The Story Of The Nonpartisan League

"One night in October, 1919, and I think it was the 19th of the month, five farmers dined at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. It was a good enough place, rather noted for moderate prices and a varied menu, which was why the farmers chose it. They ordered, with design, a dinner of staple viands, and, as it came to the table, measured or weighed or closely estimated each dish; so much of bread, so much of potatoes, so much of butter, so much of meat, so much of sugar, and thus to the end.

"With paper and pencil they recorded each amount and, at current prices at the farm, the net sum the producer received for each dish they consumed. When all was done, they called for their bill. It was $11.95, exclusive of gratuities.

"They made a total of all the items they had entered as they went along, showing what the producer had netted from this. It was 84 cents."

That’s how Charles E. Russell begins his book “The Story Of The Nonpartisan League,” published in 1920 when the League was still in control of North Dakota Government. I’m not going to give you a history of the Nonpartisan League here. There are a number of books on the NPL, the most important of which, I think, is Robert Morlan’s Political Prairie Fire, published in 1955, and reissued in 1985 with an excellent introduction by my old friend, the late Larry Remele. Another old friend, Ardell Tharaldson, thinks it should be required reading for graduation from a North Dakota high school. I think he’s right.

But I’m quoting today from Russell’s book because it has just been reprinted, along with a couple others of his, by a company called Nabu Press, and so you can buy it from Amazon for 25 bucks. Or you can buy the original 1920 hardcover on ABE.com for about the same price. I have a good copy of the 1920 first edition and that’s what I’m quoting from.

Russell, incidentally, is a cool guy. He was a socialist, muckraking journalist in the last part of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th. He joined the Socialist Party of America in 1908, he was one of 5 co-founders of the NAACP in 1909, he ran unsuccessfully for governor and senator from New York and mayor of New York City, he wrote at various times for daily newspapers in Minneapolis, New York, Chicago and Detroit, and he wrote 15 books, one of which, “The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas” won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1927.

Much maligned by politicians for his style of journalism, he once wrote, in response, “The best way to abolish the muckraker is to abolish the muck.”

But I digress. Russell spent part of a year here, during the heyday of the League, and his book lays out the case of the farmers of North Dakota and what he called the Middle Northwest that led to the formation and success of the League. I want to share two more passages from the book for you, and then recommend you get it and read it. Because it is one of the best things ever written about North Dakota. The first is part of a speech given in 1917 by League President A.C. Townley in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“Let me try to make plainer still to you the reason for the injustice in our industrial life. This war (World War I) will cost America maybe thirty, forty billions of dollars. It is very difficult to raise so many billions of dollars. It entails tremendous sacrifices on us all, a sacrifice that we shall not shirk. Those billions will be spent by this government to win the war for Liberty and Democracy. Part of it will be spent for guns, part for ships, part of it for coal, clothing, shoes, leather. A part of it will be paid to those that are making millions of profit out of the war to-day.

“But a soldier boy cannot carry a gun unless there is bread in his stomach. A soldier boy cannot dig a trench unless he has a strong body made by bread.

“And some of those billions of dollars have to be spent to pay the farmers for the wheat to make the bread. Now we have been calling for government control of prices. And we got them all right. But in our clamor for government control we overlooked the better tool.

“We forgot, or neglected to see, that the representatives of the profiteers were too large a part of our government, and so we got the government control too largely on behalf of the profiteers. They are to-day influencing this government in too large a measure. Else they would not fix a price on coal twice what it was before the war; else they would not be so long reducing the price of bread after they have reduced the price of wheat.”

Townley and other Leaguers were relentless with that message in 1917 and 1918, and in the 1918 election, the League won complete control of North Dakota government, including the newly-created Industrial Commission to oversee the beginning of the about-to-be created state industries (Governor, Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor), and both houses of the North Dakota Legislature. And in the 1919 Legislature, they passed their program into law. And later that year, opponents of the League secured a referendum election, at which seven of the measures passed by that Legislature were put to the test of a popular vote. Here is Russell’s analysis of why the issues to be voted on were being referred.

