The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-10-13

out. But not so with that bunch Of political
hlghbinders. These buccaneers do not believe in
a republican form Of government unless they
have complete control of it. They have no
respect for the majority or the wishes of the
majority however clearly it has been expressed.
The grain gamblers and the big bankers were
afraid Of this program and determined to pre-
vent it being tried out at any cost. And the
l. v. A. politicians were willing to keep up the
fight against the farmers because there was
good money in it.
Defeated in the referendum election, the
l. v. A.. politicians resorted to court actions in
their attempts to block the program. The So
called '42-taxpayers'" suit was started in the
United States district court in Fargo on the
claim by the I. V. A.. that the industrial program
laws were unconstitutional and that the state
bonds were therefore invalid. A corps Of high
priced corporation lawyers were hired by the
l. V. A. to handle this suit against the state.
But the United States district court upheld the
Jaws, so did the circuit court Of appeals and
finally the United States supreme court The
I. v. A. politicians lost out in every step in this
law suit and the Leaguers won.
Plunderbund Keeps Up Fight
But the grain gamblers and the big bankers
were not ready to quit. They thought they could
not afford to lay down, especially as they really
had not begun to fight yet. They still had their
big weapon in reserve. And they proceeded to
use it: the money power!
Big business is shrewd, calculating and far
sighted And it disilkes to fight in the open. 1t
does not want to use it's biggest guns unless it
has too because it fears the reaction bound to
follow if its entire frightfulness is exposed. So,
as in the fable of the blacksmith who cracked
the nut into which old Satan had crawied, it
starts in with its smallest hammer and then
keeps trying q larger one each time until with
a sledge hammer Diow the nut cracks with an
explosion that practically carries the who4e
smlthy away.
Big business has not yet reached that stage
in the hight where it chooses to use the sledge
hammer. When it does the chances are the old
fable will come true: our whole economic struc-
ture will be blown away from the impact. I'm
less big business can be induced from applying
the siedge hammer to the economic nut mankind
is now trying to crack, that Is bound to hap
pen. The purpose of the Nonpartisan League
program is to prevent such a catastrophe.
lhe plunderbund had failed to block the in
dustrial program by the referendum election;
the court acuions proved futile. But there still
renamed the financial boycott. The business
men all over the state had put a boycott into
effect against the League papers in an attempt
to starve them out and thus curtail the organ
~izatlons activities. Wall Street, with its con-
troll Of the nations money, now set about to
block the sale of North Dakota's bonds.
These bonds were the source from which the
industrial program was to be financed. League
leaders had felt certain that as soon as the IN
dustrial program had been enacted into law
these bonds would find a ready market, North
Dakota being one Of the soundest states 6nan-
cially in the union. But here is where the
Leaguers made a mistake. Wall Street and all
the business interests controlled by it were op-
posed to the Industrial program and determined
to block it. Big business knew that it these
bonds could not be sold the program could not
be tried out. So it decreed that they should not
be sold. And the big financial interests in this
country have outlawed North .Dakota's bonds.
They are not handled by the big bond houses
that sell all kinds Of other bonds, including wild
cat oil stocks and fake mining STOCKS. They are
taboo in 1.-The best business circles"
Commission Sells ST., 00O, 900 Bonds
When the industrial program laws went into
effect early in 1919 the industrial commission
entered into a contract with one of the largest
bond houses in the world whereby this house
agreed to buy the whole issue Of $l7, 000, 900 as
fast as the bonds were issued. This was before
the Wall Street boycott had been declared. Big
business then got busy and the l. v. A. poll
ticians staged the referendum election and the
~ taxpayers" suit. This stopped the sale of
bonds until the suit had been tried. 1t took
about a year to get the final decision in the
United States supreme court.
When this had been settled the financial
stringency had set in all over the country and
the Wall Street boycott was in full effect. The
industrial commission tried to sell the bonds but
everywhere butted up against a stone wall.
"Your bonds are all right but we don't like your
program, that's why we don't want to buy
them," Wall Street agents told representatives
of the industrial commission frankly. There was
no camoudage there; the war was on in grim
earnest. At the session of the legislature last
winter emissaries Of Wall Street told the as
sembly that If the industrial program laws were
repealed the financial boycott against North Da-
kota' would be lifted. But Governor Frazier,
Attorney General Lemke and Commissioner
Hagan refused to listen to Wall Streets demand
for a surrender or even a compromise. They
were Enthusiastically supported by the League
members Of the legislature and it was decided to
sell the bonds direct to the people. The Bank
of North Dakota was entrusted with the task
Of selling these bonds and it has been at it ever
since with gratifying results. -.
When Wall Street saw that even its boycott
failed to get the fighting farmers Of North Da-
kota to their knees it was decided to proong
the fight. Big business decided that the men,
bers Of the industrial commission should be re-
called or q recall election staged. The grain
gamblers and the big bankers had it figured out
that with q recall election hanging fire the Bank
Of North Dakota would not be able to sell any
49, H--l- ,-sx1 49, =. ---I