The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-04-21
WESTERN FARMER
LABOR VOTERS
Quit SHIPSTEAD
Senator Proves Judas to
Workers
(By a Worker Correspondent

(bB w OThST COSTeSpOhueftts/
Henrik Shipstead comes at last in
to clear view. Until recently he has
been conveniently masquerading I'M
der a mantle of "idealism" and high
phrases regarding the in
alienable rights of labor to full
dinner pail" and all the weary and
greatly aged receptions practiced by
the middle class on its immediate
support Henrik Shipstead was as
tute enough to realize that the mo-
ment was ripe in Minnesota to ride
into the Home for Aged and Bene-
VIOLENT Servants of Capitalism on a
new ticket-the ticket of the Farmer
Labor Party.
Supported by Middle Class.
The Farmer Labor Party is still
in the hands to large extent OF the
middle class. The Farmer Labor
Party made its initial mistake sew
eral years ago by nominating Henry
Reyes for state treasurer. Henry
Keyes is known, in his home town
of International Falls, as being any
thing but friendly to labor. 1t is
alleged that he has habit of selling
on the easy payment plan-and fore
closing Immediately. A farm of his
is said in this way to have passed
hands several times and as a sub
stantial first payment is always re-
ouired, it has paid for itself several
times over.
mention this apparently trivial
incident to strengthen my point that
the Farmer Labor Party is shackled
to ineffectuality because it is, as yet,
dominated by the dissatisfied middle
class element. While being increas-
ingly threatened by the left wing
bloc, it is still as respectable, basic
ally, as either of the two regular"
parties.
Henrik Shipstead is a bourgeois
politician. Of this there can now be
no doubt. In a recent issue of Cur
rent History he presented a mastery
article on dollar Diplomacy in
Latin America" very pungent title,
albeit lifted from the senior work of
two "Reds," Joseph Freeman and
Scott Nearing. 1t is difficult at this
time to state definitely as to his
reason in writing this article-cer-
tainly for a politician, very "red"
departure. But it serves to further
strengthen the conclusion of any
sapient observer of Minnesota pol
itics-that it was but little more
than political move-a farcical "sur-
render" to the prevailing mass opin-
ion of our farmers and laborers that
our policy in Latin America is dis
graceful imperialism in its most
brutal aspect. Despite the dollar
Diplomacy" article-when the test
was made, Shipstead voted for the
Coolidge administration.
Defender of Coolidge.
The Farmer Labor Party in its
platform goes on record as opposing
intervention and imperialistic wars
of aggression, yet at the same time
it chooses for it's chief representa-
tive a defender of the Coolidge-K
log policies in Latin America. 1t
has remained for Helm, a staunch
Ku Klux Khan bigot, to assail in con-
gress Coolidge's policy of brutal ag-
gression in Nicaragua. Shipstead ap-
parently representing farmer and
labor in Minnesota, and with the ad-
ded advantage of being a member
of the Foreign Relations Committee,
remained silent.
What effect this will have on the
voters remains to be seen. But this
much is certain. The Farmer Labor
Party is in danger of becoming
mere vote-gathering organization.
The conservative delegates at the
recent convention contended that
Shipstead would have the support of
union labor no matter what his poll