Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-07-08
McLAURIN In DAKOTA
Big Speech In NOn.PaftlSan League
Campaign.
DISCUSSION OF ECONOMIC PROBLEMS


tions Which Are Stirring the North
west Presented in a Manner That
i, Meets the Full Approval of the Far
mer Folks.
Two hundred thousand copies Of a
speech made by Senator John L. Nc
Laurin at Bismarck, North Dakota, on
June 18th, were ordered for distribu-
ton in the northwest. The following
report Of the speech was published in
the Courier-News, Of Fargo, N. D.:
Senator McLaurin spoke in part as
follows at Bismarck, June 18th:
Fellow Citizens of North Dakota: I
heartily re-echo the sentiment express
ed by the gentleman who introduced
me, that there is no south, no north, no
east and no west, that we are one peo-
pie and one country. It does seem,
however, that one should get permis-
sion from the Fargo Forum, before he
enters the state of North Dakota. That
paper has persistently attacked me,
and insulted South Carolina by refer
ence to lynch law and illiteracy. It Is
1t shows that I am really doing some
good and furthermore, that I am right.
The best evidence is the opposition Of
the Forum. If it praised or approved
would wonder what was the matter.
(Applause).
I have heard of I. w. WIS and Boil
shevtks. There may be some in the
making, but If there is, the factory is
situated in the editorial room Of the
Forum. daughter and applause).
want to say that if we are ever so
fortunate in South Carolina as to have
a clean-cut economic issue, and one Of
your public men comes down to dis
cuss 1t, that there is not newspaper
in South Carolina which would reflect
upon the state Of North Dakota. OBJ
serve that yeu have large penitentia-
ry at Bismarck, and an insane asylum
at Jamestown, which I greatly fear
will both need enlargement after the
election. daughter and applause).
1t may interest you to know how I
happened to be here. South Carolina,
which with all her illiteracy, is full Of
progressive thought, and is bold enough
at all times to try experiments. Why
we even tried the experiment Of lick
ing the whole United States fifty years
ago, and we just wore ourselves out
whipping you, and only went back into
the Union at your urgent invitation,
extended to us on the points Of Grants
bayonets. daughter and applause).
South Carolina Is the first state in
the Union that made the experiment
you are making Of government owned
and operated public utilities. I think
Towniey and Bishop" Lemke stole
my state warehouse idea, and have
beat 'em to it. Two years ago
they requested me to come to st. Paul
to address a big convention, and ex-
plain the state warehouse to them. l
did so and a finer or more patriotic
body of citizens I never met. Last
winter, when you were passing these
laws, they wrote to me again asking
me to come, but I was afraid Of your
cold winter. When they invited me to
come this time was little afraid, be-
cause I heard the whole state was L.
w. w. and Bolsheviki. (Laughter).
When I got here I found the only Boil
shevism was in the office Of the Fargo
Forum and the Grand Forks Herald.
daughter and applause).
The people Of North Dakota do not
recognize the national import OF this
fight. Your local squabble here is Of
no interest to me. It Is the broader
aspect that brought which appeals to
me.
The war has ended and the world Is
confronted with chaos.
There Is not stable government
from the Rhine river to the Pacifc
ocean. In this country there. is unrest
and discomfort everywhere. Any man
who gets up before a crowd Of people
to excite discomfort and distrust OF the
governing power is a public enemy and
not to be trusted. (Applause). Any man
who, through the press or otherwise
attempts to prevent the full and free
discussion of public questions before
the people is a breeder of anarchy and
more dangerous to the public welfare
than the half-crazed fool who hurls
a bomb at someone's dwelling house.
cloud applause). a.
The world is struggling to get on It's
feet from a monumental disaster The
social and industrial structure Is tot
tering to it's foundations; mighty ma
tions are vanishing like sunset shad-
ows, fruitful fields are turned over to
graves, and entire peoples are pelns
destroyed.
In every nation on earth, two ex-
tremes are struggling for the mastery.
On one side the rich, the highly edu-
Gated and the luxury lovers are making
desperate efforts to return to pre-War
conditions. On the other side are
idealists and people who have been op-
pressed, men who have no faith In ac-
complishing reform through the ballot.
They are bent on the destruction or So
ciety and then out Of the wreck ana
ruin construct new social and INDUS
trial system.
The first means a military govern
ment holding the masses down by
force. The second means anarchy ana
the red ruin that now stalks uncheck-
ed over the shattered remains or the
great empire Of Russia Turn, my
countrymen oh turn from both or
these roads; each is marked by the
rent garments and whitened bones OF
mighty nations who have tried that
way and found their death. .
The nations of Europe are looking to
America to save civilization. They are
too exhausted, too weak to save them
selves. If we fail, thence again Will
mankind swing back into dark age,
after long suffering to again slowly and
painfully take the upward path toward
the goal set by God who made us free
agents, the architects Of our own rate.
Our only hope is the middle course, the
plain people, who constitute eighty per
cent of our population, who till the
soil, dig the mines and work In tne
factories.
Farmer is only Hope.
A farmers movement is the saliva =
ton Of this country, the hope of the
world. The bankers the lawyers and
the captains Of industry have ru: us
into a war which has well nigh de-
stroyed the world. Set them all to one
side and turn the governments of the
world over to the farmers and our Wo-
men, (who, thank God, will soon Vote) i.
and there will be no more war. Cloud
applause).
There was never a war on earth
which was not based on unjust eco
nomic conditions and until these are
remedied no league Of nations can
maintain peace.
1 say, begin at the ground, among
the producers, the real creators OF
wealth, without whom the world would
go hungry and naked.
| History teaches us that nations ORA"
their true wisdom, unself1sh patriot
ism and untainted virtues from the
deep wells of a contented agriculture
from those who live n.the quiet coun-
try places of the land, who have time
| l,,,o INV n,.of a Z