THE ORGANIZATION OF RURAL INTERESTS 563 



farmer has saved, under the present State management, from 

 $800 to $1,000. 



THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 



The National Nonpartisan League, or some other organization 

 embodying the ideas that are its basis, will control the United 

 States. There is no way to stop it, for the simple reason that 

 people cannot be prevented from thinking. As people think 

 they see the justice of the thing and what it means to them- 

 selves. As they see that, they adopt it. The war is making 

 people think faster than ever. If public ownership and control 

 is good for a nation at war, it is good for a nation at peace. The 

 people see that public ownership of public necessities is an 

 absolute requirement of a life scheme that will give each man 

 a chance to live healthfully, properly to educate his children, 

 and to have some of the little enjoyments of life. 



To that end the National Nonpartisan League will have can- 

 didates for State and national office in those States in which 

 organization has reached the point where the members want to 

 endorse candidates. Indications seem to point to the election 

 of from fifteen to twenty Congressmen this year. 



The most significant indication observed at the office of the Non- 

 partisan League at this time is the great interest in the movement 

 shown by the people in States in which the League has made no 

 effort to organize. In the national headquarters hundreds of let- 

 ters are received every day asking for information. These letters 

 do not all come from farmers. The fact is that the greater 

 part of them are now coming from industrial centers. The in- 

 dustrial worker sees that the league's plan for providing proper 

 marketing facilities will benefit him just as much as it does those 

 who produce the food. 



Experience has shown that little benefit for the common people 

 can be obtained except through control of political machinery. 

 Tliis principle applies to the national government just as it does 

 to State government. The national Congress has taken more 

 steps for the protection and interests of business enterprises 

 than it has for the protection and interests of the majority of 

 the people. This is due largely to the fact that business enter- 



