The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-06-10

NY. Lie 1eOeEAl 1aTm loan system Is
attacked, and the suit against it is now
pending in the Supreme Court Of the
United States; bills have been intro
duced in congress aiming at the de-
struction Of the federal joint stock
land banks; Senators and Represen-
t~atives, tools of the farm mortgage
monopolies, have boasted that they
will "knock out" the tax free provi-
sions in the federal farm loan act, and
the most serious Of all, the laws enact
ing the North Dakota Industrial Pro-
gram have been attacked both in the
state and the federal courts, the last
decisive suit being now before the
Supreme Court. -
So far as it's control over the farm
er and his products is concerned, Big
Business knows that it is going to
lose. The only question is: How
much can be saved out of the wreck.
The interests that have grown fat out
of the toll Of the farmers Of this
country know that the entire system
is going to be thoroughly reorganized.
They know that farm marketing and
farm credits RI going to be operated
as a public service-because, they
know that this will have to be done,
in order to assure the food supply of
the Nation and to save the people
from starvation. The entire cam
paign of Big Business will soon be
changed. Their purpose will be to
hold the present system in existence
long enough to enable them to direct
the reorganization which they know
cannot be prevented.
If Big Business finds that it is not
able to retain direct control of these
key industries-credit, markets and
transportation-and that the people
insist upon state or government own-
ership, then it's next will be to
perfect it's control of the state or fed
eral governments, and through the
governments to retain practically the
same power over production as it now
holds. But Big Business cannot &C
complish either of these results, if the
farmers and other workers organize
and consolidate their power, in gov
eminent and in industrial organiza-
ton. As the situation now stands it
is a question Of who gets there first.
The issue is not between continued
private operation of those industrial
facilities upon which all industry de-
ponds, and public ownership; but a
question as to who will control the
government under which those facili-
ties are operated.
The movement toward government
ownership and operation of these ne
cessary facilities has not yet taken
definite shape anywhere in the
try except in North Dakota. There
fore, North Dakota is the leader in
the fight for real and effective gov
eminent ownership, by virtue of the
fact that she had the courage and the
initiative to make the first move.
There are, it is true, already in e.
istence public services SIMILAR to the
North Dakota state industries-as in
New Orleans and Seattle-but these,
as the Big Business interests say, are
not dangerous, but 'the infection can
be localized" They recognize the
fact that it is different with the North
Dakota movement, because the North
Dakota program goes to the very
roots of the evil, and because the
Dakota movement has already
spread throughout the northwest and
is practically certain in the near fu-
lure to include all the farmers of the
country. That is why Big Bust
is massing all it's forces agafnstI
the program in this state. That Isl
why North Dakota farmers need all
their courage, their loyalty to their
organization and their proved ability
to stick, more than they ever needed
them before. That is why every in
lividual farmer in North Dakota must
recognize more than v e that this is
his fght-a fight for the right to
and to enjoy the fruits of his own
.abor. A fight that he, with other
members, has waged so sue
,essfully that the enemies Of indus
rial justice have now massed their
entire forces in a last desperate at
;empt to head off and to delay this
towards state ownership Of
credit and marketing facilities, until
hey can find a way to control it.
So then, Mr.. Farmer, it is up to
you. You won the election Of 1918.
You elected representatives to enact
Jour program into law, and state Of
icials upon whom you could depend
o carry out those laws. Your repre-
'entatives in the 1919 legislatures fol-
owed honestly and efficiently carry
ng out your program. The Indus
rial Commission which was created
~ the Legislature to carry out your
Industrial program has organized. The
Bank of North Dakota, which has al
'eady made more progress in the
of farm loans than any SINH
institution ever made during the
irst year of it's existence. The Mill
md Elevator Association has been or
It has bought and is oper-
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