EXPANSION AND DECLINE 203 



elevator already under construction at a total expense of $250,000 and 

 $1,000,000 respectively. Finally, the bank was to be abolished after a 

 period of liquidation. 44 



Opposition reached a climax in 1921, when a series of proposals was 

 referred to the voters with a petition for the recall of the entire industrial 

 commission. Five of these measures pertained to the industrial program, 

 being by and large a crystallization of the obstructionist tactics pursued 

 by the independents. 40 Real strength was displayed by the League oppo- 

 nents in the first recall election on a state-wide basis ever conducted in the 

 nation. The man groomed for the governorship by the independents was 

 R. A. Nestos, who had been seriously considered for the candidacy in 

 1920 but had been passed over for William Langer with the hope that 

 the ex-Leaguer would be successful in turning the tide against the League. 

 Nestos was selected by the independents at a convention held at Devils 

 Lake in March, 1921, having been nominated by J. F. T. O'Connor, the 

 Democratic gubernatorial candidate in I92O. 46 Nestos, a lawyer and Sunday 

 school teacher from Minot, had been seeking public office for years; fur- 

 thermore, he was a Norwegian by birth and came from the western part 

 of the state, which was predominantly Nonpartisan in its sentiments. 47 



Besides carrying the names of the candidates for the three major state 

 offices, the ballots also contained six measures brought up by initiative 

 which were backed by the independent forces and on which the voters 

 were asked to vote Yes or No. These six initiated measures called for the 

 nomination and election of state and county officers, congressional can- 

 didates, and party committees without party designation; a public deposi- 

 tory law; an amendment to the industrial commission law; a rural-credits 

 act; and the dissolution of the Bank of North Dakota. Three constitu- 

 tional amendments were likewise submitted: one, sponsored by the in- 

 dependents, asked for a reduction of the state debt limit; the other two, 



44. C. R. Johnson, "The Struggle in North Dakota," New Republic, XXVI 

 (March 9, 1921), p. 43. 



45. Cooke, "The North Dakota Industrial Program," p. 26. 



46. Minneapolis Tribune, November 24, 1921. 



47. Oliver S. Morris, "The Vote of the North Dakota Farmers," The Nation, 

 CXIII (November 9, 1921), pp. 535-36; "North Dakota's Political Twister," Literary 

 Digest, LXXI (October 22, 1921), pp. 12-13. 