"1. The Bank of North Dakota threatened the huge profits of money-lenders, in which the entire banking system of the Northwest, including the overshadowing financial institutions of Minneapolis and St. Paul, had shared for a generation. These financial institutions were directly connected with the powerful banks, insurance and trust companies of Wall Street, whose influence on national affairs has been solemnly attested by a committee of Congress.

"2. The railroad rate bill directly menaced the most powerful railroad companies of the United States; companies accustomed for many years to unquestioned political domination in the Northwest, companies also directly linked with the great packing-house combinations, the greatest banks in Chicago and New York, and the Interests that were once called the arbiters of national destiny.

"3. The proposal that the state should own its elevators struck directly at the great and profitable business of handling grain, erected through so many years around the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. This naturally involved an assault upon the profits and prosperity of the Minneapolis banks, linked as before said to the greatest banks in the country; linked also to the great and not always apparent speculative Interests in the grain business that centered in the Chicago Board of Trade, involved the Armours and other packing Interests, and was linked once more to railroads, banks and insurance companies.

"4. The proposal that the state should build and operate flour mills was an ominous blow at the great flour-milling Interests of Minneapolis, the greatest of their kind, whose mills rolled forth a daily total of eighty thousand barrels of flour, and fed an appreciable part of the world.

"5. The Hail Insurance Act menaced the business and profits of the insurance companies linked with the banks that were linked with the railroads and linked with the controlling groups of Wall Street.

"6. The suggestion that the state might print and furnish its own school text-books was a menace to the business and profits of the school-book trust, linked as the other Interests and in the same way to the controlling groups.

"7. The laws instituting the State Income Tax, State Inheritance Tax, Work-men’s Compensation for Injuries, the strict inspection of mines, although not without precedent, undoubtedly aroused each its own element of opposition that was drawn now to the general assault. For it was felt in all these menaced quarters that if the League’s innovations should be sustained in North Dakota they would be adopted within a short time in other states, and no man might foresee how far the reform might go no what profound changes it might achieve."

Well. A state-owned bank. A state-owned mill and elevator. Worker's compensation. State hail insurance. You think we have big ideas today? We haven’t done anything to match this lineup since the day they were passed in 1919. Suppose they all went away with the demise of the League? Hah! Look around. State hail insurance disappeared in the 1930's when the federal government thought it was such a good idea they created federal hail insurance. You know the rest of the story.

As for Russell’s analysis? Remember, this was written in 1920, and he—and the League—believed these conspiracies and threats were real. And they probably were.

In the special election on June 26, 1919, the League prevailed on all seven measures.

Russell’s book closes with a recount of the great Scandinavian American Bank scandal, which ended in another League victory—this time in court. It was published before Lynn Frazier, William Lemke and John Hagan were re-elected in 1920 as governor, attorney general and commissioner of agriculture and labor, and before they were successfully recalled from office the following year.

There were four books written about the League in 1920, one by Herbert Gaston, who was editor of the League’s newspaper, the Leader; one by Oliver Thomason, about whom I know nothing; and one by William Langer himself. Gaston’s and Langer’s books have also been reprinted in paperback by Nabu Press. I can’t find a copy of Thomason’s anywhere. Ardell Tharaldson is the only person I now who has a Langer original. I haven’t read it. Gaston’s and Russell’s are fun to read because they were written in real time, during the League heyday. Morlan’s is still, however, the definitive history of the League from 1915-1921.

Surely the Nonpartisan League was one of the best ideas ever hatched in North Dakota. Oh, and by the way, someone has started a Facebook page for the League. Imagine that.

I'll Throw In A Roger Maris Baseball Card

M E M O R A N D U M

TO: Cory Fong, Adam Hamm, Kevin Cramer, Brian Kalk, Tony Clark, Doug Goehring, Bob Peterson, Kelly Schmidt

FROM: Wayne Stenehjem

CC: John Hoeven, Jack Dalrymple


Dear Republican Team Members,

Eighty years ago, someone with a warped sense of humor decided that the Secretary of State’s office should be here on the First Floor of the Capitol Building along with the offices of the Governor/Lieutenant Governor and the Attorney General. I guess they thought that maybe someday in the future the office would be important. Or maybe it was important back then. Or maybe they thought Ben Meier liked company (He was Secretary of State back then, wasn’t he?) and they wanted his office to be easily accessible.

