20 4 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



submitted by the last legislature, proposed to increase the salary of legis- 

 lators to $500 a year and to consolidate the offices of county judge and 

 clerk of court in counties with a population under eight thousand. 48 



The recall election, much to the surprise of the League, brought about 

 the defeat of both Governor Lynn J. Frazier and Attorney General Wil- 

 liam Lemke. This League defeat meant the transfer of control of all im- 

 portant boards, except the board of administration, to the independents. 

 The independents had gained control of the industrial commission, which 

 in turn controlled the Bank of North Dakota, the mill and elevator as- 

 sociation, and the home-builders' association. Changes in the offices of 

 governor and attorney general also shifted control of the board of school 

 and university lands. The League, however, managed to retain control 

 of the board of administration, which was charged with the supervision 

 of all state institutions, the only change here being the substitution of 

 Joseph A. Kitchen, the new commissioner of agriculture and labor, for 

 John N. Hagan, a League member. 



Other boards and commissions passing to the independents were the 

 auditing board, the banking board, the depositors' guarantee-fund com- 

 mission, the board of equalization, the printing commission, the budget 

 board, the motor-vehicle registration department, the tax department, and 

 the pool-hall inspection department, which, among other things, had 

 become a valuable political institution of the League. Curiously enough, 

 the voters defeated all the initiated measures intended to destroy the in- 

 dustrial commission, but at the same time they elected a new commission 

 opposed to the program. From then on, the program was under the 

 domination of the I.V.A., and it was not until 1933 that the forces which 

 had fought for the program were placed in complete control of the state 

 enterprises. 49 



The strength of the opposition was centered mainly in the eastern part 

 of the state, and the reasons for the recall of the League officials were 

 strikingly similar to those accounting for the League defeats in 1920 



48. Minneapolis Journal, October 28, 1921; Minneapolis Tribune, October 28, 

 1921; "North Dakota's 'Recall' Puzzle," Literary Digest, LXXI (November 19, 

 1921), p. 10. 



49. Minneapolis Journal, November 2, 1921; Cooke, "The North Dakota Indus* 

 trial Program," pp. 26-27; H. G. Teigan, "Recalling the Farmer Governor," Labor 

 Age, X (December, 1921), pp. 9-10. 



