The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-06-26

Marquis James, staff writer of |
the New York Times, has the follow |
ing very interesting survey of his i'm
pressions gained in the West upon
the occasion of President Coolidge's
visit to the Morse Centennial in the
Twin Cities:
There are people in the Northwest
who will tell you that the right way
to interpret the great ovation Pres
ident Coolidge received on his recent
visit to Minnesota is to modify the
story of the prodigal son. The new
version of the old narrative goes
something like this:
| The Northwest has been prodigal,
economically and politically prodigal,
the second circumstance being the
offspring Of the first, But it has
cured itself of its ecohomic ills by
improving its farming methods, and
this, ipso facto, has led the way tc
a return to political conformity. To
announce this to the world the North
west exerted itself to honor the
titular and actual leader Of a school
of conservative political thought
against which it lately had rebellec
so alarmingly. The once-wayward
| Northwest killed the fatted calf to
feast Mr. Coolidge, by this means re-
pudiating its vivid Farmer-Labor and
Nonpartisan League past, as already
it had repudiated the economic con-
ditions which had given birth and
rise to that political phantasmagoria.
"Thus formally is written an end to
a lively chapter in the history of the
Northwest chapter that has gone
by the name of The depression in
agricultural The Northwest's cor
dial reception of Mr.. Coolidge may be
accepted as ceremonial notice that
!. that great farming region, proud of
it's sobriquet, bread basket Of the
nation, has come back from one OF
= the most serious agricultural slumps
suffered within the present century
The Northwest not only has come
back, but it has come back to par,
= which means that it has profited by
: the recent unpleasant experience, be-
cause agriculture in the prairie
: Northwest, flush war and pre-war
times notwithstanding, was never be-
fore nationally at par Its structure
was inherently defective. It's founda-
ton was on the unsubstantial sands
of a one money crop'-wheat. And
there were other Ills.
Radicalism Hard Times Crop
\ "When the pressure of postwar
deflation came it could not stand the
D strain. 1t caved in. To call what
happened depression is to employ
Y a euphemism. 1t was collapse, g
temporary obliteration of Americas
Z basic industry over large and produc-
:. tive areas in the Dakotas. Montana
and Minnesota, with outcropping;
elsewhere. The situation reached
: the proportions of national crisis
Northwestern banks failed by tn.
hundred; local business, commerce
and industry generally were in the
Z grip Of calamity. Dollars looked a!
J. big as stove Ids Fargo, N. D.
o merchant remarked to this cores
e pendent This state of affairs occu
pied attention at three sessions o
: Congress, became the subject o
y Presidential message, brought oil
e. caucuses, conferences and politica
upheavals.
IS "The political manifestations di,
q more than anything else to advertise
the Northwestern farmers troubles
= When it was fancied that the two oil,
IS parties were either responsible 70
II the adverse conditions. or not cap
able of alternating them, new par
J. ties sprung up. They flourished an
l. declined, and gave point to the re
s mark of a seasoned old politician VIII
II ducked spell of oratory at the Dem
ocratic National Convention here las
e summer in favor Of smoke outs i'd
the hall.
"'Why listen to that hot air abou
20 the platform p he asked. 'Ther
never has been but one political issu
in this country since the Civil Wa
That is good times. We are havin
g good times now. Mr.. Coolidge get
~, 10 the credit. If we were in. the cred
;s would be ours. But the Republican
80 are in. 1t will be hard to get tn
~ voters to consider anything else
=. GAS long as the financial pine
al lasted the Nonpartisan League an
ic the Farmer-Labor Party were stron
l. and the old political organization
IN had hard shedding in the Northwes
h. When the worst was passed and GOO
4. times began to return, there was
in quick retreat to the folds of II
n orthodox political faiths, and TIL
I'd was, topped off by giving cordi
in reception to the President in l.
caliy which had very positively r
# jected his party not long before.
Sc while the hard times and the p
be litical riffs in the Northwest ha'
"" been widely advertised, the Mort
to vests return to economic and pol
ne teal normality has effected itself a
sc most imperceptibly. Of course. ever
'el body knows about last years whe
ok crop and the high prices it drought
'e, and has gained an impression tn
n that is why there are no more wal
IS. from the Northwest. The wheat or
no price had something to do with
But it is not the most importa
thing. Furthermore, that crop pri
" was not an unmixed blessing.
al zone of the main difficulties wi
]; the Northwest had been too much ,
- tention to wheat and too little atte
tion to other products and by-pre