Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-11-02

been one Of their worst enemies.
Only a few years ago the farmers
Of eastern Montana hired large numbers
of the men in the /. w. w. organiza-
ton to do the work on their farms. As
soon as these men were put on farm
| they Immediately began to destroy farm
machinery and hinder the harvesting of
crops in every manner possible. 1t is
| strange, therefore, that the farmers
would look to any organization such as
! this to aid them in their present diff
| ficulty.
Leaders Sincere but Misguided.
! 1T is true that the farmers Of Mon
tana have suffered untold hardships as
q result of crop failures in the last four
| years and they have been willing to
look to any source for aid but they
| should give the matter sober second
| thought before they indorse an organi-
zation which has so lately shown no re
| gard for their cause.
I'VE can not always accuse the lead
| ers of the Nonpartisan organization of
| insincerity. That is really where the
| difficulty lies; many Of them are dead
| in earnest and it is because Of this that
there is danger. They are willing to go
to great lengths for their misguided
principles.
Il have no doubt but that many of
those who are accepting the backing of
the Nonpartisan organization to gain the
election are sincere and aim to do the
best for the country They believe.
probably. that if they are elected they
| will be able to overrule the edicts of the
| Nonpartisan and Labor league leaders
and carry out their own plans of govern
ment for the good of the peope. But
that is where they are wrong. Townley
and Bill Dunn are not going to support
them and then have the fruits of the
labor taken from them.
Wheeler Would be Helpless
If Wheeler gets ints office and then
tries to run the government of the state
to suit his ideas rather than those Of
the Towniey-Dunn organization he will
find that he will have to take orders and
SO it will be with the other leaders of
the state politics. many of whom. | have
no doubt believed that they were doing
the best thing by accepting the support
of the Nonpartisan organization. But
the red, element is not going to let the
power slip from their hands so easily
Il know Bill Dunn" the speaker CON
! tinued. 'and ] know that if ! were put
into place Of power through his efforts
| should work for him for my own safe
ity
| Dunn is absolutely certain that he is
right in his beliefs aud for that he is
| dangerous. He will 60 a long way in
defense Of those beliefs
Judge Cheadie then put forth which
he declared would do for the farmers
Of the state what the Nonpartisan lea
que has failed to do in North Dakota.
lie advocated the institution Of cooper
atlve farmers associations organized On
the lines Of those which are now being
operated to q highly successful degree
by the farmers of California and the
apple growers Of Oregon and Washing
ton.
Cooperation Is Urged.
i favor a cooperative union of the
farmers such as has been tried in other
states and has enabled farmers who
before were receiving only bare living
to be the most independent citizens in
their communities. This plan has en-
abled the farmers Of California, Oregon
and Washington to sell their products
at a profit to themselves without charg-
ing the consumer an unfair price," de-
clared the speaker.
This plan. however, has not only
been successful among the farmers but
among workers in the industries as Wen
1t has been the cooperation of the rail
road mems organizations which has en-
abled them 10 receive a fair compensa-
ton for their work without bringing any
great hardship to other classes. The
coal miners have also been able to get
a fair return for their labor by cooper
atiye effort
Not always have the methods en-
ployed been of the most pleasant sort
but in general the scheme has worked
out in the industries with the minimum
of suffering for other classes" he de-
clared.
N. p. L. Plan Unsuited to Montana.
That the Nonpartisan scheme with It's
state socialistic plan would be particu-
larly uns,lited 10 Montana because of its
large farming population was advanced
by the speaker at the end of his nd
dress.
You can not make good socialist
of farmer" he said. THE very ma
ture Of his business makes him an in
dividualist. If you take away his ind
vidual property rights destroy his in
centive for initiative and make him be-
come part of a cog in machine you
have eliminated him. His whole wei
fare depends on his individual efforts
and he expects to reap the full benefit
Of those efforts. He will not have you
divide the fruits of his toll with some
one else.
Farmers Not Good Socialists.
1T is reasonable to believe. there
fore, that the Nonpartisan league plat
form would soon be out of favor with
farmers of Montana if adopted because
the farmers would not take to the so
cialistic form Of the Nonpartisan rro-
gram. SO far as the farmer is con-
oerned it will be found impossible to
substitute government action for indi
vidual action The chief functions Of
government are to preserve order.
There are other functions also but own
ership of industries is not one OF
them
In concluding his address the speaker
made stirring appeal for the support