A Socialist Campaign Trip Through Idaho

...a saddei and maybe a little wiser man...

...Meetings Were Good As a whole the Idaho meetings, considering the time of year, early in "March, were very guod, giving every sign of an awakening interest in Socjarffsm...

...But what provision does this make for the "poor power trust...

...Salmon River and its tributaries, flowing from and through the high - mountains of Central Idaho, have millions of unused, unharnessed horse power energy, to say nothing of the swiftly flowing Lower Snake River into which the Salmon empties a short distance above Lewiston, Idaho...

...Northern Idaho has some large mining interests, made famous in the late 'nineties and early part of this century, by the same methods and tactics toward the workers that prevails in Kentucky, and other coal mining regions now...

...Idaho is seemingly more free from the factional strife that divides the working class movement than most places I have been in recent years...

...He did this because he wanted to go to one of the branch line towns and get from a friend the price of a hair cut and shave, so he could go home looking respectable...

...A Socialist Campaign Trip Through Idaho Idaho and Utah Show Depths of Poverty l / his is the fifth article in tin series on economic, social and political conditions in the states and the prospects for the Socialist party] By W. R. Snow rITHIN the bast seven weeks I have filled lecture dates In Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and California, besides paying personal visits to comrades in Nevada on my way from Ogden, Utah, to Chico, California...

...No other state can quite' compete with Idaho potatoes...

...versed Its mountains and deserts several times...

...Turns On Hoover Arriving at Minadoka Junction, instead of proceeding on to Jerome, to where his pass would have been good he got off and attempted to ride the "blind baggage", on the Twin Falls branch line of the same road that had taken his seven cars of potatoes for freight, and a day coach pass back from Chicago...

...At La Grande and Enterprise in the eastern part of the s t a t e I held fine meetings where none had been held since before the war...

...The discussion will continue to the last Issue before the national convention when it will be suspended to give way to a complete report of its actions...

...If this article gets by the editor and is appreciated by t h e readers, I have others...

...Just now and for the past two years all farm products are at a very low ebb...

...Arriving in the "windy city" where seemingly everybody goes broke, this Idaho "spud" raiser sold his potatoes for enough to pay the freight and commission merchants who handled them...

...North Idaho also has some of the largest saw mills to be found in the United States, and the largest and most valuable white pine belt found on the American continent...

...He returned to Idaho on a shipper's pass via the U. P. R.R...

...I want to tell the story of copper and the big, raw, ugly fact that the American copper kings are deliberately throttling the whole American copper industry because they can make more profits from investments in Chili, s. A, Rhodesia, and the Belgian Congo in Africa, Mexico and other foreign countries...

...This makes for the growth of Socialism and we should give the Comrades In Idaho every possible help and encouragement...

...On my last trip i was 107 miles from the nearest railroad station near the Arizona line...

...The old western spirit of hospitality still survives in spite of selling potatoes for freight and a day coach past, then having one's pants kicked for trying to fide a blind baggage a few miles on t he same road...

...This road is known in Idaho as the "Oregon Short Line...

...Idaho is rich beyond dreams in power resources, but very poor in coal deposits...

...The New Leader Forum This issue being a May Day and propaganda number the Forum page is eliminated this week...

...It is noted for the size, flavor and shipping qualities of its potatoes...

...Many or most of the smelters are closed...

...One potato incident illustrates what is making people think, In spite of any previous notions*about Socialism...

...Many other places could have been made but for the snow and bad roads that still prevailed in largo sections of the state...

...The situation in Oregon will be taken care of by the faithful comrades in that state, who are not so many in numbers but make up in loyalty and enthusiasm...

...Central and norm Idaho have the wildest untamed wilderness yet left in the United States...

...Meetings were held, a t Cbldwell, Boise and Idaho Falls, in addition to those mentioned above...

...This man's predicament is about the same as thousands of farmers in Idaho, except he had it rubbed in a little harder than most of them...

...The Snake flows for almost 200 miles along the Idaho-Oregon line through a country whose sublime grandeur is bardly to be equaled in the United States...

...Idaho has undeveloped hydro-electric possibilities beyond that of any other western state...

...Heat, light and power from Its streams could be generated to supply a dozen such states...

