The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-12-08

However, speaking from personal ex-
perience, TIE onus of carefulness is
not entirely on the public and we
would suggest that the railroads, in
making this campaign, take some
pains to see that their train crews
observe all the rules governing the
movement of their trains as a let-up
in their strict attention to duty may
result in serious accident, not en-
tirely the fault of the person injured.
Care should be exercised on both
sides and we are Of the opinion that
when this is done the number of rail-
road crossing accidents will materially
decrease.
Press dispatches of the past two
DAYS sound the echoes of a discordant
note in the inner circles of the nom
partisan league. The United Press
reports the announcement by A. g..
Townley Of policy he has formulated
for the conduct Of the league in the
future. He indicates that, if he has
his way, the league will take no fur
Their active part in electing candidates
to public office but will merely endorse
candidates who are amendable to dis
cipline and will see that the wishes OF
the members of the league are carried
out as regards the administration of
state affairs. On the face of it this
is a commendable program. No one,
conversant with state affairs or state
legislation previous to the advent OF
the nonpartisan leaue, will dispute the
fact that there had been great many
abuses by "old line" politicians. The
farmers of the state had cause for
complaint and voiced that complaint
with a whoehearted support of the
newly organized league. Nor were
the farmers alone in voicing that
complaint as majority OF the
townspeople and business men were
also supporters of the league. There
was general feeling of "we'll try
anything once" Well, we've tried it
and on October 28th the majority Of
the electorate voiced their opinion
that they had had enough. Mr.. Town.
ley, in announcing his policy as out
lined, states that it was his original
intention in organizing the league and
that the policy is not new with him.
A. A. Liederbach and VIM. Lemke
stated that the interview with Town
lev was unauthorized, and was not in
dicative of the future policy of the
league, which would lead one to think
that there was not complete harmony
among the leaders. However, that is
not of special interest, as the rank
and file of the voters and taxpayers
of the state are not concerned with
who, of this particular bunch, assumes
control of the organization as they are
all tarred with the same brush. What
is of interest is the fact that Townley:
while serving ninety day Jail SEN
tence, is planning on again entering
North Dakota as the controlling factor
in our political life. We would hest
tate to admit that the majority of the
people in the state want this to occur.
While Townley is man of undoubted
ability as an organizer he is also a
man who has used that ability to fur
Their the personal plans of A. c.
Townley at the expense of the tax
payer of the state. He has inter-
fered with the war plans of the fed
eral government at time when such
interference meant the lives of our
boys already on the firing line. For
this action he is now paying the pen
atty. He is man of pure socialistic
ideals and has attempted to foist
those ideals upon the people of the
state We will be paying for this at
tempt for many years to come. While
he is a good organizer we cannot ad-
nit that he is good leader as he has
allowed his lieutenants to assume con-
trol in matters which were contrary
to his original policy. If the policy
announced was his original intention
as regards the league, to permit devia-
ton from this policy does not COM
mend his qualities as leader. If he
was unable to put through his pol
icies before how does he expect to en-
force them now? His political heel
ers have tasted the pleasures of state
payroll checks and they will be hard
to wean. In spite of the severe
drubbing received in the late unpleas-
antness, his chief lieutenant Lemke
seems to still have political aspira-
tons and does not seem inclined to
allow Townley's personal ideas in the
matter in interfere. Taking these
matters into consideration it would
appear that Mr.. Townley will be
quite busy in reassuming control of
the league and we believe will pre-
clude his return to the state as po
litical power. Liederbach's degree of
intelligence eliminates him as a pos
sible Moses. The fact that Lemke re-
ceived the smallest vote of any of