The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1919-08-21
CONTROLLED BY
BIG BIZ Z-LEMKE

lied the non-political American Legion
of all the men who were in the service
during the great war; organized for
the purpose Of instilling true .Ameri-
canism into the nation, for fraternal
itics
The above statement was made to
Rheinhart Kamplin of Crosby, SER
geant in the army and a law partner
Of Lieut.. Lester Smith who was killed
October in the fighting in the Ar
gonne forest. Smith and Kamplin
closed up their law office when the
United States entered the war, and
both got into the service. Smiths
record is that of one of the nations
heroes. Kamplin served until long
after the armistice and returned to
his work sometime in June.
With other Divide county members
of the American Legion he conceived
the idea of establishing Soldiers and
Sailors Weekly newspaper to serve
the 20 ,00O. service men Of the state. An
option was secured on the Divide
County Journal, published at Crosby,
and Kamplin then began writing let
ters to various people in an effort to
secure the naming of that paper as
the official publication. He addressed
requests for assistance to Secretary of
State Thomas Hall who declared he
would do everything possible to have
the paper named, but called attention
to the fact that he had but one vote.
He wrote to Commissioner of Agricul-
ture Hagan who answered ~ will try
to be fair in every respect and your
application will receive every consid-
eration.' He wrote to Sam Aandahl,
railroad commissioner who answered" }"
have made no promises but will act as
my conscience dictates when the
board meets Saturday."
Kamplin then wrote to VIM. Lemke,
and his letter in part was as follows:
"A number of US returned soldiers
have just about completed, negotia-
tions for the purchase of the Divide
County Journal. OF course we have to
buy on time as we lost most every
thing we had when we went to war.
We have no quarrel with the Nonpar
tisan League. This newspaper will
Immediately represent about 700 SOL
diers and sailors in Divide county and
it is our hope that it will eventually
become the official mouthpiece for
the entire state. AS I have stated be-
fore we have no quarrel with the Nom
partisan League. AS a matter Of fact
most of the members of the Divide
County Legion belong to the league.
It occurred to ME: that you might be
willing to put in a good word for us.
. Hon. John M. Hagan, Hon. S. j. Aan-
dahl and Hon. Thomas Hall, are, un-
derstand, to comprise the printing
commission. To us paper of this
kind means a great deal. Another
purpose of our paper is to help perpet-
uate the memory Of all the noble men
in this state who made the supreme
sacrifice and to help those coming
back"
To this letter Lemke replied to
Kamplin:
"Received your letter in regard to
having Divide County Journal ap-
pointed the official newspaper. In re-
ply will state l am forwarding same
to Mr.. Hagan who is a member of the
board with suggestion that he con-
slider your application, which am
sure he will do. Will also talk the mat
ter over with him at the first oppor-
tunity."
Kamplin then came to Bismarck for
conference with Lemke and Hagan.
His signed statement concerning this
meeting provides some interesting
reading. It not only shows radical
change of heart in Lemke's part but it
gives a strong indication as to who
actually selected the official papers in
the various counties. 1t produces evi-
dence that the soldiers whether they
be league members or not have little
consideration coming in any matter
concerning the farmers as we'll.
The statement is in part as follows: {:
II went out to the capitol but Mr.. Ha-
gan was attending a meeting and I
could not find Mr.. Lemke. visited
the secretary of state and Mr.. Hall
stated that he would endeavor to do
what he could. He was in favor of our
proposition. About. o'clock l saw
Lemke at the hotel. went up and
introduced myself and asked for an
interview. He stated that we could
meet with Mr.. Hagan about o'clock
in the afternoon. - In Hagan's
office = - Lemke introduced me to
Hagan and / proceeded to tell my
story. I stated that we wanted to be
appointed the official paper.
II felt that the soldiers and sailors
and sailors in the state were entitled
to some consideration. We intended
to make it paper worth while, oper-
ated by soldiers and sailors entirely,
and were going to run strictly union
shop. stated that the soldiers and
sailors and farmers had great many
interests in common. This is day Of
organization and the soldiers and sail
>ors are entitled to organize as we'll as
all the rest. They both agreed with
me.
"They wanted to know if we had
bought the paper, and l told them that
we only had an option on it. Hagan
said something about the Divide
County Journal not being fair to the
league, and I replied that as far as
the Journal was concerned, that as
soon as we were appointed it would
cease to exist.
"Lemke wanted to know if we were