194 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



ing [the] ideas . . . gathered from this research." This was completed 

 by November, 1918, and submitted to League officials for consideration in 

 the early part of December, igiS. 21 "The policy followed in drawing up 

 this legislation for the establishment of the bank and the mills and ele- 

 vators," according to Le Sueur, "was to Take These Institutions As Far 

 Out of Politics As Possible. When these bills were turned over to the of- 

 ficials of the League for study and suggestion, objections were brought 

 out, and other bills based upon an exactly opposite policy were drawn 

 up. . . . The policy was Keep The Ean\ and The Industries Tied to Poli- 

 tics For The SaJ{e of Political Success." These industries could have been 

 operated either through the "political state" or through the industrial com- 

 mission; in practice they were managed by a political body, the indus- 

 trial commission. 



Le Sueur pointed out several weaknesses in the industrial program as 

 finally organized, among the foremost being that it would make for 

 "instability." A League defeat in the elections would place the entire pro- 

 gram in the hands of its enemies, who would lose little time in emasculat- 

 ing it. A shift in opinion on the part of a small group of a fickle electorate 

 could change the whole industrial policy. In short, there would be "no 

 stability, no sense of confidence in the future of the enterprises, a condi- 

 tion which is absolutely essential to industrial building." American po- 

 litical psychology would make it difficult to retain a friendly administra- 

 tion in office for more than two or three terms. 28 



Another shortcoming was that further inefficiencies would result from 

 the standpoint of management. The three members of the industrial com- 

 mission had very wide powers granted them not because of their pro- 

 ficiency but merely because they happened to hold ex-officio posts. The 

 men serving on the commission were also ex-officio members of other 

 state bodies the banking board, the board of education, and the work- 

 men's compensation board. These men did not carry on active manage- 

 ment of these enterprises but employed "experts" to perform this function; 

 yet these duties were important, and critics of the industrial commission 



27. Arthur Le Sueur's manuscript in the industrial program, November 30, 1920, 

 in the Minnesota Historical Society. 



28. Arthur Le Sueur, "The Nonpartisan League: A Criticism," Socialist Review, 

 IX (November, 1920), p. 193. Le Sueur was officially connected with the League 

 until April, 1919. 