Anyway, what’s happened is that the guy down the hall now is a royal pain in the butt, and he’s just 30 feet or so away from me, and he won’t leave me alone, no matter what I do or say. He’s over here almost every day looking for an opinion on something or other, trying to get me to take the blame whenever he screws up and has to make an unpopular decision. A couple of months ago, he lost some paperwork for a candidate running against Kevin Cramer and needed me to cover his butt by telling him to go ahead and put the guy on the ballot anyway. Never mind that this kid from Fargo, Voytek, I think his name is, didn’t really give a rat’s ass if he ran for Public Service Commission or not—he announced he would be a write-in candidate against Al for Secretary of State just a couple of days after he learned that Al had left him off the ballot for PSC, except he only announced it to 11 of his friends, apparently, because he only got 12 votes in the whole state.

So I told him to just put the kid on the ballot, and he did, (saying I said it was okay) and those darn Democratic-NPL Legislators jumped right in and asked me to issue a formal opinion. Well, I shopped it around among my assistants trying to get one of them to write an opinion that agreed with me, and they all said they just couldn’t do that because the law was pretty clear that he shouldn’t be on the ballot, and as a result I got a bunch of political heat I really didn’t need. And our buddy Al down here just smiles and says “Wayne told me to do it.”

Then there was that deal with the other Libertarians not getting on the ballot, and he’s got me in the middle of a lawsuit on that one. Seems like if he was willing to bend the rules when HE screwed up, he should bend the rules when THEY screw up too. Ah, but it’s easier for him to just send it down the hall to me and let me spend a bunch of state dollars in a long drawn-out lawsuit.

Well, I finally got smart after that one and I put one of our college interns on sentry duty outside my office, and kept him away most of the summer, but then school got ready to start, and the intern went away, and sure enough, Al snuck in the back door again this week asking for help on this petition signature thing. Yep, he had told the papers earlier this week that he was going to ask me to help him decide if those petitions should be declared valid. But I could see this one coming. He wanted me to say yes or no, so he could tell the papers again “Wayne told me to do it.”

Well, I decided I’d had enough and just told him to go read the law himself. He’s a big boy. AND KEEP MY NAME OUT OF IT!

And so today he told Wal-Mart and Walgreen and Tammy Wal-bach they won’t need to spend any money this fall on a ballot measure campaign. And guess what—for once he didn’t blame me!

But it is just a matter of time before he comes traipsing down the hall again with another screwup, and so and I’m looking for help. I’m thinking if I could just get him off the First Floor, where it’s not so convenient for him to come running over here, maybe I can put a stop to this. And so, I’m asking you, my faithful Republican brethren and sister, to help me find a new home for Al somewhere else far, far away. Cory, you’ve got some space up there on 16, I think, which wouldn’t be bad, but maybe one of you knows of a spot somewhere off campus. We could do an office trade. I’d even throw in this old Roger Maris baseball card—1961 I think it is—it’s pretty old and has what looks like some old signature on it, and is probably worthless, but it would be a nice present for one of your kids or grandkids. Just take this guy off my hands!

If it wasn’t Republican blasphemy, I’d even ask you to send some money to this Mock kid who’s running against Al, just to help get him out of here. I can’t send any more or my name will show up on his report, and that just wouldn’t look good. Look, I’m offering perfectly good First Floor office space here. John and Jack agree. It would be just fine with them. Somebody step up and volunteer, okay?

Thanks.

Your Buddy, Wayne

$90 Million Plugs North Dakota Problem

For the record, I was born in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Both my parents were reared in the Devils Lake basin, in Ramsey County. My uncle and aunt and cousin still farm the home place just southwest of Edmore. So I am declaring a conflict of interest on the subject I will address today. What the heck.

I walked Grandpa Pete and Grandma Sophie’s farmstead a couple weeks ago. The crops don’t look so good. Ground is much too wet this year. My cousin says it is the worst crop year of his life, and he’s been farming about 30 years.

In past years, it was not uncommon to see a Ramsey County farmer standing beside his tractor on a section line road, a pump hooked up to his power takeoff, draining a field into the slough across the road. Not this year. No place to drain.

