The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-06-15
NO-Bn Nllo,'
KING OF DAk.

cultufe and Labor on the So-calleo
s Clean-up prog gram q Silver Serum
& gard, in statelnen Issued here yes:
terday, declared that state socialism
Isl either right or wrong, and that
there can be no comp
N N Serung gard charges that Nestos
q and his |. ". A. hackers are inconsist-
emit II that they are claiming to be
against socialism and still promising
d to carry out the state ownership pro-
\ gram if the people VIII keep them in
{ power. Mr.. serumgard says in part:
Mr.. Serumgard's Statement
q SIS M attention has been called to an
article in the Independe Review, Of
Y May rs, 1922, and as the writer, ais
early ais the 22nd of The month, had
received a letter from Theodore G..
& Nelson containing threat to publish
the facts set out in this article, it
must be taken for granted that he is
the author. The writer did not know
that permission must be- had from
Theodore G. Nelson, or the organiza-
ton which he assumes to represent, to
; exercise the rights and duties Of the
elective franchise of. this state, or to.
aspire to become a candidate for a
state office. lst .:s5 + .2% E#s # E.
4The Review charges Mr.. Stegner
and the writer with being inconsist-
ent. It comes with i'll grace from the
I.sV. Al. group Of candidates for state
offices to urge Inconsistencies. Theo-
dore G. Nelson, himself, in 1916, was
an ardent Nonpartisan. He failed to
land an appointment and we next find
him organizing the Independent Vot-.
ers' Association. Thomas Hall was
twice elected as a .Nonpartisans and
is now a candidate on the /. ". a.
ticket. Carl Kositzky held state office
as Nonpartisan and is now trust
ed appointee of the I. V. "A. admin
istration. William LANCER was twice
attorney general as a Nonpartisan,
but when Theodore Nelson needed
strong candidate for governor, he bor-
roWed LANCER from the Nonpartisan
League and when the people repudiat-.
ed him at the polls, Nelson gracefully
returned the loan. How about R. A.
Nestos? In 1910, he was elected to-
the legislature on the Socialist tick
ct. {See N. D. Blue Book, 1911, Page
324). He then tried to get hearing
before the people as a progressive
candidate for e., S. Senator and
now he glories in the fact that as a
conservative, reactionary governor of
North Dakota, he is bringing the state
10 "a sane basis. The = acknowledged
representatives of the railroad inter-
ests of the state, and the bankers laud
him to- the skies asia coming Moses,
and if we are to believe the newspa-
pers, the bankers of Chicago and
Wall Street join in the chorus. Oh!
consistency thou art jewell but it
should not be urged by Theodore Mel
son. IN b. H. ..,,l;.., =.
: > HI. Looks at Merits =.
/ "Now, let us look into the merits
of his claim. The Review says that
the, writer was asmembers of the COM
mittee that framed the I. "A. plat
form on February 5 and 6, 1920. That
is true and it is also true that not
q single man, on that committee or SO
far as j know, in the convention itself,
was on principle in favor of state
owned industries of any kind. Every
one realized the danger, but the dan
ger of leaving the state government
in charge of an irresponsible crew of
Socialists overshadowed all other con-
siderations. 1t was urged. that to. rid
the state of this crew it was necess-
ary to concede something to the vot-
ers who believed in trying out the
state industrial program. It was in
Difference to this that the I.V. A.
platform Of February S and 6, 1920,
was framed in the way that it was.
We went before the people at the
primary election in 1920 with candi-
dates pledged to carry out the provis-l
ious .of this platform and ii was sig-
nally defeated. Any student of politics
win inform the Review that this de- /
feat released everyone from further
allegiance to this platform. The Re
view says that this platform was
again adopted at the jamestown con-
vention and cannot be held response
bic for the Jamestown platform. As |
for Mi. Stegner's responsibility, he is
no doubt able to answer for himself. y el
Technical Defense S
Now, the foregoing is the mere
technical defense to the mere techni-l
cal charge Of inconsistency. What
about the right and wrong of the mat
ter State Socialism IS either right
or IT is wrong. The charge that the
Nonpartisan League was controlled
by radical Socialists Is no longer true.
Tho League did mighty good house
cleaning BIT their convention BIT Fargo
last spring. So far as the writer can
Judge and have any knowledge of the
men now III charge of the league they
are good, honest, God-fearing, farm
Iers folk, and entitled to the credit |
which one citizen owes to another
when exercising its judg dgment ia pub
lic affairs. The Socialists who dis
credited the 1 league and financially
embarrassed the state were driven out
.of the league, and are now lowering,
like carton crows of political corrupa
tion over the state capitol at Bis
marck. Where is Brinton, Jim Waters,
Art LeSueur, Kositzky? viii the
Nestos administra ation explain why
Art LeSueur who addressed himself