Show WASHINGTON LETTER il By RODNEY DUTCHER NEA Service Writer WASHINGTON W Here l. Here in the tho effete east where almost anyone anone from west of Chicago is regarded as 83 a radical many persons re reo regard regard gard Senator Burton Durton K Wheeler of Montana sa a II radical who will wll bear watching Especially here in the smug na national capital it is felt that 1 If Wheeler isn't a radical fI there Isn't one in the senate But out in Montana one learns with astonishment Wheeler Is be be- being beIng being ing panned as a reactionary Some of the voters rotors out there are much more radical than Wheeler and i it If there were enough of them as there arent aren't Wheeler might be defeated In his campaign for re reo reelection re- re reelection election next year The Wheeler anti feeling cen cen- centers centers centera tera in Sheridan county In the the extreme northeast section of oC Mon Mon- Montana Montana tana tann along the Canadian border and North Dakota Experts say that you cant can't find finda a more radical section In the country than Sheridan county The folks out there boast of it H too And its it's peculiar In more ways wars than that I electing labor farmer county tickets each year these radicals control the county count From all re reo reports re- re reports ports they do a II good job of oC run run- running running ning it They drove a small time crooked regime out of office when they stepped In Sheridan is altogether a farm county and Is run in the tho Interests of the farmer Carmer The Th state law pre pre- vents any change in the form Corm o of county government bu the Sheri Sherl- dont don't mind that They have hafe Just the kind of oC a It govern govern- government government government ment they want The dominant force in Sheridan county is the United Farmers a secret agrarian organization which has also made headway in Wash Wash- Washington WashIngton Washington ington state stat Minnesota anc and North Dakota This group is or or- organized both for economic anc and political action Its numbers anc and membership lists are kept secret and when it indorses a candidate for office the fact is kept secret so that if perchance it takes a apolitical apoll apolitical political poll licking the fact remains unknown Meanwhile it arranges with nith local merchants to give ghe all card carrying card carrying members a discount when they come to town to for pur pur- purchases chases Every store storo in Plentywood the county seat of oC Sheridan is said to grant such a discount disco In this way members are guaranteed savings amounting to more than the membership dues Often Otten the council steps in and persuades a 1 banker to hold oft ocr on a mortgage foreclosure against a farmer When a court ruled that a Slier Slier- Idan county mortgage-holder mortgage was entitled to a portion of the debt debt- debtors debtor's debtors debtors debtor's ors or's crop a crowd crow of the boys went right out to the debtors debtor's farm threshed his crop and ased haul haul- hauled hauled hauled ed It away aud and sold it before the court could enforce the decree An ex sheriff sent by a court with papers containing bad tidings to toa toa toa a straitened farmer was seized and threatened with a noose After Arter Artera a promise not to return a pint of castor oil was poured down his throat as a lesson He has since been known as Castor Oil Collins They raise ralso hell hen with bankers who try to foreclose on farmers says a a. man who knows Sheridan county count and admires its people The county sheriff has hns a splendid did reputation for catching border runners rum-runners but he Is la hard on would would-be farmhands farm hands who dont don't carry the red card of the I. I I W. W W. W Incidentally some of the big Farmers In Montana prefer I. I I W. W W W. workers insisting that al although l. l l though they demand reasonable hours and wages they arent aren't as ns shiftless as ax the ordinary union non-union hand land In Plentywood they have havo erect erect- erected erected ed a Labor Farmer temple which is a community affair where here ar are held all county events e from dances and ladles ladles' aid meetings t to prize fights The Kats a an orchestra plays for dancing Ar Arthe Are the bolsheviks of Moscow elated when Chinese peasant communists communist I win military victory Not lot a bl bit I more than the good folk of Sheri Sher Sherdan Sheridan I dan county The Tho Producers' Producers News New of oC Plentywood Plenty wood which goes Int Into every home in the county bat ban ban- banners banners ners the report In an eight cot headline and you cant can't find fine fineIn In that weekly more than two o othree or three other items of oC outside news new The Producers' Producers News re re- receives receives ro- ro the services of oC the Feder Feeler Federated Federated Press which servos serves radical news to Socialist or Com Communist munis or Labor papers It delivers hor hon horrendous blasts at Montana's tw two reactionary senators Wheeler and Tom Torn Walsh accusing Wheel Whee Wheeler er of being the tho hireling of oC tb the Anaconda Copper company an and Walsh the servant of Standard Oil Oil- It prints an old photo of Walsh Wals with the caption The famous walrus moustache worn by th the senior senator before he ho met Mrs Corded Borden Harriman Is shown show in th the aboe above e picture Senator Walsh like Samson of o old has lost much of oC his political virility since it Its edges were shorn Sheridan herldan divides its vote rote in th the primaries between the Republican conservative ticket and the Farm Farm- Labor er-Labor radical ticket It knows know its political poll onions and wastes waste no time when Democratic candi- candi candidates dates up for wide statewide vote rote ap appear ap- ap appear pear on the ticket Wheeler to for Instance got 17 votes otes in the last las senatorial primary and then car car- carried ned ried the county by a majority o of oC more than SOO 00 votes Next November it probably will wll vote ote against Wheeler the reactionary reactionary Radicals in Butte Dutte Great Grea Falls and elsewhere may Join in inthe inthe the Wheeler anti movement bu but many of Wheelers Wheeler's friends believe that this will wilt be bo much more than offset by the attraction of oC reas reas- reassured reassured conservatives to his banner Mere progressives will all alt vote fo for Cor Wheeler There Is a chance that radical rule in Sheridan county may be upset Sheridan has many Dan Dan- DanIsh DanIsh Danish Ish farmers most of them ious bus and they are said to believe the farmer are atheists or or something |