The Nonpartisan League

In last week's post about the rocky birth of the Farmer-Labor Party in the summer of 1920, I made passing mention of one of the founding groups, the Nonpartisan League (NPL) and promised to expand on them today. Voici.

"Say It with the Ballot, Mr. Farmer" by William C. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Minneapolis, MN, June 7, 1920

Socialist Arthur C. Townley founded the Farmers Nonpartisan Organization League in 1915; the name was usually shortened to Nonpartisan League. The league rallied North Dakota farmers who resented being exploited by bankers and millers in Minneapolis and Chicago. Before long, chapters were established in surrounding states.

"Yes, and We've Seen Certain Interests..." by Wm. C. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls, MN, June 7, 1920

Their official newspaper, the Nonpartisan Leader, was originally published in Fargo, but had moved its offices to Minneapolis by the summer of 1920. Starting out as a weekly journal (biweekly after July 26, 1920), it featured editorial cartoons prominently, often on the front page and always scattered through the inside pages.

"Breaking Family Ties..." by Wm. C. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Fargo, ND, September 20, 1917

Starting in 1917, many of these were drawn by William C. Morris, cartoonist for the George Matthew Adams Service and New York Mail. Having come across several of Morris's pro-Republican syndicated cartoons, I was somewhat surprised to find he had drawn cartoons expressly for the Leader, given its strong socialist bent. (Perhaps he was related to Oliver S. Morris, its editor from December, 1916 onward, but I can't prove it either way.)

"Going Down" by Wm. C. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, St. Paul, MN, August 4, 1919

Cartoons Magazine reported on William Morris's career in August, 1916:

William C . Morris, who three years ago was doing cartoons for the Spokane Review, is rapidly making a name for himself in New York. His work in Harper's Weekly was attracting national attention at the time that historic magazine was approaching its finish. Since the demise of Harper's Mr. Morris has been publishing his cartoons in Puck and The Independent. Some of his full-page designs, satires on national and international events, show striking originality and boldness of conception.

"Then — And Now" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls, MN, November 15, 1920

By the way, the resemblance between Uncle Sam and many of these cartoon farmers is hardly coincidental. As we discussed a couple weeks ago, up until 1920 census, the U.S. population was majority rural. Giving Uncle Sam a farmer's features was only fitting.

"His Ten Commandments" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls., MN, July 12, 1920

Last week, I categorized the Republicans as being a conservative party controlled by big-money interests, and that was certainly true of the William McKinley, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Warren Harding wing of the party. Teddy Roosevelt, Bob LaFollette and Hiram Johnson were in the party's progressive wing, more favorable to government control over consumer product safety, environmental protection, and plutocratic excess.

"He Didn't Know It Had Teeth" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Fargo, ND, April 27, 1917

Then, as now, Republicans were dominant in North Dakota politics. Further to the left than the Progressives, The Nonpartisan League ran an insurgent campaign in 1916, successfully running its candidates in Republican primaries. League candidates won the governorship and control of the state legislature that year.

"The Clean Sweep in North Dakota" by John M. Baer in Nonpartisan Leader, Fargo, ND, November 9, 1916

They proceeded to establish state-run agricultural enterprises: the North Dakota Mill and Elevator, the Bank of North Dakota, and a state-owned railroad. The legislature passed a graduated state income tax which distinguished between earned and unearned income; authorized a state hail insurance fund, and established a workman's compensation fund that assessed employers. The League also set up a Home Building Association to aid people in financing and building houses.

"They Lied Living—Now Lie Dead" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls., MN, July 12, 1920

Conservative Republicans established the Independent Voters Association (IVA) in opposition to the Nonpartisan League; apparently, several of the journals they published to rival the Nonpartisan Leader were short-lived.

"The Third Cup" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls, MN, July 19, 1920

For this cartoon of North Dakota Governor Lynn Frazier, I have to wonder if Morris had in mind a 1912 Boardman Robinson cartoon of Teddy Roosevelt scolding a waiter about to serve "nomination" soup to incumbent President Taft, "Bring that over here. When I said I wouldn't take the third cup a little while ago, I only meant I wouldn't take it right on top of the other two."

The text accompanying Morris's cartoon reads, "North Dakota likes Lynn J. Frazier and the people's government, of which, he, as governor, is head. It has rewarded his faithfulness to the farmers' and workers' program with a third nomination, and in November will elect him to a third term, thus assuring administration of the 'New Day' program by one who believes in it."

"It Can't Be Done" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls., MN, July 19, 1920

Although Leader cartoons occasionally included caricatures of specific politicians who were for or against the League, the overwhelming majority of them relied on archetypal representations of farmers, bankers, and "old guard" politicians. Many exude a supreme confidence in the NPL agenda.

