4/17/2006:
On this day in 1933, the Governor of North Dakota sent out North Dakota National Guard troops to prevent an agency of the Federal government from carrying out its business in the state. Not surprisingly, the Feds were not pleased, and took some immediate countermeasures, striking back where it hurts—in the pocketbook. The Marines were not needed.
The governor? William Langer…deservedly known as “Wild Bill.” The Federal agency? The Seventh Federal Land Bank District of the Regional Agricultural Credit Corporation, based in Minneapolis. Caught in the scuffle were the North Dakota Guard, acting on orders from the Governor, and county sheriffs, acting on behalf of the Federal Land Bank. These guys had weapons, but fortunately both sides knew using guns was not going to help the situation.
The issue of course was foreclosure on farm mortgages. This was in the middle of the Great Depression. Many people were unable to make payments on their loans, so the lenders were attempting to cut their losses by taking back the farms and selling them to the highest bidder. Typically, the sales were conducted by a county sheriff on the steps of the county courthouse.
Governor Langer, who was a champion of the people, especially the downtrodden, declared a moratorium on foreclosures. The Federal Land Bank ignored the moratorium and scheduled sheriff’s sales anyway. On April 17th, Governor Langer took the bold step of sending guardsmen to halt sales in Jamestown, Fessenden and Lakota. All were Federal Land Bank foreclosures, and in each case when confronted by the Guard, county officials complied with the governor’s order and stopped the sale.
The action must have raised some eyebrows and dropped some jaws in Minneapolis and Washington. But the Governor’s hand was no match for the cards the Federal Land Bank was holding—namely millions of dollars in pending loans and disbursements to other North Dakota farmers.
In defending itself from its own citizens, the Federal Government’s response was swift and effective.
Within hours, on orders from Washington, the Federal Land Bank in Minneapolis stopped all payments to North Dakota. An official stated, “Our instructions are that no loans are to be made to North Dakota in view of the moratorium on debts by the governor of that state.”
Perhaps hoping the Federal Land Bank would back down, the governor then wired North Dakota’s congressional delegation in Washington, asking them “to investigate the source of the order and the identity of the Minneapolis official. He said he would withhold further comment until he hears from Washington.”
In the end, Langer maintained the moratorium, but exempted foreclosures by the federal government and its agencies.
Written by Russell Ford-Dunker
Sources:
“Guardsmen Ordered to Halt Two Sales Scheduled Monday,” The Bismarck Tribune, 17 April 1933, p.1.
“Government Orders Further Payments in State Stopped” The Bismarck Tribune, 17 April 1933, p.1.
Robinson, Elwyn B. History of North Dakota. University of Nebraska Press: 1966 p 405.