The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1929-11-29
OPEN LETTER

lows,
OPEN LETTER
Plentywood, Montana
November fifth, 1929
The Fargo Forum,
Fargo, North Dakota.
The Editor:
The editorial in the Forum, cap
toned, "The Circus Ends" anent
the Townley-Upshaw debates wa:
nothing itself if not amusing.
One wonders if he responsible
for the policy of this paper ever
read Bobby Burns ode to a louise,
30 wad some Power the giftie gle
To see ourselves as others see
usl
1t would frae many a blunder
free US,
An foolish notion
What air in dress an gait wad
lea'e us,
An ev'n devotion!
Surely he never has: for if so.
that consciousness would set some
limit to its absurdity.
HyprOcisy has become so much
a part of the Forum that it can't
help but cant.
In its astigmatic optics, Town
ley is always crooked: he is for
ever imposing on the people-the
gullible public. The most common
place, ordinary, and meaningless
act of the most humble citizen be-
comes monstrous sin when done
by TOwnley. Townley is a speck
in any picture he is in and the
Forum sees only the speck.
If Townley sleeps, he's lazy: if
he is awake, he plans some devil
try: if he eats he is a pig and
lives on i'll gotten gains, if he
fasts, its because he's so busy con-
juring villiany. If Townley blows
hot, he's evil, if he blows cold he's
bad, if he is lukewarm, he's dis
gushing.
It's too bad that the Forum Just
can't halt its cant while it sur
veys itself. 1t could not be so en-
tirely ridiculous as it is if it did.
Damned If He Does
If Arthur takes a mans part in
politics, he is an enemy to the
peace and prosperity of the state,
If he turns his mind to private
business, he is a greengoods man;
If he succeeds he's a CRATER, if he
fails he's fool.
TOwnley is shrewd: Townley is
a nin-cOm-poOp: Townley is cum
ming: TOwnley is stupid: Townley
is bright, Townley is dull. Town
ley is a money digger, Townley is
broke: TOwnley is a master-mind,
TOwnley is a dupe: Townley is a
success, Townley is a failure:
TOwnley is a fraud, Townley is a
faker, Townley's tongue is cum
ming, Townley is a Barnum: Town
ley wants the money, needs the
money, TOwnley gets the. money
and on and on and on to the nth
power of contradiction and absurd
ity.
The farmers of North Dakota
lost more money last May in the
bear drive on the wheat market
than was ever lost in Townley's
oil venture a hundred times over:
yes, hundred times more than
they put into the Nonpartisan
League, Consumers Stores, Farm
ers Banks and Cooperative Ele-
vatOrs and other enterprises alto
gether all time before, and sew
eral times more than the Flour
Mill and Elevator and Bank of
North Dakota and Home Builders
Association combined and it never
annoyed the Forum trifle.
The people of North Dakota lost
more money in broke banks as a
result of the deflation policy of
the Federal Reserve bank and the
debacle of 1920, many times over,
than the experiment in state So
cialism has cost, and the Forum
has never criticised the Federal
Reserve bank, but what convul-
sions it has over the money the
Nonpartistan League program has
cost the state.
Got Kick Out OF 1t.
Members of Labor Unions pay
dues, members of lodges pay mi
tiation fees and dues. Life insur-
ance costs money. Members OF
the Wheat Pool, the Farmers
Union, and the I. V. A. pay mem
bership fees. People donate to the
church and the Red Cross and the
Community Chest, and their Off
GERS get big pay. Democrats, re-
publicans, socialists and commun-
lists donate to the campaign funds
OF their respective parties, and the
Forum finds no fault. But the
Forum has never quit bowling
yet about the money the farmers
paid into the Nonpartistan League
for which they got more for thar
Tor any SIG they ever spent before
Tor anything else in their expert
ence.
To be bluntly truthful North Da
kota has been laid waste by tht
elements the Forum has served ev
en- more faithfully than Wolsey
served his king.
And vet the Forum casts asper
slons on Townley.
Now Townley has taken a par
IN the organization of the Ameri
can Temperance League. This or
ganization proposes to revise tn
prohibition amendment and repea
the Volstead Act, and substitute
therefore Federal dispensaries. Tn
organization is financed by mem
oership fees and donations. It
all wrong-not because its pro