and Mr.. Lind,
who is probably closer to the President
than any other Minnesotan, is also an ac-
tive worker in the Calderwood camp
They are facing with the greatest energy
and enthusiasm the difficulties of impr-
ovising a statewide campaign organiza-
ton. Organized labor and the organized
farmers each will conduct their own cam
paign for Calderwood, while the most
active liberals in the State are appeal
ing to voters in general through the
Citizens Senatorial Committee Mr.
Sinclair, the Chairman, is a Minneapolis
banker whose views on politics and econ
omics will never make him popular
among the leaders of the Bankers AS
ISOLATION. But his energy and organic
ing ability are giving Minnesotans some
thing to talk about, and whether Mr..
Calderwood wins or~loses, the campaign
will be worth more than it costs as edu-
cational propaganda in the interests of
true democracy. The candidate himself
is a Minneapolis real estate broker who
has never held public office, but has de-
voted much of his time to public work in
the interest Of tax reform and prohibition
Prohibition is not now an issue, as Sem
ator Nelson is also it's advocate, and the
campaign is being fought largely on the
issues of reconstruction. The Calder
wood platform, which Is also the plat
form of the National Party of Mime
sofa, declares for public Ownership of
public utilities, terminal markets, pack
ing plants, flour mills, mines, oil fields,
forests, and water power; taxation to
make Immediately available land held
uselesly idle for the profit of specula-
tors" an extension of federal control
of banks and banking in order to render
monopoly in commercial credits impos-
sible; an executive budget; and indus
trial democracy based on the declara-
ton that equality of economic oppor-
tunlty is fundamental TO the liberty LOT
which we are at war"
Mr.. Calderwood:s war record offers
no opportunity to the political agents OF
the banking, milling, packing, and Steel
Corporation interests who have instig-
ated the contemplate persecution of
farmers belonging to the Nonpartisan
League. Even the amusing snobs who
try hard if unwittingly to make .Revolu-
tionary descent ridiculous could not COM
plain of his record, for he is of Whit
tiers family, and he has been a staunch
supporter Of the Presidents war policy.
He is said to be an excellent campaign
Ell, with a wide acquaintance reaching
into almost every village in the State.
Among those who are working for him
is the picturesque group of practical
democrats on the Iron Range, led by
Victor Power and Claude Atkinson of
Hibbing, the men who wrested political
control of the iron mining towns from
agents of the Steel Corporation and then
taxed the Corporation to provide their
towns with such schools, libraries, parks,
and public utilities as few cities enjoy.
The Calderwood mon are greatly hand
icapped by the lack of any statewide
political machinery, except that which
they have improvised, and by the other
difficulties common to every campaign
for real democracy-the opposition of
the great newspapers and all the other
interests that benefit from privilege and
injustice. Yet the fight is worth while
in itself. And some very shrewd politi-
clans are confident of winning 1.-THE
Public.