THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



nearest approach to tyranny or coercion the 

 reporters seemed able to find. 



What were the laws enacted by this legis- 

 lature of farmers, come at last, after so many 

 struggles, into the complete control of the state? 



This question ought to be far more effec- 

 tive to show the real character and aims of 

 this movement than all possible assertions or 

 descriptions. If the movement was really 

 "anarchistic," on the one hand, or "absurdly 

 lunatic," on the other, the fact must be ap- 

 parent in the laws it passed when it had 

 attained to full power, and these laws we 

 should go on now to consider. 



I will first, if I may, summarize for you the 

 grievances of which the farmer had complained 

 so many years, the unjust conditions that, in 

 his convinced opinion, made farming an un- 

 profitable business. These were: 



1. The High Cost of Capital 



Extortionate money rates, impossible money 

 conditions, the consequent necessity of an in- 

 vestment beyond the producing power of the 

 country to sustain. 



2. Intolerable Market Conditions 



A. An unscientific and preposterous sys- 

 tem of grain-grading, by which the buyer of 



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