158 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



credited with being the "midwives" of the Nonpartisan League, and al- 

 though the statement to the effect that Townley stole the Nonpartisan 

 idea from Bowen frequently circulated, it was the organizing genius of 

 Townley that placed the new organization on its feet. 29 



Political action appeared feasible to the farmers at the time because it 

 held out promises that were not to be achieved readily by other, slower 

 means. Besides, the rate at which North Dakota farmers were joining 

 the organization department of the Socialist party indicated that a new 

 movement was on foot; all that was needed was the leadership. The 

 grievances of the farmers against the organized grain trade were well 

 known, and the psychological moment for the new movement had already 

 presented itself. 



Organization of the Nonpartisan League began shortly after the mem- 

 orable Equity meeting of February, 1915. At this convention Townley 

 renewed his acquaintanceship with F. B. Wood, a highly respected and 

 admired Equity leader whom he had met in the course of his work for 

 the Socialist party. Conversations between the two shortly followed, and 

 Wood later admitted that he "had told Townley that he could come to 

 our farm when spring broke and I would help him get started." Town- 

 ley, however, could not wait until spring, and the two talked the matter 

 over again. This time Wood's two sons sat in; and the following morn- 

 ing Townley and Howard Wood, one of the sons, "started out with a 

 team and bobsled to call on the neighbors. The Farmers' Nonpartisan 

 Political League of North Dakota had begun organizations. . . . Howard 

 Wood furnished the introductions. Townley did the talking. It was an 

 arrangement that later became a standard of methods in League organiza- 

 tion work." Howard Wood, the convert, became the "booster" in the town- 

 ship, accompanying the organizer to "break the ice with his neighbors." 

 The League reportedly enrolled twelve members the first day. 30 



Soon the Ford car was introduced into the League's organizing opera- 

 tions in order to cover wider stretches of territory. That Townley was 

 preparing to deal the state a political blitzkrieg in a day when such termin- 

 ology was unknown soon became apparent. Organizers and members 



29. S. R. Maxwell, The Nonpartisan League from the Inside (St. Paul, 1918), 

 p. 44. 



30. Gaston, The Nonpartisan League, pp. 56-58. 



