NONPARTISAN LEAGUE: BEGINNINGS 167 



Special." This type of campaigning was not, however, the invention of 

 the Nonpartisan League. In 1908 the Socialist presidential candidate, 

 Eugene V. Debs, was carried to all parts of the country in the "Red Spe- 

 cial." 56 The chances are that the League leaders borrowed this idea from 

 the Socialist party, whence many of them had come. The "Frazier Special" 

 was scheduled to stop at all important points in North Dakota during the 

 last week of the campaign, which closed on June 28, primary day. 57 It 

 carried the League candidates and it was intended to give the farmers 

 a chance to hear the case of the farmers. A series of picnics were arranged 

 with five-, ten-, and fifteen-minute speeches by the candidate for gover- 

 nor and his party. An opportunity was also given the prospective voters 

 to board the "Frazier Special" and ride from their home station to the 

 nearest mass meeting by simply purchasing a ticket. Business offices, 

 stores, and shops were closed in honor of the occasion in some of the 

 towns, including New Rockford, Jamestown, Valley City, Bottineau, and 

 Minot. 58 



Frazier, running true to form, defeated four candidates in the primaries 

 and received a larger vote than the opposition candidates combined. 59 In 

 fact, the League "swirled" into the campaign and "tore it wide open." All 

 its candidates were nominated on the Republican ticket with the excep- 

 tion of P. M. Casey, its choice for treasurer "whom the Democrats oblig- 

 ingly nominated." 60 A Mandan newspaper, upon hearing of the nomina- 

 tion of Frazier, asked: "Who in Hell is Frazier, and Where in Hell is 

 Hoople?" J1 As a result of the League showing, both the Republican and 

 Democratic parties adopted programs largely in accord with the League 

 platform. 62 



Originally, the League had announced that it would support only can- 

 didates for the state executive, judiciary, and legislative offices, but it di- 



56. Haynes, Social Politics in the United States, pp. 196-97; McAlister Coleman, 

 Eugene V. Debs (New York, 1930), pp. 244-48; David Karsner, Debs (New York, 

 1919), pp. 190-91. 



57. Non-partisan Leader, June 15, 1916, p. 8. 



58. Ibid., July 6, 1916, p. 5. 



59. Brinton, Wheat and Politics, p. 37. 



60. Literary Digest, LIV (January 20, 1917), p. 115. 



61. Brinton, Wheat and Politics, p. 37. 



62. Non-partisan Leader, November 30, 1916, p. 5. 



