of speeches and visits to the Middle West and eastern Canada he set forth the work that had yet to be done if the war was to be won, and the immensity of the British effort. Having prolonged his stay far beyond the original three months, he returned to London on Nov. 12 1917, when he was created a viscount, as Visct. Northcliffe of St. Peter-in-Thanet, for his services.
In a letter dated Nov. 15 1917 he declined Mr. Lloyd George's offer of the post of Air Minister, on the ground that he was indisposed to enter an administration with the energy of which he was by no means satisfied. But on Feb. 13 1918, on the dis- tinct understanding that he was to remain free to criticise and suggest, he accepted the office of Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries. To pave the way for operations among the nationalities subject to the Habsburgs, he secured an agreement between the Yugoslavs and the Italian Government, which played an important part in the defeat of the Austrian army and was subsequently embodied, in substance, in the peace terms. The evidence of numerous German generals, statesmen and writers is that the skilful direction of his propaganda against Germany destroyed confidence in the German people and weak- ened the German army on the eve of its last offensive (July 15 1918), when it seemed on the verge of decisive success. Gen. Ludendorff himself says: "Lloyd George knew what he was doing when, after the close of the war, he gave Lord Northcliffe the thanks of England for the propaganda which he had carried out. Lord Northcliffe was a master of mass-suggestion." The deadliness of his propaganda lay in its veracity in emphasizing such facts as the rapid movement of United States troops to Europe, the failure of the U-boat campaign and, when the Allied victories began, the enormous captures of guns and prisoners. An account of this work was given in Sir Campbell Stuart's Secrets of Crewe House (1920).
At the Armistice Lord Northcliffe was ill, suffering from an adenoma of the thyroid gland, for which, in June 1919, he underwent a serious operation, and it was only after some months that he gradually made a complete recovery. During the Peace Conference his press and the Continental Daily Mail in particu- lar exerted a powerful influence on the British Government, extracting from Mr. Lloyd George a promise to fulfil his election pledges and striving to maintain the closest and most cordial relations with France. 1 In July 1921 he went for a prolonged tour of the world.
In golf and motoring Lord Northcliffe found his main relaxa- tions in later life, and he remained a keen and skilful fly-fisherman and salmon-angler. He was the author of volumes in the Badmin- ton series on Motoring and Tarpon Fishing, and he also published a collection of letters, telegrams and accounts of his visits to the various fronts (At the War, 1916), of which 60,000 copies were sold. Simple and direct in style, his own writing was always marked by pugnacity and humour. His Verdun despatch has indeed been praised as a model for war correspondents, and throughout his newspaper organizations he was accustomed to insist on economy of words and the employment of straight- forward Anglo-Saxon diction. It was his regular practice to issue the frankest reports on his various papers to their staffs, abun- dantly illustrating the far-reaching character of his initiative in suggestion, severity in criticism and warmth of appreciation.
(H. W. W.)
NORTH DAKOTA (see 19.779) had in 1920 a pop. of 645,680, as compared with 577,056 in 1910 and 319,146 in 1900, an increase in the latter decade of 68,624 or U'9%! in the earlier of 257,910 or 80-8%. The state remains essentially rural, as is indicated by the following table giving the pop. of the chief cities in 1920 and 1910, and the percentage of growth.
1 It may be noted that, shortly after President Wilson first arrived in Paris, Lord Northcliffe obtained from him a statement of his views, expressing inter alia a modification of his earlier attitude on the " freedom of the seas." Mr. C. H. Thompson, the American correspondent of the Associated Press, in his Peace Conference Day by Day (pp. 306-7), says that " this was one of those quiet but inesti- mable services which Lord Northcliffe rendered to his country and to the Prime Minister, who at that time was his close friend."
Pop. 1920
Pop. 1910
Increase Per cent
Fargo ....
21,961
14,331
53-2
Grand Forks
14,010
12,478
12-3
Minot ....
