NONP ARTISAN LEAGUE: BEGINNINGS 177 



unnecessary middlemen and selling in the open market." There were also 

 numerous other curricular qualifications required in "making farm chil- 

 dren into militant economists." 



Higher requirements were demanded of new teachers. Legislation made 

 possible an easier access to medical inspection for rural schools; free trans- 

 portation was provided for children living more than two and a quarter 

 miles from school. If the child had not graduated from the eighth grade, 

 he was compelled to go to school until he was seventeen. Opportunities for 

 schooling were also provided for adults. Rural schools were standardized 

 and consolidated; it was claimed that more than a hundred consolidated 

 schools were added to the state list during the ten months the League was 

 in control. As expected, a friendly legislature also provided more money 

 for rural education. 



Besides passing some two hundred and fifty-four laws in the legislative 

 session of 1917, the League also indicated definitely that it sought the 

 support of labor. League members introduced bills that were asked for 

 and endorsed by the North Dakota Federation of Labor. A number of 

 minor bills were passed, but major measures, such as bills for working- 

 men's compensation and minimum wages and hours for women and 

 children, were defeated. 97 



The year 1917 witnessed the first serious attempt on the part of the 

 Nonpartisan League to grow nationally particularly by expanding into 

 Minnesota, "the gateway of finance and business to the Northwest." 9 

 Organization work began in Minnesota early in 1917, when "a battalion 

 of automobiles" used in organizing North Dakota was placed at the 

 disposal of the Minnesota organizers. Between eighty and ninety cars, 

 each driven by trained organizers and supervised by experienced super- 

 intendents, were placed in the hands of an executive committee of five 

 farmers from five counties. By March, 1917, the League claimed 12,000 

 members in Minnesota, but hardly had the League started its activities 

 there when a rival "Nonpartisan League of Minnesota" was organized by 



97. Nonpartisan League Methods and Principles, p. 20; Non-partisan Leader, 

 March 8, 1917, p. 23. 



98. A. K. Horwill, "The Nonpartisan League," New Republic, XVIII (April 5, 

 1919), p. 304. See also Ray McKaig, "The New Minnesota Despotism," Public, XXI 

 (April 13, 1918), pp. 465-67. 



