The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1920-06-03

AS might be expected, The Steele
County Farmers Press tried to vindi-
cate its position as a chosen paper of
the Townley-Brinton syndicate con-
corning our article showing a few
facts about the way the Brinton Grab
Act works out. 1t remarks that our
guess that it will receive S5S5 for
the insurance statements is quite a
good guess, but won't admit that
they will be drawing about 1882 for
all legal notices published in that
paper for the past few weeks, saying
that our pencil must have slipped.
But we have to repeat that again this
time-S5S5 for the insurance state
ments and 1882 for all legal notices,
including the insurance statements
that's what they will get, according
to a just estimate.
"In no part of the article, how
ever" the Press says, 'has the Pho
neer hit on the meat of the matter.
And it is now nearly a year since the
measure was approved in a referen-
dunn vote of the people,"
But we figure that we hit upon the
meat of the matter, and hit hard,
when we tell the amount of money
that has been legislated to a chosen
Brinton beauty. And as for the ref
erendum election, we believe that the
people o. K.ed the bill for the simple
reason that it was a Nonpartisan
measure and they did not understand
it. We have talked to some of the
strongest Nonpartisans in the county,
and have asked them why they voted
for such measure, since they claimed
to be SO fair minded. They could not
tell us, and when we attempted
impartially to explain some Of the
points, they would not believe us,
saying that we certainly didn't mean
what we said, as it couldn't possibly
be that way.
The Press then goes on to state
that when the farmers organized
their papers they had the good sense
to protect them with the printing law
against the autocracy of business in
%terests and politicians, who proceed
ed to starve them into submission or
drive them out of existence" But let
us ask a question. Which is better,
letting business men and politicians
give no support to a cause in which
they have no confidence, or letting a
real gang of Townleyites use the
legislature of the people to thrust
upon them, whether they want it or
not, the workings of socialism?
The Press also states that the Pho
neer is among the group that would
not give the farmers a fair hearing.
We are here to state that the policy
of this paper was formed after a
careful study of Townley and his
gang, and since we felt that we
couldn't possibly support such a man,
we took the other side, from a con
tscientious standpoint. 1t would take
more than a mansion in st. Paul and
aeroplane rides every day to change
US too. The editor of the Farmers
Press has long been personally ac-
quainted with all the editors of
Steele County Malmin of the Sha-
ron Reporter, Monteith of the Fin
ley Beacon and Bowen of the Hope
Pioneer and he has always known
them to be men of honor, so we can't
understand why he should intimate
that they would make the policies Of
their papers from anything but an
honest conviction of the right and
wrong of the issues, and say that
they would not give the farmers a
fair hearing.
And last but not least, they say
that the Brinton law saves the "tax-
payers" t%wo-thirds. The same old
cry. Who are the taxpayers? They
are the residents Of the state who
transact their business within the
state, paying for advertising, legal
notices and otherwise supporting
their home town paper. If such a
paper does not get the legal printing,
paid directly by the taxpayers, it
must raise it's advertising rates, so
that the citizens, the taxpayers, make
up the deficit, thus paying out the
same amount of money in the end.