The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-09-01
HEADQUARTERS
SAxV IS BUNK

SAxY y BUNK
e,9ssI. Ha5 Gs2sassa 's coA e. st WITH xaSle:s,s :s
gathsi-ny Of signat = \to the recall
petir-oas, given ute. E to by At
to1nyy General Le1nk . Mis- speeches
tsryugaous the state = I in inter
views in lis own pap IS we'll as
otaer league newspape as dealt
y, .rh in statement iss. .a .yday by
Secretary Theo. G.. Nelson, of the In
dspe- Voters association. .s
NJ. Nelson declares that the at
torney generals department under its
preset chief has degenerated to be-
come merely an adjunct to the non
partisan league political machine fo1
the purpose Of spreading untruths and
"viciors propaganda" that there is
"absclutely no foundation in fact for
the wild and vile stories circulated
and fathered by the, contract owner
of the costliest state built palatia]
mansion in North Dakota; that the
"charges" are manufactured out of
whole cloth for consumption by the
more gullible voters;" and that, if
there were any truth in the attorney
generals assertions, then Mr.. Lemke
is neglecting his official duty by not
taking the responsible parties. to ac-
count.
"Home Builder Lemke is running
true to form when he charges whole
sale corruption in connection with
the recall petitions" said Mr.. Nelson.
<tIt is evident that the main part Of
the League program in this cam
paign is to circulate so many un-
truths that it would keep these head
quarters busy spending it's entire time
denying them.
81 am willing to admit right from
the start that we would be hopelessly
lost in such a contest. Our versatile
chief of the state department of JUS
tice can manufacture untrue stories
much faster than anyone else can
keep track of them. The purpose of
all this is to divert attention from the
real issues in the campaign. If there
had been gross Irregularities and
wholesale corruption why does not
the attorney general devote his at
tention to getting the guilty parties
apprehended and brought to justice
instead of fighting theoretical wind
mills in his own subsidized press.
"And then,, if the attorney general
has proofs Of corruption and irregu-
larities, as he says he has, why does
he make all these vague statements :?
Why does he not come out from am
bush and name many and specific in
stances. The most direct charge up
to the present time is the following
which appears as Bismarck dispatch
with Lemke as sponsor in the Cour-
ier-News of Aug.25:
"a man at Tolley, known as
Nonpartisan Lacquer was asked
by the I. v. A. headquarters to
circulate recall petition, for
which he would be paid literally.
Merely to test them out, the Toll
ley man wrote that he would do
it for $500. BY return mail he re-
ceive check for $500, merely to
circulate a petition in his COM
munity. This would indicate a
larger fund than $4,000"
"But even this charge is not definite
enough. Why not mention the name
of this man? would be interesting
to know if the attorney general, or
anyone else, could do that, because
there is no man at Tolley or elsewhere
who has received $500 or any other
amount for circulating petitions in
their own neighborhood.' The Nv. A.
has son-o salaried organizers who have
done some work in getting the work
on the recall petitions under way in
parts of the state where assistance
das required. But league leaders
should not kick against the employ
ment Of salaried organizers.
"The department of the attorney
general under it's present chief seems
to have degenerated to a more ad
iunct Of the league machine for
spreading of pernicious propaganda
based on manufactured falsehoods. As
said before, these headquarters have
other things to do than to bubble
with people who do not care to come
out in the open but are fighting from
cover. If the attorney general will
name men and instances in connec-
tion with these gross irregularities
and Wholesale corruption we shall be
glad to take the matter up with him
and do our share to bring the guilty
parties to justice. If he has the
proofs, let him speak up. If he has
not, it would be more in keeping with
the dignity Of his Office if he kept his
mouth shut
As to the statement attributed to
Governor Frazier that he met Min
neapolis business man on train WHO
claimed to have donated large sums
to the /. v. A.. Mr.. Nelson refused to
treat the matter seriously. "Some-
body has kidded the governor" he
said; "the I. V. A. knows nothing of
this matter at all"