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George Norris: Nebraska's Realistic Dreamer · Nebraska History Podcast

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The following episode features a historic article from the
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Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
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language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
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valuable insight into the past, may contend expressions or
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viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
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Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
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perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
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Welcome to the Nebraska History podcast.
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I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles
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written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
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Senator George Norris was a man deeply rooted in the rural
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values of small town America. As a congressman and Senator for
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Nebraska, he utilized his perspective to battle corporate
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monopolies and became one of the most effective legislators in
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American history. Today we explore his beliefs and
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character in this 1989 Nebraska History Magazine article titled
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George W Norris, A Reflective View written by Richard Lowett
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in his maiden speech to the Congress in March 19 O 4 Norris
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said. Quote.
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It is at the rural fireside that virtue, morality, and patriotism
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have reached their highest state.
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End Quote. While he never relinquished this
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view, neither did he in future years continually reiterated,
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and he rarely, if ever, cast aspirations upon urban
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Americans. Aside from obvious racist
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remarks about the Japanese, I do not recall any racist, ethnic or
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religious comments in the vast body of written material,
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letters, speeches, articles, etcetera, that I have reviewed.
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For a person who was an avid reader of the writings of the
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leading agnostic of the 19th century, Robert Ingersoll, and
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who never joined, let alone attended church, it is equally
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remarkable that most of his friends and neighbors in Beaver
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City and McCook, as well as citizens throughout Nebraska,
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never made much of this fact. Equally interesting is the fact
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that over the years some of America's leading clerics
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supported many of the stands that he took on major issues,
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though he received support and favorable attention from
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citizens throughout the country. Indeed, his correspondence files
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probably included more letters from citizens outside Nebraska
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than from residents of the state.
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Norris was anything but an urbane, cosmopolitan member of
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Congress. His travels outside of the
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continental United States included brief trips to Europe
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and Hawaii while a member of the House and to the Panama Canal
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Zone early in his senatorial career.
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He simply did not take much satisfaction in congressional
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junkets or the Washington social scene.
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He preferred to spend his time with legislative business or
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relaxing with the people he knew best, his family and friends in
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McCook at his Wisconsin vacation home or at a reserve table in
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the Senate dining room where, munching on cheese sandwich and
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drinking a glass of milk, he discussed business with like
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minded colleagues. Yet, because he was comfortable
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and secure within himself, he could, without oratorical
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flourishes by speaking simply and directly, attract and
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influence audiences throughout the United States.
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In short, Norris was nothing more or less than a resident of
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Main Ave. in McCook. America, in many ways for him
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was merely McCook written large. His values and his perspective
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were cast and refracted through an angle of vision based in
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McCook and rural America. What was the scope of this angle
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of vision that determined how he looked at issues and functioned
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on the national scene? At the outset, it should be
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noted that economic and political ideas are neither pure
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abstractions nor fixed realities.
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They are conceptions held by individuals who seek in some
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degree to give them meaning in the world they see, experience,
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and comprehend. Basic to Norris's outlook was a
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rural, small town vision articulated in an America that,
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when he reached Washington in 19 O 3 was already increasingly an
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urban, industrial nation, one in which technology and bureaucracy
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were integrating, centralizing, and supposedly making more
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efficient all aspects of American life.
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As a result, rural Americans like Norris were being displaced
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or relegated to the economic fringes and social backwaters.
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The nation was modernizing, and rural America was responding
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more slowly than other sectors. This situation provides the
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backdrop for Norris's career. He early recognized that
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Nebraska farmers who had to rely on the railroad were, in effect,
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its victims. Everything they purchased had
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both profits and freight costs factored into the price.
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Everything they sold had freight rates and Commission charges
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deducted from what they received.
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And when railroad executives in Chicago or Minneapolis, in the
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name of efficiency, shut down branch or spur lines, rural
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Nebraskans were further isolated from the main currents of
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American life. Similar developments were
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evident on small town Main streets as some local merchants
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and businessmen were displaced or suffered severely from
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competition with huge retail establishments in Chicago and
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elsewhere, who, through mail order catalogs and a parcel post
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system, could provide customers in McCook with imitations of the
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latest styles at the same price or even cheaper than the Main
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St. merchant. And soon thereafter, many local
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businessmen would lose their independence and become managers
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or employees of chain stores or franchises whose basic decisions
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were usually made in distant urban centers.
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Norris, who before going to Congress served as a District
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Judge, also recognized that the same was true of the
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dispensation of justice. When litigation came under
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federal jurisdiction, individuals would have to
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travel, usually to Lincoln or Omaha, secure the services of a
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lawyer, and contest with a corporation whose high-priced
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and experienced attorneys could delay the case, making it
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exceedingly difficult for the small town litigant without
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costly legal talent to win. It was situations such as these
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that made Norris a progressive, suspicious of great wealth in
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the form of corporations and aware of inequities in the
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judicial system. He recognized, as did Theodore
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Roosevelt and others, that states rights and local or state
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governments could not easily rectify these problems.
