I 9 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



and also announced that it would not be ready for political action in that 

 state until the fall of 1920. James M. Pierce, the publisher of the Iowa 

 Homestead, was forced to resign his post as a member of the state council 

 of defense because of his League sympathies. In Montana, the League 

 nominated forty out of ninety-five members of the lower house and 

 fourteen members of the upper house. 15 It claimed considerable success 

 in organizing the state of Washington, and showed particularly keen 

 interest in the Idaho campaign. Unlike the League in North Dakota, 

 which dominated the Republican party, the Idaho League gained con- 

 trol of the Democratic party and nominated H. F. Samuels for governor. 

 Two congressmen and two United States senators endorsed by the League 

 were also nominated; one of the senators endorsed was William E. Borah. 16 



The general election of 1918 made the League triumph of 1916 in North 

 Dakota more secure. 17 All state officers were re-elected with increased 

 majorities; majorities were obtained in both houses of the legislature; two 

 more congressmen were elected; and League-endorsed candidates were 

 elected to the supreme court and the railroad commission. In Minnesota 

 and South Dakota, League candidates displaced those of the Democratic 

 party as the leading opponents of the Republicans; but in Idaho the 

 League showing was not what its members had anticipated, and only the 

 state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction were elected from 

 its candidates. 



League triumphs in several legislatures were registered, but in no case 

 did the League obtain the majorities gained in North Dakota. In Minne- 

 sota, the combined farmer-labor forces in the upper house numbered 

 fifteen and in the lower house thirty-six; in Montana sixteen League mem- 

 bers were elected to the lower house and four to the senate; in Idaho, six 

 League-endorsed senators and ten League-endorsed members of the lower 

 house were elected. 18 



Now that the League had captured complete control of North Dakota, 

 it was only logical for it to seek passage of the industrial program which 



15. Ibid., September 30, 1918, p. 4. 



1 6. Moorhead, in The Nation, CVII (October 5, 1918), p. 365; Non-partisan 

 Leader, August 5, 1918, pp. 8-9, 14; September 23, 1918, p. 3. 



17. For a vote tabulation, see State of North Dakota Legislative Manual, 1919, 

 p. 283. 



18. Non-partisan Leader, November 25, 1918, p. 4. 



