AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



" 34 



lain." 34 Arguments were advanced to substantiate reasons why the farm- 

 ers should control the political life of North Dakota. To a degree, they 

 resembled those of the French physiocrats, who strongly upheld the su- 

 periority of agriculture over other forms of economic activity. League 

 leaders pointed to agriculture as the basic industry, "the most important 

 industry under the shining sun. Emperors, Kings, Ministers, Presidents, 

 Parliaments, Congresses, great generals, mighty armies with monster guns 

 and forests of bayonets and mountains of shot and shell, are down on their 

 knees before the man with the hoe. Yet, he has had but little direct voice 

 in affairs of government that determine his weal or woe. Men who can 

 hardly tell the difference between a cotton boll and a chrysanthemum, are 

 expected to legislate for the most vital industry of all. . . ." The League 

 demanded "proportional occupational representation" as a means of eli- 

 minating the imposter from public life. It was maintained that a repre- 

 sentative of the farmers, with a knowledge of the views of that economic 

 group, would be more likely to legislate in accordance with the needs of 

 the farmers than one representing a variety of economic interests. It was 

 not "sleek, smooth-tongued, bay-windowed fellows that looked well, 

 talked well, lived well, lied well" who could best run the government. 

 The case of the North Dakota farmers was but one instance where "the 

 farmers had been vainly begging a bunch of wind-jamming, poker-play- 

 ing, booze-fighting politicians for legislation to protect them against the 

 flour-mill trust and the grain gamblers. . . ." If the farmers of North 

 Dakota constituted 83 per cent of the population, they said, why should 

 they not "control 83 per cent of the government." ! 



Greater confidence was obtained among the farmers by limiting the 

 organization to actual tillers of the soil and later by encouraging practical 

 cooperation with organized labor. Office seekers were to be eliminated by 

 nominating as candidates for public office a farmer, a wage earner, or 

 anyone else "tried in the field of unselfish service." Campaign expenses 

 were to be financed with fees that were high enough to cover the costs, 

 the candidates in turn being tied to the farmer organization in the same 

 manner that the candidate from big business was tied to the business in- 

 terests. 



34. John M. Gillette, "The North Dakota Harvest of the Nonpartisan League," 

 Survey, XLI (March i, 1919), pp. 759-60. 



35. Nonpartisan League Methods and Principles, pp. 14-15. 



