The grand duke of the board of regents at this time was Judge N. C. Young, railroad attorney. Needless to say, Judge Young did not refrain from politics; on the contrary, he ran the Republican machine of the state—and incidentally never hesitated to denounce the liberals at his university. Judge Young’s assistant was Mr. Tracy Bangs, aggressive attorney for the Northern States Power Company and the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. Mr. Bangs defended in a murder case the son of a rich farmer, and got his client off on a plea of “self-defense,” despite the fact that the victim, a farm-hand, had been shot in the back. Thereupon, several hundred of Mr. Bangs’ fellow citizens, including many university professors, signed a petition to the grand jury, charging him with jury-bribing and demanding his indictment. One professor, A. J. Ladd, asked him to resign from the board of trustees while he was under this indictment. Mr. Bangs did not resign, but he bided his time, and as I write he is seeing to it that Professor A. J. Ladd is separated from the university! In 1915, when the Non-partisan League was started, the university “opposed it by nature”—so a former professor phrased it to me. One man, Professor Gillette, consented to speak at the first meeting of the league, and his life has been one long struggle with the reactionaries ever since. In 1917 President McVey resigned, and the board hastened to nominate his successor, before the Non-partisans got in and appointed Frederick C. Howe! They selected President Kane of the University of Washington—upon the reputation which he had made for himself by forgiving the crimes and accepting the chimes of the Seattle “Times.” A professor at North Dakota, who got to know President Kane very well, describes him to me in these words: “He has less sense of honor than any man I ever knew.” It was not long before he had proved his incapacity in North Dakota, and there was a storm of protest concerning him; by way of defending himself he set up the claim that the opposition was due to his refusal to appoint nominees of the Non-partisan League to posts as teachers. The statement was absurd on the face of it, because all nominations were made by the heads of departments; but it served to bring the support of the reactionaries. I am told on good authority that President Kane made a deal with the I. V. A.—“Independent Voters’ Association,” camouflage for big business—that he was to be retained and allowed to “swing the axe,” in return for his using the university influence against the Non-partisan League.