In past years, if you drove west of Devils Lake on Highway 19, you drove through the town of Minnewaukan before you turned west toward Esmond. Not this year. The new road skirts the north side of Minnewaukan, because part of the old road is now under Devils Lake.

But I remember years way long past, too, when much of Devils Lake was a dry cattail slough, where we hunted ducks when I was a young boy. 50 years ago, or so, the lake started its long, slow rise, with a few setbacks along the way, like in the drought years of the 1980’s and early 1990’s. A hundred years ago, and 50 years ago, and indeed during the 1980’s and 1990’s, people built homes and towns and farmsteads, some of them where they shouldn't have, that are now gone, or threatened, by that long, inexorable rise.

Some of it is natural. Some is exacerbated by those drainers. But it is important to remember that the lake was there first. Just 125 years ago, the steamboat Minnie H ran regular shuttles between the towns of Devils Lake and Minnewaukan. Historians say the lake started to drop in the mid-1880’s, ending those daily dockings in Minnewaukan, and remained low for about a hundred years. Now, the Minnie H could dock in Minnewaukan once again. You'd think we might have expected this.

I asked my cousin a couple weeks ago what could be done to help farmers like himself, or the people in the towns. He just shook his head, and said quietly that maybe we shouldn’t be spending all that government money trying to stop the lake.

This is all on my mind today because of a story I read in the paper this morning. The city of Fargo, which wants to build a Red River diversion channel around itself, to send what are becoming the annual spring floodwaters downstream to bother some other towns, is now nervous about water escaping from Devils Lake into the Sheyenne River (which flows into the Red River, Fargo’s current water supply source) because it may contain sulfates.

Sulfates. That’s the problem. Here’s a line from the AP story this morning:

“Water high in sulfates, including salts, can taste bitter and act as a laxative.”

Aha! Now we got a problem. Water that gives you the runs. According to the AP, Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker called the situation “very traumatic.” Well, I guess so. At least for some people. On the other hand, I’ve got a lot of friends in Fargo. A lot of them are my age. They might just welcome this development. Might just help them get their mornings off to a better start. Skip that early-morning walk, and throw away the Ex-Lax, Kevin, and Lee, and Jim, and Duane, and all the rest of you sixty-somethings, and just have a glass of water. Problem solved.

Well, Fargo and West Fargo officials have a solution. About $90 million in federal funds will treat that water and get rid of the problem, the AP story says they said at a meeting with Senator Kent Conrad Monday.

Oooohhh, I can just see the headlines in the national media now. “$90 Million Treatment Plant Plugs North Dakota Problem.” I can see the Ex Lax and drug store lobbyists getting behind that kind of appropriation—they have a lot of business at stake here.

Walaker, in today’s AP story: “Devils Lake is a real significant problem, and we sit here and argue about sulfates (read: laxatives). But the reality is that the city of Fargo would like some assistance.”

West Fargo Mayor Rich Mattern: “Today, as a city, we do have some concerns (like a huge strain on the city’s sanitary sewer system, maybe, Rich?) . . . These concerns are not insurmountable by any means.”

I’m sorry, Rich and Dennis, but I’m having a hard time keeping a straight face here. You’re both good guys, but $90 million will buy a lot of Kaopectate. Good luck with this one. Dorgan and Conrad are good guys, and they’re really good at getting federal money to solve North Dakota problems, but this one might just be more than they’re willing to tackle.

"He Is Already An American."

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who, from all I can tell, is generally not a wacko, has joined forces, or actually taken leadership of, a group of wackos who want to repeal parts of the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution, specifically Section 1, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States. Specifically, that section says, simply, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Graham is apparently trying to regain some conservative credibility after getting too cozy with Senator Byron Dorgan and other moderate Democrats, but he’s in bad company on this one, with the likes of Senator John Kyl, former Rep. Tom Tancredo, Rep. John Boehner, and Senate candidate Rand Paul.

