NONPARTISAN LEAGUE: BEGINNINGS 



161 



That the actual administration of the League would be highly cen- 

 tralized was accepted as axiomatic almost from the very beginning. It 

 was dominated by a committee of three that was democratic in form but 

 despotic in practice. 36 Townley was chairman of the committee, the other 

 two members being William Lemke and F. B. Wood. Tenure on this 

 committee was indefinite since there was no provision for the election 

 of successors. The opposition made much of this centralized control, but 

 Townley's replies placated the rank and file, temporarily at least, and 

 typified his ability to obtain their confidence. "Are not the milling in- 

 terests organized and ably led by a few men ?" he asked. "And the inter- 

 ests that manufacture agricultural machinery? And the railroads? Does 

 anybody know of a single great interest in this country that is not highly 

 organized?" 37 



The actual organizing of the farmers was one of the most dramatic 

 aspects of the League, for it had gathered together one of the most art- 

 ful groups of radical writers and speakers the nation had ever seen. They 

 were thoroughly saturated with radical doctrines, techniques of indoc- 

 trination, and large-scale organization methods. In knowledge of mass 

 psychology they were unsurpassed. They were capable of finding the 

 least common denominator among their farmer listeners; they adopted 

 few themes, and they repeated them untiringly. Townley, in partic- 

 ular, was a man of striking physical appearance, boisterous in talk 

 but rich in expression; and the League leaders in general were capable 

 of pointing out the enemy to the farmers in simple fashion. In North 

 Dakota the League encountered no difficulty in arousing the farmers 

 against their traditional foes the railroads, the financial interests, and 

 the press. League leaders ably fed the passions of the farmers by telling 

 them exactly what they wanted to hear. 



In contacting the farmers the League's organizers were instructed to 

 ascertain the particular interests of the farmer and to talk about them in- 

 stead of necessarily the League program, to agree with everything the 

 farmer said, and to condemn everything he disliked. This approach is 

 epitomized in a former League leader's account of Townley's instructions. 



36. Nonpartisan League; Origin, Purpose and Method of Operation, War Pro- 

 gram and Statement of Principles (n.p., n.d.), pp. 10-11; James Manahan, Trials of 

 a Lawyer (Minneapolis, 1933), p. 221. 



37. Why Should Farmers Pay Dues? (St. Paul, n.d.), p. 7 [booklet]. 



