The New York herald., 1922-05-01

70 VIII 10 himself the Suppoit VI tiis
effective element, which has come TO
think of McCumber and Townley in the
same breath.
They point to the failure of the
jamestown convention to indorse Senator
McCumber also as an evidence of the
refusal of the service men to be moved
by this brazen material allurement.
Eject of Mckenzie Rule.
This skatchy presentation of the
values included in the McCumber Sena-
torial contest is necessarily incomplete.
The story ramifies in all directions. 1t
has its roots in the early days in North
Dakota. when Mckenzie ruled the State
with rod of iron and decided some
twenty-three years ago that Porter Nc
Cumber was safe" man to send to
the United States Senate. 1t has its
final exemplification in the fallacies OF
the Non-Partiesan League movement,
which attempted TO inject the Russian
experiment in the heart Of the United
States and which has well-nigh wrecked
the prosperity of this naturally rich
commonwealth.
The relationship between the genesis
and conclusion of the story is close. for
1t was the Mckenzie regime which sowed
the seeds which have ripened into the
carnival of political folly INDUCED in by
the league, from whose i'll effects the
citizens of North Dakota are fighting to
redeem the State.
1t will be the purpose of additional
articles resulting from a personal ex-
animation Of affairs in North Dakota
to unfold the story and place upon the
screen the persons and issues involved
in this battle over the future Of Porter
j. McCumber battle which has ac-
quired national interest because of the
position of influence now held by the
chief actor.
In order that the situation may be
understood it will be interesting to ex-
anime how Senator McCumber was first
elected to be United States Senator.
Few men break into the United States
Senate without something to recommend
them; few. If any, ever entered that
body without being closely allied with
the interests which dominated the State
from which they came at the time of
their first election.
True to Mckenzie.
Some Senator's change their align
ments and disavow the forces which
first created them. Even the enemies
of Senator McCumber say for him
that, regardless of his attitude toward
other old time friends, he has been true
to the ont outstanding figure that par
ticipated in his original election through
out of his political career. They profess
that while they see the hand of McCum.
Der it is the brain of Alexander Nc
kenze.
And who is Alexander Mckenzie?
Picture a huge figure, we'll above SIX
feet, with reddish-brown hair and mus
tache, face heavy and full, a man mys-
terious when discussing politics, yet
strangely communicative in moments of
friendly conversation. For years he has
been the object of bitter attack by many
and Of unswervng loyalty on the part
Of few.
His career led him into Alaska, where
the trouble he got into showed the
strong hold he had gained on personal
friends in the effort that was made by
them to get him out of it. The hero
of fiction and of many true stories, un-
polished but forceful. loyal but revenge
full. Mckenzie is in class by himself
Born in Canada, he drifted to the
United States and in the early frontier
years found himself on the outskirts
of civilization near where what is Bis
marck, the capital of the State. He
was made Sheriff of Burleigh County
of which Bismarck was the county
seat, and there learned to deal with
the rough element which infested the
country. He early learned to look
down gun barrel and has never for
gotten the quality SO acquired
McKenxie's Shrewd Visions.
The early days in North Dakota were
those in which transcontinental rail
road construction was in its infancy
The Northern Pacific and Great North
ern traversed the State. and Mckenzie
had shrewd visions of what North
Dakota would finally become. Rail-
roads ruled politically in those days
and Mckenzie established connection
with the late James J. Hill which lasted
until the latters death. He was Mr..
Hill's political representative in North
Dakota and for several years. in con-
junction with Jud Lamoure and other
leaders. was czar of North Dakota
politics.
A few years ago Mckenzie admitted
that the open season for bosses existed
and announced his retirement from
politics" This merely was removing
himself from the front line trench.
where he was too conspicuous, to a
strategic position in the rear. For many
years North Dakota was run politically
from rooms in the Merchants Hotel in
st. Paul, where the Great Northern Rail-
road has its home, and Mckenzie stu
makes the hotel his headquarters and
summons his followers for conference
thore uhop he doca MT 1pigh n apnear