The story of the Nonpartisan League

by Charles Edward Russell

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

332 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1975

About the author

Charles Edward Russell grew up on the shores of the Mississippi River during the days of lumber rafting. Best known as a journalist during the muckraking era for his exposés on the beef and tobacco trusts, Russell was also a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

Reviews

[Ray Heinonen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1920, The Story Of The Nonpartisan League explains how and why farmers in North Dakota battled to change the corrupt economic conditions which prevented them from being fairly paid for their crops. The book was written shortly after the electoral victories in which these citizens took control of their state government. Policies implemented by The Nonpartisan League stopped unfair business practices by the railroads, the grain elevators, the milling companies, and the banks. This struggle was fought for many years before the people who formed the Nonpartisan League achieved political success.

This book is worth reading because it lays out how unbridled business corruption robs people of their chances for success. The author constructs a clear picture of how these industries and their agents unscrupulously extracted huge profits from consumers and producers alike. The farmers were paid too little for their crops, and the consumers paid too much for food. More importantly, it tells us how the businesses conspired to undermine democratic government in order to keep their system intact.

The book isn't an easy read. The language is dated: there were times I needed to search for word definitions and historical references. Also, there are tables with numerical data to puzzle over.

The most interesting parts are the descriptions of the unfair business practices. The historical political events drove my interest to complete the book.