NONPARTISAN LEAGUE! BEGINNINGS 



were cautioned to keep their membership confidential, "to keep all knowl- 

 edge of the movement from the leeches who sucked their blood," and 

 the work proceeded without organized opposition. 31 One newspaper was 

 quoted as saying: 



It is being rumored . . . that a number of strange characters are operating in 

 this part . . . whose business is not definitely known. It is claimed, however, 

 by those who profess to know, that they are organizing a farmers' political 

 league of some kind or other. They go about in Ford cars, leaving town early 

 in the morning and returning late at night. They tell no one their business 

 voluntarily and when the question is put directly to them, reply that they are 

 selling washing machines. It is needless to say that the farmers of this com- 

 munity are too intelligent and prosperous to be taken in by any wild-eyed 

 scheme of a political nature and certainly if they want washing machines our 

 enterprising merchants have plenty of them to sell. If, however, farmers are 

 approached or pestered on any new proposition which they do not understand 

 thoroughly, we urge them not to sign any papers or make any pledges or prom- 

 ises until after they have consulted with their banker or with the editor of this 

 paper. Beware of gold-brick agents. 32 



The methods employed in organizing the League represented a curious 

 blend of socialism and high-pressure salesmanship. Farmers were advised 

 to do as "big business" did when it came to organizing for politics. League 

 leaders pointed out that "big business" was "absolutely nonpartisan 

 and well-financed; it operated politically through the dominant parties 

 or in any other way that comes in handy." They cited the case of Jay 

 Gould, who, when asked what his politics were, replied, "In Democratic 

 states I am a Democrat; in Republican states I am a Republican, but I am 

 always for the Erie Railway." ; 



The League propaganda was "intended to shock and startle and stir up" 

 both the reader and the listener and represented "the farmer as an up- 

 right and down-trodden member of society and Big Business as the vil- 



31. [James Frost], Townley & Co. and the Nonpartisan League (Beach, N. Dak., 

 1918), p. 31. See also J. W. Brinton, Wheat and Politics (Minneapolis, 1931), pp. 



36-37- 



32. O. M. Thomason, The Beginning and the End of the Nonpartisan League 

 (n.p., 1920), pp. 105-6. 



33. As quoted in Nonpartisan League Methods and Principles (Waco, Texas, 

 n.d.), p. 10 [booklet]. 



