On January 29, 1917, Governor Peter Norbeck received a letter of concern about the growing membership in the Non-Partison League in South Dakota.
The Non-Partison League was founded in North Dakota to elect officials, regardless of political party affiliation, as long as they opposed large corporations. Norbeck's friend B.B. Haugen sent the note saying, “the NPL crowd was coming down from the north like a swarm of grasshoppers.” Norbeck considered himself a progressive Republican. Although he had only been in office a few weeks, he sought to limit the Non-Partison Leagues' growing influence in the state, but the movement had grassroots strength.
The Non-Partisoin-League grew out of North Dakota’s political scene in early 1915. It was fueled primarily by a difficult farm economy and growing distrust that large corporations and out-of-state entities were keeping ag prices artificially low. The NPL platform united progressives, reformers, and radicals behind ideas ranging from improved state services and full suffrage for women, to state ownership of banks, mills and elevators, and insurance.
On the cusp of WWI, the North Dakota Historical Society called it, “a time period of political events that were exciting, experimental, complicated, daring, and sometimes corrupt.” As interest in the NPL grew both Democrats and Republicans sought the endorsement by the NPL in their campaigns for state office. The historical society documents that the NPL controlled North Dakota politics from 1916 to 1921 and remained an important factor for many more years.
Although this political movement was centered in North Dakota, its policies and political influence extended into South Dakota and Minnesota. NPL candidates held office in all three states, but by 1918, organizational infighting and corruption weakened the movement. At the same time, the impact of WWI increased the demand for U.S. farm commodities and the farm economy strengthened. It was another factor further eroding the political will of the NPL.
Remnants of the NPL could be seen in North Dakota politics into the mid-1960s, and still today, North Dakota has the only “state-owed” bank in the nation.
Production help is provided by Doctor Brad Tennant, Professor of History at Dakota Wesleyan University.