10,476
6,188
69-3
Bismarck
7,122
5,443
30-8
Jamestown .
6,627
4,358
52-1
Devils Lake .
5,HO
5,157
o-3*
Valley City .
4,862
4,606
05
Mandan
4,336
3,873
11-9
Williston
4J78
3,124
33-8
Dickinson
4,122
3,678
12-08
- Decrease.
Agriculture and Industries. The following table shows agricul- tural and industrial conditions:
1920
(estimated)
1910
Total farm acreage
30,000,000
28,426,650
Value of farm property
81,810,876,000
8974,814,205
Total value of all crops
$ 192,248,000 .
8180,630,520
Wheat, bus.
68,400,000
116,781,886
Oats, bus
59,640,000
65,886,702
Barley, bus.
22,680,000
26,365,758
Rye, bus
9,340,000
689,233
Corn, bus.
17,064,000
4,941, 152
Flax, bus
3,896,000
10,245,684
Potatoes, bus. .
7,110,000
5,551,430
Hay and forage, tons
2,946,000
3,010,401
Jan. I 1921
1910
Value of live stock on farms .
$99,876,000
8106,761,317
Horses ....
49,600,000
83,461,739
Cattle
42,251,000
I7,7",398
Swine . . . .
5,628,000
3,152,909
Mules
765,000
1,149,001
Sheep ....
1,632,000
1,257,737
Dairy products
30,000,000
4,872,304
Mill products .
25,600,000
11,685,116 (1909)
Mine products .
2,166,168
564,812 (1909)
No. of mine employees
1,268
903
No. of operators of mines .
136
53
No. of acres irrigated .
12,000
10,248 (1909)
Cost per acre ' . . .
82.50
$38.17
1 In 1920 this cost was for operation only; in 1910 it included the outlay for experiments and installation.
Education. A state normal school was opened at Minot in 1913 and another at Dickinson in 1918. The number of children of school age in 1920 was 204,887; the number enrolled in public schools in 1919 was 162,358; the average daily attendance, 156,495. The state appropriations for rural schools for the biennium 1909-11 were $225,000 and for the biennium 1919-21 $425,000.
Finance. A state budget system, effective in 1915, created a budget board with the duty of preparing a biennial statement of all state needs for the Legislature. This board consists of the governor, treasurer and auditor, and the chairmen of the appropriations com- mittees of the Senate and House. In 1919 a single tax commissioner replaced a board of three members. Important changes in taxa- tion were the exemption of farm improvements, the reclassification of property for assessment and the enactment of a classified and graduated income tax. The state bonded debt July I 1920 was $2,442,300. The receipts for the biennium ending June 30 1919 were $7,958,439 and the expenditures $6,499,849. For 1920 the income tax yielded approximately 8550,000. New sources for revenue created since 1911 are: the inheritance tax, capital stock tax, oil tax, income tax and motor-vehicle licence tax. The rate of levy for the state on the estimated true value of property in 1919 was in mills 1-07, and the per capita general property tax levy was $2.21. In 1920 22'7 % of the state tax was for education.
Government.' A state Board of Administration was created in 1919, consisting of the superintendent of public instruction and the commissioner of agriculture and labour as ex-officio members and of three members appointed by the governor for six years. This board, exercising the functions formerly vested in the state Board of Control, administers the state educational, penal and charitable institutions. The state Supreme Court was by- consti- tutional amendment increased to five members in 1908, and by a further amendment adopted in 1918 the power of the court to declare legislation unconstitutional was limited to cases in which four of the five judges concurred. In three of the six judicial dis- tricts there are three judges each and in three two judges each, all elected for four years. In 1914 by constitutional amendment the initiative and referendum were made applicable to all legislation and provision was made that a constitutional amendment could be initiated by popular vote. Further changes in the system of state government are described below.
History. The political and social history of North Dakota during the period 1911-21 attracted a good deal of outside