...I was told this-4111111 had been a lifelong Republican, but now he is sore at Hoover and is going to vote the Democratic ticket to get revenge...

...I was in Bingham Canyon, Utah, the other day and i t is beginning to take on the aspect of a ghost town...

...The state or national government in the hands of Socialists would develop this power, or all that would be needed, and furnish it to the people at cost...

...Its resources in this line have not been developed for ths reason the Power Trust cannot find a market for the energy that can be developed...

...Great copper towns like Butte and Anaconda, Montana, Bingham Canyon, and other mines in Utah, Ray, Winkelman, Jerome, Clarksdale, Globt and Bisbee, Arizona, will, if wo continue the private ownership of copper mines and smelters, become ghost towns like Tombstone, ArU zona, Virginia Cities of Nevada and Montana, and many other ghost towns of the West...

...Party members are again urged to make their letters as brief as possible so as to make possible publication of as many letters as possible...

...Two excellent meetings were held here and the Hibner brothers at Buhl arranged for three meetings in that vicinity...

...George F. Hibner was at one time a feature writer for the "Appeal to Reason...

...The succeeding Issues during the campaign will also be devoted In the main to the Socialist Party campaign...

...The "Gem" State Idaho is called the "Gem State" and rightly so/* It has many places of unrivalled scenic grandeur...

...I secured a copy of the latest election laws and turned it over to H. H. Freldheim, the enthusiastic state secretary at Twin Falls...

...It has only a very little in the extreme eastern part of the s t a t e near the Teton range of Wyoming...

...Its rivers in the north and central part of the state are wild and turbulent...

...In sortie parts fruit la extensively and intensively raised...

...My information Is first hand...

...Some fine and enthusiastic meetings were held in Oregon and Idaho...

...Utah will be the next in line as 1 h&vs just come from there, having tra...

...The writer has in past years made, speeches in all tot counties of Idaho, aave a few...

...Idaho has about the best possibilities of any of the Northwest States, if they a r e given aid in-getting a ticket in the field...

...Idaho largely depends on agriculture, sheep and cattle raising...

...Quite a number of letters are on hand and we expect to give more space next week to the discussion...

...In a few places I met some of the enthusiastic disciples of Coin Harvey's "New Libe r t y party", but only in a few places...

...Said farmer rode with the potatoes to keep the stoves going so they wouldn't freeze...

...The writer has made Socialist speeches 100 miles from the nearest railroad station in the pioneer days of oui movement, and could have gone fifty times further if transportation had been possible...

...The election laws in that state have been changed so that this year instead of going on the ballot by petition they will have to hold a mass convention of 200 people at which convention candidates must be nominated...

...I tried to convince some of them that as long as natural resources, machinery, transportation and the market place, are privately owned that it doesn't make much difference whether we have gold standard, free silver, greenbacks, gray backs or yellow backs, about all the useful workers could expect, would be the "grey ones...

...Where the river cuts through the "Seven Devil'' Mountains the Canyon Is 5,500 feet deep...

...Many who are sore at Hoover and the Republican party will likely vote for the Democratic party, "The Spare Tire on the Republican Band Wagon", to be used only in case of a blow-ou...

...Many can and will be reached with the message of Socialism...

...The big thing In Idaho, as everywhere else, Is the means of production, distribution, transportation, marketing, raw materials and resources, privately owned, and run for profit for the owners, or to be owned by the people and operated by them in their interest...

...Its people...

...I can write of all the westers and Rocky Mountain states...

...When down the line a few miles he was discovered by the conductor and kicked on" the train...

...At Jerome this past Winter a potato farmer shipped seven carloads of potatoes over the Union Pacific Railroad to Chicago...

...This convention, I was told at the Secretary of State's office in March, wiil have to be held on May 24th to comply with the law...

...If one wants to hide from civilization and get far from the "great white way" and the "maddening crowd", the "Gem State" will furnish the place, provided one can afford the money to get there...

...I am of the opinion our comrades who have to s t a y at home most of the time, tied to one place by a job, a profession, or a mortgage on the farm, that they like humor mixed with dry economics...

...Its scenery as well as resources have to be seen to be appreciated...