The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-08-19
religious leader in North Dakota who
said early in June that the League
would ho nut oa,4 Of oxictanaa fon oil

SalQ early In June CnaC the League
would be put out of existance for all
time at the primary in that same
month. Even a school child would have
known better. Had the election been
lost it would have taken more than
that to put the moral and social
idealism of the Nonpartisan League
out of existence.
What shall the church think of such
leadership? Where are we headed il
that is all the Goth century can pro.
duce? Time is merciless judge anC
has no pity to waste on men or in:
stitutions which can live in the world
ignorant of the most significant
movements of their day. Our children
will find the wreckage of such scat
tered along the shores of their own
age.
Pet Word of Ignorances
And one more point. "Radical'',
that is the pet word which ignorance
and reaction are hurling at any one
who has got brains and is using them.
The great crime Of today is to think
especially on economic and. social af-
fairs. There are churches where to be
a socialist is to be ostracised in the
very institution which is supposed to
care for all ranks and conditions of
men-and this in spite of the fact
that some of the greatest modern
churchmen are socialists.
And in North Dakota today to hold
ideas and to preach them, to be So
cial thinker and not a puppet, to be
a member of or believer in the Lea
que is to be unwelccme in many
places where conventionality gathers
and worships the God of things as
they are.
And when fine Sculs have been driv-
en- from the church and society that
same church or society points the fin
ger Of scorn at them as those who no
longer believe. Such is the appallingly
unchristian condition of North Dako-
ia, and for that matter other states,
created entirely by the very forces
which were brought into existence to
love men to the end-the forces of re-
ligion.
The Dawn Approaches
' The world today has little patience
with theories. We have our vast prob
lens facing US and we shall hew our
own way thru them in the spirit of
practical men with burning ideals.
The reactionary, whether in church or
state is nearing the end of his day.
The future is with those who believe
in the dawn. In that wonderful docu-
ment Of the British Labor Party, "The
Report on Reconstruction" is stated
in magnificent words the ideal for CIV
ilization without which humanity will
even be dissatisfied.
eff we are to escape from the decay
of civilization itself, we must ensure
that what is presently 10 be built up
is new social order based not on
fighting but on frate1nity-not on the
competitive struggle for the means of
bare life, but on a deliberately plan
ned cooperation in production and dis
tribution for the benefit Of all who
participate by hand or by brain-not
on the utmost possible inequality of
riches, but on a systematic approach
towards a healthy equality Of mater
ial circumstances for every person
born in the worlds Each brick
that this party helps to lay shall go
to erect the structure that it intends
and no other"
1t is because the Nonpartisan Lea
que has begun this process of build
ing for a real tomorrow in America
and has gathered together a splendid
group of men and women consecrated
to the grand task that wish and pray
for it every possible success in the
days to come.