THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



Mr. James J. Hill was at that time the 

 president of or controlling factor in the Great 

 Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, 

 Burlington & Quincy, the Colorado Southern, 

 and other railroads, the greatest power in 

 Northwestern politics, member of one of the 

 great controlling groups in the nation's 

 finance, interested in banks, elevators, and 

 the maintenance of everything as it was, the 

 political boss (by reason of his railroad re- 

 sources) of six states, the man above all other 

 men that the farmer had to fight at the polls. 



Mr. E. P. Wells was one of the most promi- 

 nent and successful operators on the Minne- 

 apolis Chamber of Commerce, and president 

 of three institutions that for peculiar reasons 

 were obnoxious in the minds of the farmers. 

 These were the Russell-Miller Milling Com- 

 pany, which operated mills at Minneapolis 

 and elsewhere through the Northwest, the 

 Dickey Investment Company, and the Elec- 

 tric Steel Elevator, a terminal warehouse at 

 Minneapolis. 



Mr. Julius Barnes was a successful oper- 

 ator on the Duluth Board of Trade and had 

 much repute as a grain-exporter. 



On the advice of these gentlemen, not one 

 of whom was a resident of North Dakota, 

 the Board of Control reported that a state 

 elevator, twice voted for by the people, was 

 not necessary. 



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