I5 2 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



nied the charge, but whether it was true is immaterial; many of the 

 farmers believed it and it spread like wildfire. 



Leadership, at least in the beginning stages, has always played an im- 

 portant part in the organization of reform movements. 13 It was a tremen- 

 dous factor in the origin and development of the Nonpartisan League. 

 The driving force in the new movement was Arthur C. Townley, one of 

 the most gifted farm organizers as well as one of the most colorful per- 

 sonalities in agrarian history. His ability to organize farmers and collect 

 dues had caused many of his adversaries to dub him "After Cash Town- 

 ley." He had attended the historic Equity convention in February, 1915, 

 but not in the capacity of delegate or leader; no doubt he was contemplat- 

 ing the idea of organizing a farmers' political movement of his own when 

 the psychological moment presented itself. 14 Townley had an interest in 

 the plight of the farmer because he himself had been an unsuccessful 

 farmer and was reputedly in debt to the extent of $100,000. Nor was so- 

 cialistic talk strange to him, for he had been recruiting members for the 

 Socialist party of North Dakota. 



The radicalism of Townley, in all probability, was influenced by the 

 unsettled surroundings in which he found himself. North Dakota was a 

 young state, having been admitted into the Union in 1889, and its many 

 ethnic groups, which were tenacious in their adherence to Old World 

 traditions, made it seem like the polyglot nations of Europe. 15 According 

 to the 1910 census, there were 156,158 foreign-born whites, representing 

 twenty-five nationalities and 27 per cent of the population at the time. An 

 equal number of natives born of foreign parents raised the total foreign 

 element of the state to well over 50 per cent. Furthermore, only a small 

 fraction of the native Americans were born on North Dakota soil, and 



p. 107; Co-operative Manager and Farmer, IV (March, 1915), p. 21. The last pub- 

 lication, a supporter of Twitchell, described him as a resident of North Dakota 

 "since the real cow boy days." Another publication charged that he came to Bismarck 

 "to be the king bee of the progressive movement" but was defeated for speaker and 

 went over to the opposition camp. Industrial Freedom, I (June, 1915), p. 19. 



13. Richard Schmidt, "Leadership," Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (15 

 vols., New York, 1930-35), IX, 282-87. 



14. Gaston, The Nonpartisan League, p. 45. 



15. N. C. Abbott, "Social Center Development in North Dakota," University of 

 North Dakota, Quarterly Journal, II (July, 1912), p. 355. 



