Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-19
|O'CONNOR TAKES
UP \. D. ISSUES
Shows How Farmers De
sires Were Frustrated BY
League Heads.
fHerald Special seryice.,,

Williston. N. D., Oct. ~. F. T..
O'Connor. candidate for the United
States senate spoke here to q SPLEEN
did crowd last night. Mr. O'Conn0r for
the past two weeks has been cam-
paikning in the western part Of the
state, and his address here and a Mi
not this evening Will Close his vest
ern trip. He will spend the re-
mainder of the time before election in
tho first and second congressional
districts. The speaker did not show
the least trace Of fatigue, although he
has been on h stump since Sept, IA,
With the exception OF a few days.
After outlining the national issues
he considered important to the people
OF North Dakota and emphasizing
some OF the things that the federal,
The turned his attention to the state
matters.
There is o wide distinction" the
speaker said, between the desires of
the farmers and the aims of the lead
ers of the elague. The leaders OF the
league have not been Interested in the
welfare Of the farmer, but have done
everything possible to destroy his
prosperity. When wheat sold for
the league leaders and the entire
league press advised the farmer not
to sell his wheat, and the result vas
h u the farmers lost millions Of dol
lars on the price of wheat dropped
about SO per cent. The league lead
ers did not finish the mill and eleva-
tor at Grand Forks. and after Mr..
Frazier was reelected in 1920 not q
nail was driven In the mill and ele-
vator for eleven months, until the
Nestos administration took up and
carried it to completion. The mill
and elevator are practically finished,
and flour will be turned out before Mo-
vember first"
Leaders Fought Farmers.
The league leaders, he continued.
claim that they could not sell the
bonds and tried to excuse their broken
promises in that manner, but when
you consider that the league leaders
loaned nearly q million dollars out of
the funds of the Observation-Disclosures
car bank to league corporations, col
lected over. three million dollars from
the, farmers in dues, n wasted an
other million, surely 1t was possible
to get one million out OF some of
these sources to finish the mill and
elevator II they were in good faith.
The league leaders have always been
fighting the farmers. We have def
mite proof thatsfunds Of the taxpayers
AA ~ ASdiIh "a 4NCESl1 opnVl WEI
used to pay campaign bills OF the
league, while the Bank Of North Da-
kota paid for postage $4,000 in one
year while all the other departments
Of the state used $4,000 in postage"
The speaker then pleaded for the
election. of the Independent ticket,
mo state in this Union has q better
governor than North Dakota has to-
day and h recollection OF r. A,
Nestos should be made so emphatic
that no II in this or any state vii
doubt the carnestness Of our PURPOSE
to once again travel the road OF san.
ity,' n,a,co,. on,o.o :, ,.n...
Mr.. O'Connor stated that the srea
SOL the leaders ofEthe league did moi
desire the farmers to be prosperous
was because they wanted to establish
n socialist form Of government ir
done in times of prosperity. HI
called attention to the statement ir
he Appeal to Reason I'm February
1919. where that paper congratulate.
ed North Dakota rs the first ,Socialf list
state and congratulated Walter Thorn.
faS Mills for writing the laws thai
made .Norhs Dakota a socialist state.
The radicals froa-all parts OF tbs
world came here. said the speaker
land were made welcome He ther
showed the great number Of Socialists
employed by the league. walter
Mills denied that a farmer should owr
an acre OF land. He was speaking ths
opinions OF the league leaders. Mr.
Mills spent the entire time during thu
session Of the North Dakota legtsla'
turA in 1919 in Bismarck, and spoke t.
the Nonpartisan caucu nearly ever,
y evening, urging the adoption Of thu
various measures he favored. bu'
carefully avoiding any reference t.
their spcialistic nature.