The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-04-20
nv nur Mimi. Correspondent


asked by many of our readers.
They are answered by our CORE
spondent in the following article.
When the oveTlords of the state
of Minnesota decided that they
coulG use a Farmer Labor COVER
nor as their executive officer, they
conferred with John Devaney.
Devaney was regarded as a pro-
gressive millionaire. He had col
lected enormous fees on cases he
had won against the Government
Railroad Labor Board arising out
of fires supposedly ignited by the
sparks from railroad engines. He
specialized in personal injury cases
ard had his ambulance chaSers in
every northwestern state. He was
not overburdened with reverence
for the ethics Of the legal profess
sion. He factorized the law bust
ness and built up a great business
by adopting the methods of the go
getter and business promoter. His
office resembled the headquarters
of great industrial corporation.
Specialists pored ocer dismal legal
tones in commodious offices while
manicured and perfumed stenogra-
pliers pounded the keys of scores
Of typewriteTs. Ambulance chas-
ers dragged in prospective clients
who told their stories of injury
and damage and doctors cluttered
the ante-roOms figuring out testi-
mony which would click with the
juries at the trials.
No law office of this kind ever
was SEEN before and presiding over
it like the general of an army was
the powerful figure of John De-
vaney, who from humble beginning
in Lake Mills, Iowa, had risen to
the very pinnacle of his profession
and had become a magnate in the
social business and political life of
the metropolis of the northwest.
Devaney had many connections
IN labor circles. particularly among
the conservative politically minded
railroad brotherhoodS.
! Looking for man fitted for the
job as governor his appraising eve
fell upon Floyd Olson, rising
young county attorney of Henne-
pin county.
In his ten years as prosecuting
officer, Olson had gotten along
famously with the business men
and the underworld in Minneapolis
and made many friends in these
circles. A crusader could never
be a success in the office of coun-
ty attorney in big city. To get
by ne had to be a compromiser.
de had to know how to steer an
even keel between the reformers
and those who stand for a wide
open town. Olson had satisfied
both. He had been a candidate on
the farmer labor ticket before and
knew its leaders in the state. Es-
sentially careerist, he knew that
for him the hour of opportunity
had struck when Devaney urged
him to become a candidate.
The newspapers began to place
him as the most likely candidate
! for the Farmer Laborites to sup
port. They built him up by skill
full publicity for the role he was to
play.
By this time the leaders of the
Farmer Labor party had become
sophisticated" They began to
banker for the spoils of office.
Their dreams of a new day for the
common man began to develop into
dreams Of fine clothes and big
hmousines and fat bank accounts
and pleasant work in luxurious of.
fices for themselves. They heard
the siren song of the tempter, JOIN
Devaney, and they knew that his
bags Of gold spelled victory for hi:
and their candidate and economic
emancipation for themselves indi
vidually.
The Rise of Olson
/ Was it any wonder then that
Floyd Olson, who had never useC
MS talents on behalf of the pool
and oppressed, whose record a,
prosecuting attorney was satisfac
tory to the great bankers, who
were than in defiance of the Law
putting over mergers for the loot
ing OF the northwest and the rob
berry of its people, was nominate,
. at the Farmer Labor convention
and allowed to write his own plat
form.
A weak man, Ray Chase, was
nominated by the republicans 70
the same position and the demo
Gratis cooperated also. The astut
Devaney had skiIlfully pulled FL,
wires and did not have to spend 8,
much money after all in electin,
his man.
At last a Farmer Labor COVER
nor had won in Minnesota and th,
farmers thought they had won tn
state. It was said that the fou
golden tinted horses On the dom
of the capitol had laughed all thu
November day.
The Dawn That Did Not
;. Materialize
Many Of the workers though,
they decerned the rosy glow Of ,
new day on the horizon.
And the farmer out on the fer
tile prairies Of the Gopher skat