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Though he was not happy about it, Norris quickly realized that
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only federal authority could regulate, curb, or modify the
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inequities he saw inflicted on his constituents in McCook and
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throughout Nebraska. And in the 1920s, when he came
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to fully understand the dimensions of what he called the
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power trust, huge private utility companies involved in
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regional or even national networks, he was willing to
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displace them with public power. Furthermore, he came to view a
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River Valley in terms of multi purpose usage to provide flood
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control, irrigation, electricity to rural customers, recreational
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opportunities, navigation and more, something no private
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company could provide. As he matured in public service,
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Norris came to realize that people throughout the United
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States were similar to those in McCook and Nebraska.
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To be sure, their problems and concerns were not always
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similar. But all too often, in matters
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that came to his attention, people were being oppressed by
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forces, usually huge corporate enterprises, over which they
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could exert no control. And all too often they were
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victims of programs and policies which enriched A favored few at
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the expense of many, which provided in many instances
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inferior or inadequate services at exorbitant prices, and which
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exploited customers and employees in ways that shocked
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and at times angered him. He was shocked and angered
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because these practices were making a mockery of the values
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he cherished along with his neighbors and McCook and the
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surrounding countryside. These were traditional 19th
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century American values, the desirability of individualism,
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private enterprise, the work ethic, and local responsibility.
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As a Progressive member of Congress, he was willing to
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muster the power of government to assist the victims of this
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rampant corporate system. To the extent that he was
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successful, he believed he was helping to preserve the
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traditional small town, rural values he cherished.
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To be sure, not everyone agreed with Norris.
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Not everyone in McCook agreed with him.
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Harry D Strunk and the Daily Gazette opposed him.
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His secretary, Ray Mccarl, walked out on him in 1918 in the
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midst of a critical campaign for election to a second term in the
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United States Senate. And John Cordial, another close
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friend in McCook, broke with him over both personal and political
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issues. And there were others.
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Nevertheless, most residents of McCook, NE and of the United
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States, even when they disagreed with some of his views,
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respected and admired his integrity, his courage, his
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candor and taking unpopular stance on critical issues, and
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his refusal to back down from service to his constituents.
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George W Norris became famous for the battles he lost, but he
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lived to see most of his causes prevail, and throughout his
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career he never lost his sense of place and responsibility to
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the community and the state, whose citizens from 19-O2 until
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the election of 1942 sent him to serve in the nation's capital.
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When the voters would have no more of him, he returned to his
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home on Main Ave. to live out his remaining days.
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Agriculture, of course, was central to the well-being of his
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constituents. In farming, as in other western
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business endeavors, physical labor and reward were often
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separated but never quite divorced.
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Norris recognized that as agriculture became
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commercialized, it became more directly tied to the non farm
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economy and to foreign trade. It became more dependent on
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situations and events occurring beyond the borders of the old
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5th Congressional District and the State of Nebraska.
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Farmers, with no control over the weather and little control
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over their costs or returns, fell under the sway of national
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and world economies. By the 1920's.
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The plight of Nebraska farmers after years of war induced
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prosperity became increasingly desperate as the dilemma of
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overproduction stimulated by improved technology and
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relatively easy access to credit combined with declining prices.
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Norris, increasingly depressed by the economic predicament of
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his constituents in the 1920s, sought ways to further develop
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both urban and overseas markets, but he never could convince
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either his colleagues or the Republican administrations of
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the validity of his views. Ever the realist, he recognized
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the necessity of compromise in the political marketplace and
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supported measures he knew could not fully resolve the farmer's
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dilemma. By the 1930s, along with most
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rural leaders, he was willing to accept production controls and
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mild inflationary measures to provide some relief to desperate
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farmers, a handful of whom in Nebraska were turning to
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communism in the hope of ameliorating their lot.
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Norris understood that both here and abroad, communism attracted
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miserable, oppressed individuals not because of any ideological
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conviction, but because governments seemingly ignored
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their problems and in too many instances endorsed or favored
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policies such as the tariff and lenient taxation that benefited
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individuals and corporations already well off.
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Like Louis D Brandeis, who appointment to the Supreme Court
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he endorsed one of two Republican senators to do so,
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Norris was concerned about the virtues and vices of size.
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Family farms and small business units comparable to those on
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Main Ave. were normal and most satisfactory to Norris.
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But by the 1930s, with the creation of the TVA, the
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Tri-county, and other Nebraska public power systems, all
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headquartered in the regions they served, as well as the
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unicameral Legislature, Norris had become more concerned with
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administrative processes that sought rationality and efficient
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service rather than with punitive actions that
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characterized some of his earlier responses to economic
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injustices. Norris was always less concerned
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with punishment than with making the system work more
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effectively, be it in the economic realm or in the
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political arena. In the House of Representatives,
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by transferring some of the speaker's authority to other
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committees and to the House itself.
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In the Congress and the presidency, by eliminating the
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lame duck session and by inaugurating the new president
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at the same time the new Congress convened, and in
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Nebraska, through a unicameral legislature.