This is a mean-spirited effort to gain political points in an election year by highlighting the illegal immigration issue once again. Repeal of the 14th amendment would deny citizenship to children born of illegal immigrants. And also those children born of legal immigrants. It’s been in the news lately and you’re going to hear more about it. This is the amendment given to us by President Abraham Lincoln and a Republican Congress to guarantee everyone equal protection under the law. This was one of the reconstruction amendments which abolished slavery and then prevented states from passing their own laws regarding slavery and equal protection. These people, Republicans all, do not deserve to be part of the Party of Lincoln.

I wish these people had known my mother. And two friends of hers, Adolf Schmidt and his wife Leni.

Adolf and Leni (pronounced Laney) emigrated from Germany to Hettinger, North Dakota, in the years after World War II. Adolf had a cousin who ran a café in Hettinger, and they came here, with their pre-school age daughter, Elke, to work in that café. Adolf was a trained chef, and he cooked while Leni waited on tables. Through hard work and good fortune, they were able to buy that restaurant from Adolf’s cousin. They worked 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, and in their little spare time they learned English and studied for their U.S. citizenship test.

After a few years, Leni became pregnant. She worked right up until it was time to have her baby, and then was whisked off to the brand new Hettinger Community Memorial Hospital, the finest medical facility she had ever seen. She gave birth to a son, which she and Adolf had agreed to name Kent. Adolf stayed behind at the café that day, and at closing time, he trotted up the hill to that hospital as fast as his short, fat little German legs would take him.

He found Leni propped up in her hospital bed. She looked up at him and said, in her still-broken English “Adolf, we have a son. His name is Kent.” And then, her face beaming in joy and wonderment, she said “And guess what? He is already an American.”

My mother was the o.b. nurse on duty at the hospital that night, and she was standing at Leni’s bedside when Adolf came in. She loved to tell that story. She called it “the miracle of America.” She said that, as important as that son was to Leni and Adolf, equally important was the fact that their son was a United States citizen. By birth. Adolf and Leni could imagine nothing more wonderful, more important, than being a United States citizen. And they could only marvel that despite the fact they were not yet United States citizens, because of that wonderful document called the United States Constitution, their son was. Their son was an American.

My mother had many fond memories of her 40-plus years in nursing, but none more wonderful than that one.

Adolf and Leni and Elke eventually became naturalized citizens. Adolf and Leni ran the café until they sold it and retired. Kent was a citizen from the moment he took his first breath. He moved away when he grew up. I hope he lives in a state whose Senators and Congressman will oppose this effort. If not, I hope he calls them and tells them his story.

“He is already an American.” Surely some of the best words ever spoken in North Dakota.

Making Burritos in Fleischkuekle Country

So you’re asking “What’s up with Gary Emineth?” Me too. HIS story is he’s going into the burrito business and doesn’t have time to be the Republican State Chairman any more. But he has time to campaign for Republican National Chairman. And he’s caught the eye of some (conservative) national media.

The Washington Times reported “With Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele facing a barrage of calls to resign, North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth, a social conservative, told The Washington Times on Friday he is quitting his post to prepare a possible challenge of Mr. Steele after November's midterm elections.”

So which is it, Gary? Burritos or the National Chairmanship? Something doesn’t smell right. Seems to me that Emineth’s chances of being National Republican Chairman would be enhanced if he could claim that his party back home claimed the U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats held by Senator Byron Dorgan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy, if that should come to pass, or at least got close enough to scare the North Dakota Democrats (more likely).

No, my guess is that Emineth got on the wrong side of Rick Berg after Berg’s campaign used a party list prior to his endorsement. Remember this story from the AP:

“Republican U.S. House candidate Rick Berg improperly used a closely guarded e-mail list of GOP supporters to promote himself over GOP rivals in a contest to unseat Democrat Earl Pomeroy, the state party chairman says. Gary Emineth said he was convinced that the state lawmaker's campaign used the list, which is off limits to candidates during party endorsement campaigns. Emineth said e-mails were received by people whose addresses he personally "salted" within the list as a way to spot misuse.”

Berg had to end up firing his campaign manager, who had previously worked for the State GOP and had apparently brought the party’s e-mail list with him to the Berg campaign. Complete with Emineth’s additions (His dog? His cat? His mother-in-law’s second cousin once removed?).

