THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



The make-up of committees in the senate 

 is in the hands of its presiding oflScer, the 

 lieutenant-governor, and it was here that the 

 League managers discovered another of their 

 errors. Lieut.-Gov. A. T. Kraabel, who had 

 been indorsed by the League, made up the 

 committees against the League's program. 



When they could no longer avoid this fact, 

 furious protest arose from the League's lead- 

 ers. For these things there is never any rem- 

 edy in our system of government; they are 

 the still outstanding defects of democracy. 

 Mr. Kraabel afterward explained his change 

 of front on the ground that he had lost con- 

 fidence in the League's leaders, and particu- 

 larly in Townley. I set down the explana- 

 tion for what it may seem to the reader to be 

 worth. 



But the truth was, no matter what may 

 have been the motives at work, the chief 

 thing in the League's reforming regimen was 

 off for that session, and men of less iron in 

 their composition might have looked upon the 

 situation with disgust. The result of so much 

 hard labor, so many arguings, so much 

 thought and hope, seemed Uttle better than 

 nothing. Victory and the real power, in spite 

 of the election, remained where they had 

 always rested — with those that oppressed the 

 farmer. The election had been fought pri- 

 marily on the issue of the terminal elevator. 



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