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Ending privilege in government was essential if the legislature
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was to accurately reflect the hopes and aspirations of
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American people. It was this same concern about
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the vices of bigness and the virtues of community and family
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farms that led Norris to strongly opposed, until the
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barbarism of rampant fascism in the 1930s, what he considered
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dangerous ventures in the field of foreign policy.
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Ventures that benefited the few at the expense of the many, that
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benefited corporate America while disrupting communities and
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breaking up cohesive families. Given his angle of vision in
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opposing these overseas ventures, he in no way saw
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national security threatened. It took courage to oppose
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America's entrance into World War 1.
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Yet he didn't hesitate, even though at the time he thought it
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might be the end of his political career.
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While he came reluctantly to support American foreign policy
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in the late 1930s, he never could bring himself to vote for
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the draft, and he was terribly distressed at the disruption it
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brought to farm families before effective guidelines were
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defined. After his defeat in the 1942
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elections. Until his election in 19 O2,
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Nebraska's old 5th Congressional District had little political
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stability. Republicans, Populists, and
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Democrats vied with one another and formed coalitions that
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changed the representation at almost every election.
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Though a regular Republican in his early years of Congress,
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Norris quickly shed his partisanship and in his last two
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campaigns ran as an independent without any party label.
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Thanks to his independent stance, he lost by 1910 all
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political patronage and conducted his campaigns with a
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minimum of funds and little organizational support.
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Republican leaders either ignored him or, through the use
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of money and influence of selfish leadership as in 1930,
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actively sought his defeat. But his constituents, sometimes,
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as in their early campaigns, by a slim majority, never, with the
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exception of his last campaign where extenuating circumstances
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prevailed, never let him down by speaking directly to the people
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on main avenues throughout Nebraska.
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Norris was continuously reelected from 19-O2 through his
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1936 campaign for a fifth term in the United States Senate.
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That speaks well for the Nebraska electorate and
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indicates, I think, that he reflected the virtues and values
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of his rural small town constituency.
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Norris usually carried Douglas County, though he never
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seriously campaigned in Omaha, NE's only metropolitan area.
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He usually delivered one or possibly 2 speeches there, but
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never walked its streets, stayed in its hotels, chatted with
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local citizens, or visited its editors, as he did in most
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Nebraska communities during a re election campaign.
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Expounding the virtues and values that prevailed in McCook
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and in rural Nebraska, Norris enjoyed one of the outstanding
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public careers in our political history.
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An individual with roots deep in 19th century America, he left a
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remarkable stamp upon the America of the first half of the
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20th century. Few legislators, if any, in our
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history can match his record of achievement, and he did it
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largely through the force of his logic, though patience and
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reasoning in simple, direct language, convincing his
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constituents, his colleagues, and millions of Americans of the
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validity of his views. Though he belonged to no church,
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Norris espoused essentially 19th century Christian values, love
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for his fellow man, humility, sacrifice, and a sense of
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community. These values, beginning to wane
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as the 19th century came to an end, were self-evident in
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Norris's behavior as a public servant and as a private
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individual. For Norris, for most of his
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friends and neighbors in The Cook, and for many of his
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constituents and admirers, wealth did not replace work, and
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the mere possession of things did not sink one into a morass
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of materialism. His career can be seen as that
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of a realistic dreamer who continually sought to alleviate
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human suffering and inequalities.
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He sought to improve the lot of the average citizen by making
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government more effective and by providing individuals more
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opportunities to improve their lot in life, or at least to make
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it a little bit more comfortable.
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That he did not fully succeed should be taken for granted.
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That he accomplished as much as he did is truly remarkable.
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Indeed, it is to be doubted if any single member of Congress
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accomplished as much as George W Norris.
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Norris accepted the hope that the American Dream shared with
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all utopian promises, the hope of improvement, of unfolding
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opportunity for generation after generation.
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It was also part of the American Dream that this opportunity was
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to be available without significant interference by the
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state. It was to be created by
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individual efforts at self improvement and was predicated
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upon a belief in private property accompanied by strong
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community ties. Democracy for Norris, began at
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home, but by the turn of the century local autonomy had
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become the basis not of opportunity for all, but of
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privilege for some. As a progressive, Norris came to
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feel the federal authority as a means of enhancing democracy
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while at the same time preserving in a meaningful way
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aspects of local autonomy. In short, he believed in the
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benefits of active government in the public interest, but he also
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celebrated the free self reliant individual.
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In 1912, in a tribute to a deceased colleague and friend in
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the House of Representatives, Norris uttered the following
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remarks which I think can be applied equally well to him.
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He said, quote, his country was his idol, his conscience was his
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master, and humanity was his God.
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He never hesitated to defend what he believed to be right,
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and he is always denounced evil wherever he found it.
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End Quote. Thank you for listening to the
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Nebraska History Podcast. To learn more about Nebraska
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History Magazine, to listen to more podcasts, or to support our
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podcast by becoming a member of the Nebraska State Historical
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Society, go to history.nebraska.gov/podcast.
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And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and get notified
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Until next time, I'm Chris Goforth.