Berg was contrite. It was just days before the state Republican convention when Emineth dumped on him. Likely it was just days AFTER the state Republican convention when Berg told Emineth to take a hike.

Berg’s case is interesting, because the Republican party has a history of rejecting their own State Legislators who seek high office (witness David Nething and Gary Nelson). Of the current crop of Republican state officials (and there are a slug of them), only Wayne Stenehjem and Jack Dalrymple came directly from the Legislature, and Dalrymple was essentially picked by Hoeven, and then ratified by the convention. (Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark once served in the Legislature, but was an official in state government during the Ed Schafer administration before being elected. More on him in a minute.) So it might not have been so surprising to see Emineth dump on Berg right before the convention. He expected Kevin Cramer to be the U.S. House candidate, and thought he might even help Cramer along by involving Berg in a mini-scandal right before the delegates were about to choose.

But Berg fooled them. And now he has his revenge. Don’t underestimate this guy. He built a following in his two decades in the Legislature. He was elected Speaker of the House when he was just in his early 30’s, a position generally reserved for elder statesmen in the majority party. He then served as majority leader, and it was his legislative allies who organized their districts back home to get him the Republican nomination for Congress this year.

With John Hoeven moving into the “superstar” category (a la Dorgan, Conrad and Pomeroy), Berg is now titular head of the party.

So now you’re asking “What’s up with Tony Clark?” Me too. Actually, this one is a bit easier to figure.

First, Clark is a Rick Berg protégé. Rick helped him get elected to the Legislature back in the ‘90’s. Once Rick got rid of Emineth, Clark was his choice for interim party chairman (and giving Rick one more little slap at Clark’s fellow PSC’er Cramer). If things work out the way he and Rick have it figured—a Republican landslide in 2010--Clark’s going to be able to claim some credit for jumping into the breach, and his standing in the party is going to go way up. That’s important, because the GOP has a big bench, and Clark, if he wants to move on, needs to move nearer the head of that bench. He needs to break from the pack, and this is his chance. The pack includes Wayne Stenehjem, Jack Dalrymple, Kevin Cramer, Drew Wrigley, John Warford, Dennis Johnson, Brian Kalk, Adam Hamm, Corey Fong, David Sprynczynatyk, Connie Sprynczynatyk, and perhaps a legislator or two and a businessman or two. Did I leave anyone out? Remind me if I did, please.

So this is Tony Clark’s big move. He’s paying his dues, and he can afford to take a little heat from the Democrats and the media. That will be short-lived. But should Kent Conrad decide to retire in two years, as Byron Dorgan did this year (not likely, but Berg and Clark are gamblers), Clark becomes the odds-on favorite for that nomination. And then there’s the Governor’s office. If Hoeven wins the U.S. Senate seat this year as Berg and Clark expect, Jack Dalrymple gets a two year free ride as Governor, but don’t expect him to go unchallenged in 2012. Somebody on that list, probably more than one of them, will go after him.

Meanwhile, Emineth’s in the burrito kitchen. What’s up with that? This is fleischkuekle country.

Footnote: I got a fundraising letter from Rick this week. I was actually kind of excited about it, because on the envelope were pictures of President Obama, House Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Pomeroy, which made me think “Wow, this Rick Berg guy is a cool dude, to put pictures of three of my favorite politicians on the envelope he sent me. If he’s looking to get on my good side, this envelope is a good start.” Until I opened it and saw what he had to say about three of my favorite politicians on the inside. Problem was, in the letter he called me James, and in the 40 or so years we’ve known each other, he’s never called me James (a few other things, but not James). So I must have ended up on some mailing list that his campaign staff bought, where I’m listed as James. Because we’re kind of friends. It would be like me sending him a letter reading "Dear Richard." We’re both from Hettinger. I said earlier this year he was going to cause me a lot of heartburn on Election Day, because Hettinger has never had a Congressman, and I might be willing to be a little more loyal to my hometown than to my chosen political party. But then Kevin Carvell reminded me I was wrong—Hettinger had a three-term Congressman named Norton back in the early days of the 20th Century. So I’m off the hook. And if I have any extra money to send this year (also not likely), I’ll probably send it to the people on outside of the envelope.