Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-06-10
NO PART or LEAGUE PROGRAM

2
Members Of the Nonparttsan league are urged to vot
for the ratification Of all the bills to BIO voted on at tn,
referendum election on the ground that faMl effect should
any OF those bills would be to defeat the entire program
What is the league program?
During the spring and summer Of 1916 what was de
scribed as the league program was quite conspicuousl,
and very definitely announced. It included the immedi
ate erection OF a state terminal elevator or elevators. stat,
hal insurance, farm loans. and one or two other items
with acceptance Of the policy of state flour mills. pack
ing plants, and so forth. as tho need might arise. and a
these should be demanded by the people.
This line of policy was made public in literature is
sued by the league management, and 1t was publicly ad'
vocated ON the platform by league speakers. League pol.
iticians were in control of the Republican state organiza
tion. and the Republican state platform Of that year wa,
prepared by them and adopted by their votes at the meet.
Ing Of the state committee. That platform gave express
sion to what was understood to be the plans and purposes
Of the league, and it was hailed by the league forces as q
s~tatesmanhke document. That platform was in substance
monty understood.
On the issues thus raised the candidates Of the league
were elected at the 1916 fall election, and the members
OF the legislature met, as was supposed, to give effect to
the plans which had been announced and the promises
made. At that session it developed that all but a few of
the inner circle had been mistaken as to what was really
the league program, and the faithful were informed that
the program was not simply, the enactment of the specific
legislation which had been under discussion, but a re-
modelling of the entire state constitution so as to make
possible, on the spur Of the moment, such socalistic leg
lation as might be proposed from time to time by the
league management. The enlarged program was given
form in House Bill A, which failed Of passage.
Then came the campaign Of 1913, which conferred
aro' nd the several proposed constitutional amendments
submitted, the whole purpose of which was to facilitate
the future amendment of the constitution, and to remove
every obstacle from the Inauguration and operation by
sire to engage at any time. These amendments were ap-
proved by a majority of the persons voting thereon, and.
under a ruling Of the supreme court, became incorporated
in the state constitution.
This was the last expression given by the people of
their attitude on anything that could be construed as the
program of the Nonpartisan league. There had been a
material enlargement Of the original program by the ad-
dltion to that program of radical amendments to the state
constitution. But neither expressly nor by implication.
neither on the official ballot, in the newspapers of the
state or from the public platform, was there placed be-
fore the people, within or without the league, any sub
stantial addition to the original league program as ex.
banded by House Bill "A, and that program, SO expanded
did not refer in the remotest way to the subject matter
u IAe UA1s Ou WHICH n TcIcISuQum mas Oeen demanded
Until the legislative session of 1919 no mention was
made of an industrial ommision with supreme powe,
vested in the governor; of a one-man tax commission
with the commissioner accountable only to the governor
and by him. removable at will; of the placing of absolute
control over all the public funds of the state and its sub.
divisions in the hands of the industrial commission, and
through it in the governor; of the right to condemn the
property Of one citizen for the use of another, as in the
home building bill; of the creation Of a newspaper mo-
nopoly the purpose Of which il to place In the hands of one
pr 'lcal element control of the entire publicity of the
state; of costly and unnecessary additions to our judicial
system; or Of imposing on the state superintendent OF
public instruction a share Of responsibility for the man
agement of criminals and the insane, aain the education.
al administration bill.
Not one of these things was ever included in any
league program ever promulgated until the late session
of the legislature. And yet members of the league are
being told that if they do not swallow entire this mess
Of hash, and act as if they liked It, they are traitors to
the cause. H..
1t is a peculiar cause that can be veied at will every
time the man In charge of it gets a crouch.