The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1922-10-04
.LEM.KE SPEAKS
ON ISSUES OF
FALLCAMP AlGN
League Candidate for Cover
nor Talks in Mandan,
Opening Slope Topr
RAPs PRESENT SYSTEM
Declares Farmers Are Suffer
ing Under Unfair Ec0-
nomic Conditions
RAPs PRESENT SYSTEM
(By the Associated Press) J

(By the Associated Press)
Mandan, N. D., Oct. 4.-Modern: In
dustrialism with its great trusts and
combinations makes necessary a
more flexible and humanized, govern
ment--one that is nearer to the pco-
pie William Lemke said here last
night in opening his campaign for
the governorship. 4.
Mr.. Lemke was introduced by T,
J. Krause. The meeting was out Of
doors. 5
Citing low prices he declared that
the interests of agriculture must be
protected for:
IF agriculture has been left pros
trate, the merchant, the banker and
the, man in all lines of trade in the
cities have been sorely wounded. It is
the inevitable consequence Of your
own refusal to take and use the
great power Of US all for our p2o-
lection against the rnarauders Of
wealth vaster than the history Of
the world has known!"
He pointed to the state bonus and
loans to farmers as achievements Of
the nonpartisan league, condemned
Governor Nestos for his stand on the
national bonus and declared that the
Nestos administration had not low
cred taxes OF. kept other promises
made before his election.
"'That the bankrupt condition Of
agriculture in this or any other state,
and the depressed condition Of trade,
can be cured by the old, unyielding
and aloof method of government il
a vain hope," said Mr.. Lemke in the
beginning of his address. "Those who
insist that the old system will serve
the needs of the day are in the class
with those who would enter modern
warfare armed with flint-locks, ex-
pecting to defeat machine guns and
tanks. Ia
tsftfF Function Of Covernnent ~
"The function Of government is to
protect its people. The old, inflexi-
Bile, rigid system worked we'll in the
East. The problem Of life was not as
complex as it is. today. We had not
seen the rise Of gigantic trusts and
modern industrialism when that gov
ernment was first formed. These
menaces to the peace and happiness
Of the nation were yet unborn.
"But when these great powers be-
came congruent, covering the econo-
mic and political heavens like a
monster cloud-there were those who
noted the event and warned US of the
coming storm. These declared that
the government, which had been un-
til then something formal and but
partially useful, must become human
ICED. If it was to help the people es-
cape, it must prove their palladium.
It must step in and become the cush-
ion or buller between the predatory
organizations that overshadowed
every home and every small business
and every farm-or this state and
this country were lost.
rs it dark picture? Is it any
darker than the times which we now
experience? If agriculture has been
left PROSTATE, the merchants, the
banker and the men in all lines Of
trade in the cities have been sorely
wounded. It is the inevitable conse-
quence Of our own refusal to take
and use the great power of US all
for our protection against the mar
auders Of a wealth vaster than the
history Of the world has known.
1T is not to the special credit Of
the farmers that they saw first the
hope Of using the government. 1t was
not class-consciousness that drove
them to demand that, their govern
ment be something more than the
inanimate, wooden, far-off affair it
has been. It was because agriculture
felt first the depression and defla-
tion that was coming and because
those engaged in agriculture being
individualistic, were first preyed up
on. Having seen and felt that coming
destruction, Of which we are now
tasting the first bitter cup, they
moved some years ago to attain a
government capable Of providing
what a government must prove in
this day and age, if it shall fulfill
it, function.
Thought Alarmists
"They were looked upon as alarm
ists-those farmers. They were
dreamers and winners and easily
frightened-so they were told. "The
country is all right and all you need
is to plow and plant and reap good
crop and the world will seem all
right to them, as it does to u.s." they
were told. They plowed and planted
and reaped the harvest and a bounti-
full one it was, and not only was their
last state worse than their first
but into the pit of misery and debt
and hopelessness went with them
the tradesmen and merchants, who
had until then escaped.
"Even yet, with this lesson before
our eyes, we are asked to listen to
the sounding tones Of the old time
politicians who in stately phrases
point with pride to the government
that was! We, in our agony and loss,
have our ears tickled by the states
man who hands US the ancient flint
lock and says to us: "Revere and