THE STORY OF THE NOXT ARTISAN LEAGUE 



Personal bills, log-rolling bills, bills drawn 

 for the purpose of making political deals and 

 helping particular candidates, "strike bilk" 

 levied against corporations to squeeze money 

 out of them, all had disappeared. 



It was one of the least expensive legislatures 

 that ever sat in North Dakota. At a time 

 when, because of the increase in the prices of 

 all supplies and of labor, an increase of ex- 

 penses might reasonably be expected, the cost 

 to the taxpayers of this legislature was fifty 

 thousand dollars less than the cost of the 

 legislature that preceded it. 



The proceedings were grave, decorous, 

 business-like, swift. It was the second North 

 Dakota legislature that was not dominated 

 by lawyers. The only other instance of the 

 kind was the Fifteenth, the immediate prede- 

 cessor of this, and likewise composed mostly 

 of League members in one house and largely 

 of League members in the other. Many of 

 the members of this legislature had never 

 sat in a public body before. It was a good 

 test of the all but universal belief in this 

 country that only lawyers can make toler- 

 able delegates. These men, unused to law- 

 making, transacted business more readily, 

 quickly, reasonably, and directly than any 

 legislature of lawyers the state had ever 

 known. They spared speech, but pushed 

 business. 



52 



