The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-12-13
FREE LOVE AND ANARCHISM
TAUGHT IN BOOKS OF STATE
LIBRARY OF NORTH DAKOTA.

. During the regular session of til
: Legislature, January and Februar,
, 1919, laws were passed that Unite
the authority and power of the Stat
. Superintendent of Public instruction
very much, and the Board of Admir-
istration' having charge of all pena
charitable and educational institu
tons and of the whole public schoo
system, was created, three men o
that board Of five to be appointed b,
the governor of the state. He ap
pointed two outspoken Socialists ant
placed one of them, an eX-preacher
Rev. George A. Totten, as presiding
officer at the head of said board
This board appointed c. E. STANCE
land, we'll known as radical social
istic propagandist, to the office OF
Public Librarian, who has under his
charge all the public schools libraries
and provides travelling libraries fol
the rural schools.
During the present extra session OF
our Legislature, Representative Burt
ness stepped into the Public State Lii
| brary and found in, and partly on
| one of the travelling library boxes
a number of books which are in the
| strictest sense teaching socialism and
anarchy, and two which teach Free
Love" and declare sexual intercourse
outside of marriage higher standard
of morality than real married life.
He read to the House of Representa-
tives excerpts from such books, and
criticized them very severely, as also
those officials who bring such books
into the Libraries to be used by our
school children. During the first sur
prise there was an outburst of indig-
nation. Walter Maddox, one of the
Nonpartisan leaders, declared SOL
emily:
There is enough red-blooded Amer
icanism and Christian manhood in
this house to protect the schools and
homes of our state from this sort of
socialistic rubbish and free love rot"
He was highly applauded. Rumors
had it that Governor Frazier, Patrick
NJ Casey and Commissioner John N
Hagen, members of the Board of Ad-
ministration, intended to GUST Ii
brarian Stageland, but that two other
members of said board, ex-Preacher
Totten and Robert Muir, were strong
ly defending Stageland. 1t seemed
some of the leading Nonpartisan
Leaguers, especially Governor Fra
zier, would now show that they are
refuting the socialistic tendencies of
the Nonpartisan League.
An investigating committee was
appointed December l, but up to the
present, December 6, nothing has
been done except a clear attempt of
whitewashing.
1t seems the invisible CD rulers of
the Nonpartisan League take the
stand that there are no proofs that
such socialistic, anarchistic and free
love books have been sent to the ru-
raj schools.
l do not want to defle the pages
of a decent newspaper with the list
of these books, nor with excerpts
taken from them, but I state the fol-
lowing as indisputable facts: The in
vestigation and the after develop
ment has proved:
1. Public money has been used to
secure for the public school library
some books, the list of which has
been published in the appeal to
Reason"
2. The list of those socialistic, an
archistic and free-love books which
Representative Burtness read in the
House, actually contained the books
found in one of the travelling library
boxes, ready for shipment to some ru-
raj school, or, at least, on top of such
a box.
3. A bill for books of socialistic
and anarchistic character, bought by
the librarian for the public schools,
has been presented to the state treas
urer for collection.
f. Miss Nelson, the deputy librar-
ian, defended the keeping of such So
cialistic, anarchistic and free-love
books in the public school Libraries.
5. Ex-Preacher Totten, the chair
man of the Board of Administration,
which board has charge of all penal,
charitable and educational institu-
tons and fullest supervision over the
public school system, has defended