The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1920-04-03

The convention of the Minnesota
Working Peoples Non-partisan league
in st. Paul last week reminded one of
the old Populist conventions in the
early nineties. There was just as much
zeal and enthusiasm. and as many
punEcnt and emphatic speakers with
the same daring and independence.
No boss could have controlled that
convention. It was as democratic as
such a body could be. The militant
spirit prevailed and when a com mittee
reported either on resolutions or can
didates there was a hot scrap right
off the bat. Then when all the SPELL
binders got through they Immediately
called for the previous question and a
report was approved or disapprOved
just as the temperament of the dele
gates prompted.
The political movement of labor
| and the farmers Of this day, while
similar in character and purpose to
! that OF the Populists, differs chiefly
| in tactics The political liberals and
radicals OF the early nineties had no
F! use for either of the old parties, and
! they organized a new party which
I they called the -'People's party" 1t
controlled the lower house Of the leg
! islature for two sessions and came
within an ace Of electing a governor
and state ticket.
| What the Populists lid.
The Populist legislature attempted
| to do some things that the Non-par-
! 1oo 10 10
prcpriated money and authorized the
purchase Of a site for state eleva-
J tor at Duluth. The next session it dir
! ected the state railroad and
| warehouse commission to build
a state elevator The supreme
! court declared the act I'M
constitutional and there the matter
dropped until the. present organization
Of farmers took it up.
In this contest for control Of the
state government the Non partisan
labor and farmer political organiza-
! tons have no present thought of or
ganizing third party. They propose
to capture the dominant political
party of every state. In Minnesota the
candidates endorsed by their conven-
tons will file for the Republican NOM
nation. Should they lose in the pri-
maries and a reactionary ticket is
nominated they will throw their sup
port to the Democratic candidates
provided they are Of liberal and pro-
gressive tendencies. If. on the other
hand, the Democrats are Of the old
Bourbon, do-nothing kind, then an in
dependent ticket will be placed in the
field for the November election. That
is their program.
Van Lear was Popular.
Thos Van Lear, former mayor OF
Minneapolis, was the popular choice
of the group controlling the labor con-
vention for governor. They stood for
| him to the very last and only gave
up when MIR. Van Lear emphatica1ly
declined to permit the use of his
name. They then, swung to c. E
Lindbergh, as the lone man who un-
derstood the philosophy of: the socia
and political movement" The confer.
fence committee. however. had recon.
mended the nomination Of DR.. Ship
stead Of Glenwood.
II who is he, and what does he stan<
for?" came from every quarter of th
convention hall. The. members of tn
/ conference committee knew littl
l. about him, save that he enjoyed a fin
legislative. record. A motion was mad
to have Mr.. Van Lear tell about Dr.
Shipstead. The convention didn't wan
to hear from, Van Lear; it wanted t.
know what the members of the con
; ference committee had to say abou
! the doctor, and the motion to heta
from Van Lear was promptly killed.
Tribute to Or. Shlpstead.
Finally after many delegates ha
their say Mr.. Van Lear took. the floo,
s He paid an eloquent tribute to D,
q Shipstead. Like myself" he sale
"Dr. Shipstead was a peace" man be
> fore the war. But when we got int
= the war he gave much of his persona
+ time at home for it's success. He wa
mayor of Glenwood. He headed tw
6 liberty loan drives He was chairma
of the Red Cross. He is dentist b
profession and contributed his profes
S sional services to the local draft boar
e by treating drafted men.
Or Shipstead," continued Mr.. Va
n ! AS1i, 10 q 6IdAucCc VI Vic ANOIll
western university. He was born
Kandiyohi county, this state, 80 yea,
/ ago. He served during the 1917 ses
t. sion of the Minnesota legislature an
made fine record as a supporter {
=. labor and progressive legislation. Tw
years ago he ran and was defeated fc
congress. He understands fully til
intent and purpose of the labor move
ment. He is a Republican, but be
&c lieves in the cooperative comm OF
IS wealth, and has his own ideas as
how we should proceed to bring
about.
- OF Norwegian Percentage
~ 'Dr. Shipstead is of Norwegian pal
IS entage. He is fine outstanding An
erican who can be counted upon to {
II the right thing at all times He W:
70 given a medal and a star for patriot
~ services rendered during the wa
~ Later when the Farmers Non partisa
~ league had arranged to hold a NEE
IN ing in Glenwood threats were made |
TO the super-patriots, headed by a your
bank cashier, to break up the meetin
- DR.. Shipstead promptly set out to pr
y vent such an unlawful act and to s,