The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-07-01
What Goes Up Must Come Down.


miracle of the loaves and fishes, until
you realize that it is merely. the re-
suit Of fraudulent manipulation in
which the elevators received, at the
start, a larger quantity of Grade 1
than the records show.
Program HaIts Abuses.
"The story of the peoples awaken
ing to these abuses, and of their
struggle to deal with them, is too long
to tell in detail in this place.. After
slowly and painfully discovering that
it was of no avail to petition the legis-
lature for relief, because the law
making body itself was owned by the
interests, the people. organized the
Ncnpartisan League to go into the pri-
maries, capture party machinery, and
control the legislature themselves. AS
a result, all branches of the govern
ment in the state of North Dakota are
in the hands of the people. A pro-
gram is being worked out including
such items as public ownership of ter
minal elevators, supported by state
credit, together with public control of
the railroads to such an extent that
the great highways of commerce can
not be prostituted to private graft, as
heretofore. Taxes are being readjust-
ed as rapidly as possible, so that the
mar of small property shall no longer
carry the heavy end of the load.
Taxes on improvements are being re-
duced; while at the same time, the
taxation of land values is being in
creased, so that. 1t will be more and
more difficult for the land Spectator
to hold unimproved real estate out of
the market at high prices.
Real Democracy Assured.
"Our survey of social progress has
given us a standpoint from which to
examine the various public questions
and movements. The interplay of So
cial conditions and forces is complex;
but the fundamental facts are very
simple. America has been peopled by
settlers who came here to escape the
rule of military landed aristocracies
in Europe. We have known very lit
tie about social and economic science.
1t was supposed that the abolition Of
monarchy and the establishment Of a
republic would solve social problems;
but we have found that it does not
bring in a Utopia, even though it elm
mates some of the evils of despotism.
Our revolution threw off the yoke Of
English junkerism, but left our inter-
nal arrangements much the same as
before. The Civil wal destroyed the
southern aristocracy, but left us con-
fronting new forms Of economic ex-
p~loitation.
"While we have achieved great
progress along many lines, our task
evidently is not vet done. The nature
Of the work before us is emphasized
by the tremendous conflict from. which
we have just emerged. We are think
ing of democracy as never before.
And whether we study capital and
labor, Of the ace issue, or high cost
of living, or socialism. or the struggle
Of the farmer to liberate himself from
the grip of Big Business, or whatever
may be our special point OF approach,
we find the same underlying problem
insistently pressing for solution. We
cannot doubt for an instant that
America will be true to her destiny Of
popular freedom. But with faith in
God, we shall 60 forward, steadily and
surely, building up the structure Of
political and economic democracy"