Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-07
PREPARING FOR CAMPAIGN WORK

independent voters turned out in good force on
! thursday evening to go over the preliminaries of
the fall campaign and to make preliminary ar
|rangements for the handling of the work from now
until the polls close on election day in November
The first step was obviously the selection Of an exc
cutive to take charge of the campaign
work, and the committee selected is composed Of
men who are recognized as diligent and effective
workers, and who arc committed definitely to the
hearty support OF the independent state and ma
|tional ticket.
The league has adopted and is following an in
tensive plan of campaign which has been highly
defective in the past and which is bound to bring
out the very maximum league strength. For two
months the league has had in the field in North
Dakota a small army of skilled and trained oxgan-
izers who have been conducting a vigorous house
toulouse and man-to-man campaign. The facts in
the case do not lend themselves we'll to the more
general methods of publicity. League manage
|1nent of state finances and state industries was so
VIGOROUSLY disastrous and disgraceful that argu-
|nents to"the public on the merits of the case are
utterly hopeless from the league standpoint. Quiet
|er methods of campaigning are the only Ones from
(which league managers can hope to obtain any re-
suits, and these methods are being carried to the
limit. -
1t would be a fatal error to assume that these
methods will produce no results. The men who are
now doing field work for the league have been care>
fully selected for their skill and effectiveness. Many
them have been imported from other states where
they had made wonderful records in membership
and other campaigns. They are experts in personal
appeal. They would be equally at home peddling
lightning rods, selling rheumatism ointment OF oil
stocks, or rounding up league memberships. They
live off the country, and the more people they sign
up the more money they make. They have a definite
personal interest in the success of their work. Their
bread and butter depends on it. When this Job is
done they will tackle something else, but in the
meantime they must make what they can get out of
it.
A campaign in which the workers have that kind
lot interest is bound to be. vigorously-prosecuted,
and when The organizer gets his prospect backed
into a corner, he has the advantage of being able to
make any statement which he believes will be ef-
~fective without the risk of being contradicted as a
public speaker would be if he made a: glaring mis-
A campaign of that kind gets members
and it gets votes. ~
A campaign of like character by the independ-
ents is out of the question. Men cannot be sent out
into the field to round up Independent voters and
Ito collect $3.50 each from them as they go along.
To pay salaries to a stuff icicnt number of men to
cover the state as the league is covering it would
require a campaign fund such as has never been
raised in this state, and which there is not the re-
hottest possibility of raising now.
The situation then resolves itself into one in
which it is imperative that every citizen who is con
ton of the independent candidates must volunteer
to convey his convictions to his ncighbor, to the
end that the success which there is every reason to
expect be not frittered away through negligence and
over-conhdence. The facts are with the independ-
|ents. Theirs is the prospect Of success. But for
that prospect to be realized, individuals must be
prepared to make some personal sacrifices, and must
assume some share of personal responsibility for
the protection of the interests of their state.