"Afraid of Fire" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls, MN, July 19, 1920

The damned souls in Morris's frying pan are labeled usurious banker, crooked politician, profiteer and food gambler.

"Never Too Late to Mend" by Wm. Morris in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls, MN, July 19, 1920

Many of the cartoons are accompanied by a paragraph of text, just in case the paper's readers might have missed the cartoonist's point. The explanatory note for the above cartoon read: "It's never too late to organize, but the sooner it is done, the sooner farmers of other states will have state-owned industries like North Dakota's, including flour mills, terminal elevators, a rural credits bank and marketing reforms."

"We've Carried You Just About Far Enough" by McCoy in Nonpartisan Leader, December 15, 1915

The Leader had a number of other regular cartoonists at various times, some very amateurish, but others such as this McCoy fellow showed some flair. Sadly, I have not dug up any background information on Mr. McCoy, who was no longer drawing for the Leader by the time it started including a "Drawn expressly for the Leader by [name]" credit line under its cartoons in 1918.

Uncaptioned cartoon by John M. Baer in Plumb Plan League Labor, by June 7, 1920

The cartoonist most closely associated with the Nonpartisan Leader was John M. Baer, who drew for the Leader from its first issue and for its affiliated daily Fargo Courier-News. 

"Fired" by John Baer on the cover of the first edition of Nonpartisan Leader, Fargo, ND, Sept. 23, 1915

The same issue of Cartoons Magazine I quoted above also reported on Baer's cartoon career:

J.M. Baer, cartoonist for Jim Jam Jems and for three years postmaster at Beach, N.D., has resigned his official position and will devote his entire time to cartooning. He has gone to Fargo to work for the Nonpartisan Leader, which is not only the largest paper in the state, but is owned by an organization of farmers. His cartoons on local politics have been very influential.

"Baer Is Running for Congress" by Bart O. Foss in St. Paul Daily News by July 5, 1917. Foss was another frequent contributor to the Nonpartisan Leader early on.

Baer was elected to Congress on the Nonpartisan League ticket in August, 1917 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Henry T. Helgesen (Republican). By this time, Cartoons Magazine reports that "His cartoons are appearing daily in Hearst's New York Journal and Chicago American," and that one had been commended in the Chicago Tribune. Baer stopped cartooning right after he took the new job (which may be why the Leader added Morris just then), but only very briefly.

"Gee! But It Is Lonesome Here..." by Congressman John Baer in Nonpartisan Leader, Fargo, ND, Sept. 6, 1917

After losing reelection to a second full term in 1920, He resumed his career as full-time cartoonist and journalist for the Nonpartisan Leader and Labor, the newspaper of the National Railroad Union's "Plumb Plan League."

"Won't Leave Him Alone" by John Baer in Nonpartisan Leader, Mpls, MN, October 17, 1921

The 1920's were not good to the Nonpartisan League. Falling commodities prices hit farmers and the North Dakota government programs set up to help them hard; the bankers so vilified by the Nonpartisan League were not particularly inclined to save the day.

"Hooray, We Won..." by Wm. C. Morris in National Leader, Mpls., MN, December 26, 1921

Along with the state Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture, Governor Frazier was  recalled from office in 1921, giving him the distinction of being one of only two U.S. Governors removed from office that way. (The other was Democrat Gray Davis of California, in 2003.) He would then, however, be elected Senator the next year, serving until 1941.

In November, 1921, NPL founder Arthur Townley exhausted his appeals to overturn a conviction for "conspiracy to discourage enlistments" during World War I and began serving a 90-day jail sentence.

"The Highest Court" by John Baer for National Leader, Minneapolis, MN., November 14, 1921

Meanwhile, the Nonpartisan Leader ran a front-page editorial warning that farmers who didn't pay their "dues" would not continue to receive the paper (not a good omen), then changed its name to The National Leader with the November 14, 1921 edition. That same year, the Fargo Forum reported that the Fargo Courier-News had suspended publication, a report vigorously denied by the Courier-News. Its publisher would end up selling off the Courier-News and suspending publication of the National Leader — publishing monthly since May, 1922 — with the July, 1923 edition. Townley and Baer were contributors to the Leader right up to the end; the last of Morris's Leader cartoons that I know of was in the September, 1922 issue.

"He's Workin' Aginst Us" by Wm. Morris in National Leader, Mpls, MN, September, 1922

The Nonpartisan League itself continued on, but became increasingly estranged from the state Republican Party. In the 1950's, its members merged with the Democratic Party of North Dakota, which officially remains the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party, ("D-NPL").