THE BALLOT-BOX AS A JOKE 



president of the Great Northern and many 

 other railroad companies, political and com^ 

 mercial autocrat of the Northwest. 



But you are to notice as an important fact 

 that the farmers never acquiesced in these 

 conditions. As a rule they went to the polls 

 and voted their party ticket because that was 

 all they could do, but they never ceased to 

 protest against the intricate pilferings that 

 kept them poor and the political system that 

 kept them in bondage. If you do not like 

 the way things are going under the rule of 

 one party, hop across the street and vote for 

 the other, is the American's recipe for the 

 healing of the nation. The North Dakotans 

 tried that, and all that know them will admit 

 the eloquence of the fact. One year, utterly 

 wearied of the iniquities of the machine as 

 operated through the Republicans, they threw 

 off the yoke and elected as governor an excel- 

 lent, honest man who was running on the 

 Democratic ticket. But this good man, once 

 in office, found himself powerless to make even 

 a dent on the fortress of existing conditions. 

 The legislature commanded the situation and 

 the legislature, because of the careful atten- 

 tions of the local railroad attorneys, was of 

 the old type and ever faithful to the cor- 

 porations. 



Meanwhile ingenious minds never ceased 



to consider the farmer's lot and suggest 



101 



