Evening star., 1936-09-20
DEFENDS
0LSONS REGIME
Denounces Keynote Speech
of G. o. P. Opponent in
Minnesota.
BY JERRY vESsEls,
special Correspondent Of The Star

ST. PAUL, Mimi, September ls.-
A singing Republican attack on
'ultra-radical" Farmer Labor admin
istration Of State affairs that was ac-
cepted by the third party as "a vicious
and unprincipled attack" on the late
Gov. Floyd B. Olson spiced the Min
nesota political front this week.
Making his keynote speech, Martin
Nelson, G. o. p. gubernatorial candi-
date. charged the Farmer-Laborites
with designing to abandon American
ideals In government, urged the State
to exterminate radicalism in govern
ment and declared that "for six years
Minnesota has suffered under the
worst State government that 1t has
ever experienced"
United States Senator Elmer Ben
son. Farmer-Labor candidate for Gov
ernor, interpreted Nelson's speech as
branding Gov. Olson "a charlatan, a
demagogue, q betrayer Of the public
trust and that his administration was
the most corrupt In the history OF
our country"
ouI, COHIAAucO Lie ot0AIOI
statement, "let me tell Mr.. Nelson
that his millionaire friends did not
possess enough money to bribe him
(Olson)."
"Tired Of Radical Rule
Nelson, in his address, pictured
Minnesotans as being tired "of gov
ernment by starry-eyed radicals and
mob violence, who have become dis
gusted in recent years with the repu-
tation this great commonwealth ha-
gained as a hotbed Of violence and
breeding ground of unsound thought"
''For six years." he continued, Min
nesota has suffered under the worst
State government that it has ever ex-
perienced. We sought sincere reform
during time Of Distress. We focked
to new leaders and new banners. But
today We discover that We have been
betrayed. We find that the move
ment Of which many had high hopes
has fallen into the hands Of political
racketeers and unsound political ex-
perimenters.
Political racketeers, under the name
Of Farmer-Labor, squandered conserva-
tion funds and made ducks and brakes
of the States resources for Farmer
Labor benefit, until their antice and
impotency disguised the people of the
State. The Farmer-Labor party
Stunned economy and embraced q
reckless spendthrift policy.
The maladministration Of the last
six years, gross as 1t has been, Is but
adventuring on the road to empire.
The real aim and purpose Of the
Farmer-Labor leaders was startingly
disclosed to the people of Minnesota
in the Farmer-Labor platform Of 1884.
when it was roundly declared that the
American economic system has failed
and when 1t was further declared that
for the American system, which has
made America the Mecca of the whole
world, the Russian Soviet system of q
cooperative commonwealth must be
subsidized"
Benson Halls Olson's Record
Promptly accepting the challenge,
Senator Benson in his prepared state
ment admonished his Republican gu
bernatorial rival that Gov. Olson's
record of genius and unselfish service
to the common people of Minnesota
not to Mr.. Nelson's wealthy friends
will constitute glorious chapters in the
future history of this State and Nation
long after he, the puppet of the steel
trust and the public utility corpora
tions, will have been forgotten"
What Mr.. Nelson really objects to
when he speaks of law and order under
Farmer-Labor administration Is that
troops were called out to protect the
rights of working men on strike to bet
ter their economic condition-rights
guaranteed them under the law. Had
the troops been called out to bayonet
strikers or to shoot them down, he
would find no more objections than he
found when the Minneapolis police
80 shot innocent working men in the
back. That kind of law and order
meets with Mr.. Nelson's approval"
The vitriolic Benson statement led
some observers to predict that every
Republican attack on the Farmer
Labor administration would be inter-
preted by the third party chieftains
as slandering the memory Of their de-
ceased standard bearer-Gov. Olson
in a move to capitalize on the tremen.
dous wave Of Olson sympathy so pro-
nounced during his long illness and
tragic death.
Thus the Minnesota campaign. slow
to generate genuine heat" finally
picks up momentum that presages
many torrid days ahead.