The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1920-04-22
Mr.. Geo Mann,
Editor The Tribune,
Bismarck, N. D.

l. Bismarck, N. D.
Dear Sir: In your issue of April
18th appeared an article which is nm
truthful both in the headlines and in
the body. So.
The article states. Reports were re-
ceived in Bismarck today that the I. V.
A. had issued call and are now pro-
ceeding to control the convention in
Minot, etc." This is absolutely false.
1t has been the hope and expectation
of the thousands of men and women
who have built the I. v. A., that it
might be possible for those who are
opposed to Townleyism to assemble in
one convention as the supporters of
the league prgram do, and in that way
unite on one state ticket, but the men
who make up the /. V. A. are in a
large measure the men who have un-
selfshly done the most to perpetuate
the two dominant political parties in
the state, and it is therefore but ma
tural that they should try to maintain
the party organizations. On account
of this desire and the legal. entangle-
ments encountered, it was deemed i'm
possible to unite on one ticket before
the primary election, hence there
seemed to be nothing else to do than
to follow the recommendations of the
committee of twenty-one as closely as
possible, and if that recommendation
is followed in the main there can hardly
arise any occasion now for the calling
of an I. V. A. convention, at least not
until after the primaries are over.
Further in the same article occurs
the statement "The so-called COM
mittee of twenty-eight selected by the
l. V. A. to name delegates to the Mi
not convention" This too is wrong.
The article of course refers to the
committee Of twenty-one. 1t was not
selected by the l. V. A. It was made
up by the appointment of seven men
by the chairman of the democratic CEN
trail committee, seven by the chair
man of the reconstructed republican
committee, and seven by the executive
committee of the I. V. A. At no time
has it been the purpose or has it been
authoratively stated that this con-
mittee would name delegates to the
Minot convention.
The article referred to also contains
this statement. "This call gives the
/. V. A. more than 100 hand picked
delegates and under control of the
sponsors Of that organization and
supposed to be unalterably opposed to
the gubernatorial aspirations of Will
liam LANCER" This is 100 per cent
false. In the first place, as above
stated, there has been no call. In the
ssecond,e place; the fecomnl.ndatlons
made by the committee of twenty-orie
provided only for those members. Of
the executive committee of the l. ": A.
who are republicans to be delegates at
large in the proposed convention:
There are only twenty-one in all OF
these, of which only fourteen of fifteen
are republican.
It may be that a large number of
the tate central committeeman in both
republican and democratic ranks are
members of the I. V. A., but we trust
that this should not disbar them from
a voice and vote in an anti-Townley
since everyone who is will
ing to be fair and keeps up with what
is going on realizes that no one has
done more effective work in opposition
to the developments of Townleyism in
their respective neighborhood than the
members of the I. V. A.. There are
not many active opponents to Town
leyism among the democrats or re-
publicans, who are not members of the
I. V. A., and fancy that it will be
rather sickly looking convention that
either party would have if all the