AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



had no effect. Then came the big "potato catastrophe." The farmers, with 

 a record crop on hand, faced a car shortage and prices so low that it was 

 unprofitable for them to dig the potatoes. Wheat brought only eighty cents 

 a bushel. Add to this coal and railroad strikes and one can readily under- 

 stand why talks such as the one delivered by Coolidge about "improved 

 agricultural conditions," "reduced taxes," and "prosperity" fell flat. 13 



In the North Dakota elections of 1922 there was a swing both to the 

 left and to the right; the first sent the well-known Leaguer, Lynn Frazier, 

 to the United States Senate, and the other returned R. A. Nestos, the con- 

 servative, to the office of governor. One observer noted that undoubtedly 

 this "did represent in part a violent oscillation in the opinions of some 

 people on fundamental issues." Another commented that the state had 

 gone radical in 1920, conservative in the recall election year of 1921, and 

 seemingly both conservative and radical in 1922. The election of Lynn 

 Frazier sent him to Washington to join E. F. Ladd, who had been elected 

 in 1920. This put the state in the anomalous position of having a con- 

 servative government at home and radical representation at Washington. 



The results in the senatorial race arose from situations woven deep into 

 the history of the state. In 1920 Ladd defeated Senator Albert J. Gronna 

 for the Republican nomination. Gronna himself was a progressive of the 

 Roosevelt variety and also an enemy of Alex McKenzie, a state political 

 boss of many years' standing. Both Gronna supporters and League insur- 

 gents attributed the Ladd triumph to a political deal whereby the League 

 would not put up a candidate against Porter J. McCumber, who was 

 coming up for re-election in 1922. 



But when 1922 came around, strong League elements, opposed to the 

 political deal made by Townley with McKenzie, who had since died, put 

 up Lynn Frazier "with a whoop." McCumber, besides being faced with 

 the League candidate, had other hurdles to jump. There were the familiar 

 low wheat prices and hard times. Then, too, McCumber suffered from 

 the fact that he had been in office for a long time. "His long residence 

 in Washington had made him a comparative stranger at home. The 

 farmers accused him of having acquired the Eastern viewpoint and were 

 not impressed by the report of the greatness of the national position. 



13. M. M. Hedges, "The Liberal Sweep in the West," The Nation, CXV (No- 

 vember 22, 1922), p. 54. 



