The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1928-06-08
THE GATHERING OF THE CLAN


In order to properly understand the evolution of the
officers of the Brotherhood Investment Co. and
the Pacific Brotherhood Investment Company, subsd-
larry of the Brotherhood Investment Company of Cleve-
land Ohio, is, of course, necessary to begin at the
beginning That is, at the time that they emerged out
of Obscurty and commenced act upon the stage of
financial operation. Once know the nature of their
coming into the limelght it will not be difficult to
grasp the role that they are playing, in the bro
therhood financial institutions This we shall do For
their former operations in the realm of finance and
class collaboration their past links which make up
their mbroken chain of financial wizardy involving as
it does the downright betrayal of the economic and DO
htlcal interests of the farmers and workers.
he scene opens one day late in the fall 1914, as
The hills OF Squaw Gap, North Dakota covered by
purple haze cast by the setting sun. A. C. Towney
came walking down the dusty road, disillusioned and
full of bitter resentment against capitalism His ex
tensve of flax had failed; he was now ruined
completely.
While coming down the road, he met very good
TREND of his who had helped him in many ways when
IoWnley first took up homestead about five miles
north of Beach, North Dakota
"Hows everything, Art? ?" the friend asked. as he
surveyed Townley, rather quizzcally
Iowney thrust his hands into his pockets and pull
ed them inside out. twenty-five cent piece was the
best he could fetch out He raised it up to his friend
and declared:
"Ths stands between me and starvation The har-
vester trust the Standard Oil Company and the banks
have got all the rest But I'm going make the whole
damn lot OF them, get out of business before Pm thru
Out of the threat to the trusts that, among other
things bankrupted Townley they have destroyed
millions of other farmers before Townley and after
him, the defunct Nonpartisan League was born
Since the scope Of this article does embody the rise
and fall of that organization, might observe that
TOwney did not realize the fruton of his challenge
to Capitalism but is himself today slick promoter of
oil companies. For the Nonpartisan League was
smashed to pieces upon the rocks of class collaboration
so that today there does not remain respectable
remnant. TOwnley and his associates many of whom
are officers of the brotherhood financial enter
prises both in the east and the west are responsible
for its destruction by pursuing the policy of selling out
to capitalism; by actually swindling the unsuspectng
farmers of million of dollars in connection with long
string of economic enterprises foisted on the farmers
under the guise of Cooperation" AS matter of fact
as thousand of northwestern farmerst now know only
too well, these so-caled co-operatves were nothing
more or less than clever promotion schemes launched
by bold of financial pirates for the purpose of
garnering in the cash for themselves And this thew
did to nicely Townley at the start was undoubted-
ly actuated by the highest ideals
AS is we'll known the growth and spread of the Non
partisan League nothing short of phenomenal In
the northwestern states based upon the deep rooted dis
content of the farmers VIII ogroaned under the oppres
sve yoke of capitalism and still do for that matter the
Nonpartsan League planted itself in extremely fertile
SOIL The farmers had raised furious storm of polit
cal rebellion. 1t petered out into impotent fluuy
thanks to Townley and the leading officers of the Pa
cfic Brotherhood Investment Company together will
several officers of the Brotherhood Investment Com
pany of Cleveland, Ohio, namely, Goe T. Webb Vice
President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
Cooperative Bank and Vice President of the Brother
hood Investment Company of Cleveland Ohio, and
member of the board of directors of the Empire Trus
Company, of New York, and Henry A. Paddock, form
general council for the Brotherhood Institutions
Cleveland
AS a result of the big thing that Townley had hi
hands he quite naturally needed considerable staff Il
push the good work along He got it. 1t is with thi
personnel that assembled under Townley that we arr
concerned with, not simply because we care snal
about them individually for do not We are inter
ested in them primarily because they are opponents
the world of labor of vicious ruinous policy of clip
ping the SIMPSONS hair of strength and power of tn
working class bankers to labor. We are also no
indifferent to their honesty of purpose the form