The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-01-10
SHOW AMERICAN SPIRIT

News dispatches from Helena the first of the week tell of the
efforts being made there by D. C. Dorman, of Minot, N. D. to
"herd' seventeen members of the house and three senators, claim
ed to have been elected by the Nonpartisan league, and vote them
las one man" for measures proposed by Mr.. Dorman and President
of the league.
Twenty members of the legislature who professed to hold a
Nonparty caucus with Dorman and went into the caucuses of their
respective parties, while of those claimed as the personal property
of Mr.. Dorman, finally agreed to meet with him and discuss the
legislation which he demands on the condition that they be in no
way bound to fo1bw his dictates.
Dorman came out with an open letter, which we publish in an.
other column, to those who he claimed as his own and demanded
that they lay all other matters whatsoever aside; that they parti-
cipate in no debates in the upper and lower houses of the legisla-
ture, but that they meet in caucuses with him frequently-every
evening, perhaps, there do their debating and when they returned
to legislative sessions the following day, they vote "as one man"
for the measures favored by the caucus. Dorman went further
than that in issuing his orders. He told them they must not asso-
ciate with other members of either house, but only with the men
elected by the Nonpartisan league; that they should not spend
their evenings or their time in recreation or enjoying themselves
socially except as they could enjoy each others company in the
caucuses called by him in his room or offices.
The penalty for disobedience to these orders was described by
Mr.. Dorman in his published proclamation. If any member did not
do just exactly as ordered, Dorman said his office in Great Falls
would publish to $4,000 members of the Nonpartisan league in
Montana, the story of the betrayal and unfaithfulness Of the mem
Der so refusing.
Against these orders, which were freely circulated in Helena
the first day of the session, the seventeen members of the house
and three senator's rebelled. They would not attend the Dorman
called caucuses.
These are the members of the "litte group of wiful men"
who refused to follow Dorman's printed instructions:
Senator John MacKay of Sanders county.
Senator F. A. Long of Lincoln county.
Senator j. w. Anderson of Richland county.
Representatives James Griffin of Blaine; E. M. Mayn0r of
Dawson; j. H. McAfee of Flathead; M. w. Penwell of Gallatin;
Jasper Haaland of Hill; James Hunter of Musselshell; Dudley
Jones of Phillips; J.. Earl Jones of Richland; ". F. Dunn of Silver
Bow; r. C. Arnold, James Mead and M. Sektnan of Valley, and E.
T. Eaton of Yellowstone.
1t will be noted that the three representatives from Valley
county are counted among those to whom Dorman issued his Or
ders, and to their credit be it said, they were among the first to-
refuse to go into his caucuses.
The members OF the legislature who have thus refused to be
called from their duties, put every other interest aside, and be
herded like sheep by the Towney boss, are to be congratulated on
their stand and the spirit of true Americansm which they have
shown in thus refusing to become the vassals of a political auoc-
racy with headquarters on the sixth floor of the Filfinen block, st.
Paul. For these men to go to Helena with the idea of disassoca-
ting themselves from every other interest in the state and put
ting all else aside" except the dreamy program of Townley and
Dorman, would be a betrayal of trust such as the state of Montana
has seldom if ever known.
The interests of all the people in this state are identical and
the interests of all members of the legislature are thus the same.
The representatives from the large cities of this state will undoubt-
eddy be found fully as willing to vote and work for any reasonable
measure to benefit the agricultural classes as will those elected
with a Townley endorsement. The action of Dorman in issuing
such orders is colossal impudence. The stand taken by those
whom he sought to make his automatons will meet with the ap-
proval of the true American voters of Montana, and Valley county
is proud that its three representatives repudiated the dictates of
Dewey Dorman of Anarchist Island, ND. ]