Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1930-04-10
FL. OUT TO WIN
SAYS CITY PRESS
Party Offers Same Platform Of Aid
to Farmers and Workers as
When First Started.
BY H. G. TEIGAN

Twin City newspapers are agreed
that the Farmer-Labor party has
started out to win the election.
This is the first time that such an
admission has been made by the daily
press of Minneapolis and st. Paul Of
course, these papers do not say that
the Farmer-Labor party is going to
win in November. What they do say
is that the party has named a strong
ticket and the Minneapolis Daily Star
describes the party's achievement at
the convention as Its strongest and
most carefully calculated bid for pol
itical control of Minnesota"
1t seems proper to state that at
least two Of the Twin City dailies are
far from hostile to the FL. ticket.
The others cannot be considered any
thing but unfriendly and are without
doubt preparing to lay the foundations
for bitter campaign against the
Farmer-Labor candidates.
And.how is the Farmer-Labor ticket
to be attacked? BY charging the can
didates and the platform with being
too radical? Hardly. With business
facing bankruptcy everywhere: with
the farmers reduced to vassalage and
with the workers of the cities by the
millions out of employment, such a
course would be unthinkable. More
over. the charge of radicalism has
long ago outlived its usefulness.
Thus it is that the Farmer-LabOr
party is being charged with having
become conservative and that the
spirit of once virile radicalism has
departed. leaving only the shell be-
hind.
q. o. p. Propaganda Dangerous.
And this is clever point of attack.
While such propaganda may seem on
the face of it as being the means of
bringing old-party support to the
Farmer-Labor ticket, it must be adj
mitted that if the G. o. p. press sue
ceeds in convincing FarmerLabor
boosters of the correctness of the
charge, there is plenty of danger
ahead How many old Farmer-L abor
boosters in town and country would
fight for the party if they could be
convinced that there has been a gen.
eral abandonment of the principles
upon which the movement was found
ed? Not many.
The strategy of Republican news
papers is good. To defeat the Farmer
Labor ticket in the year 1880, is not
to charge the party and its candidates
with radicalism but with cOnserva-
tism 1t is also true that the Farmer
Labor party has never been defeated
on what was in its platform. but
rather on what was not in its plat
form. In 1918. Chas. A. Lindbergh and
his associates on the Nonpartisan
League slate were attacked as pro-
Germans, disloyalists and traitors. In
1920. DR.. Henrik Shipstead. George
Mallon and Tom Sullivan were de-
nounced for desiring to usher in
social system of free love-" home
wrecking and atheism. OF course.
there was nothing in the platform in
either year to justify these charges.
but the propaganda succeeded.
In 1922 these bogus issues of the
old gang had Become stale and the
G. o. p. found itself compelled to face
logg. Volstead and Steenersen met de-
feat at the hands of Farmer-Labor-
ties. Shipstead. whose house at Glen
wood had been painted yellow in 1918
and whose campaign in 1920 was
characterized by a continuous duck
ing and lodging of patriotic mobs,
triumphed i'm 1922 as did kvale and
Wefald.
The plan of attack is different now.
The repertoire of false radical issues
is exhausted. So appeal will be made
to voters that the FarmerLabor party
has lost its progressivism and is now
party of ervatiSm.
The Farmer-Labor movement is still
championing the cause of the farmers
and workers. Its program is the same
us it was back in 1918, though there
has been changes in the phraseoiogy
and arrangement of the party's case
against the plunderbund and its pol
ltlcal satellites.
Norris Wins Again.
Farmer-Laborites have reason to
ejoice over the great victory that
Senator George w. Norris has just won
in the United States senate. For a
second time in three years Senator
Norris bill for government operation
of the great government Muscle
Shoals project has been approved in
the senate.
This victory is particularly graft
flying to Farmer-Laborites. They
alone of the political parties in this
state advocate public ownership and
operation of hydro-electric plants.
Senator Norris has waged a battle
to save Muscle Shoals to the people of
the South ever since the great project
became source of interest to the
power trust. Back in 1924 Senator
Oscar w. Underwood of Alabama at
tempted to engineer a plan to lease
the government properties to the
Alabama Power company. He came
near accomplishing his purpose and