Contributing to the General Fund
The 1940s were a time of prosperity in North Dakota. The war in Europe had caused farm prices to rise and farms and businesses were finally able to recover from the depression. The Bank was no longer in the farm loan business, but the prosperous economy meant that bank earnings were on the rise. The legislature soon began to find a use for the bank's profits.
The ability to transfer earnings from the bank to other funds meant that North Dakota was able to finance veterans' loans, highway construction projects, and student loans while keeping North Dakotan's tax burdens low. Since the first recorded transfer in 1949, more than $448,000,000 (448 million dollars) has been transferred to the general fund.
Through the 1950s, the Bank of North Dakota concentrated on providing banking services to local banks and on managing the investment of state revenues. As the bank became more profitable, revenue continued to be transferred from the Bank to the general fund becoming an increasingly important part of the state's financial base.
As the state-owned industries envisioned by the Non Partisan League matured into stable mature organizations, the League itself began to fade away. In 1943, conservative Republicans and Democrats joined with anti-Langer Leaguers to form the Republican Organizing Committee. The growing Farmers Union threw its support into the floundering Democratic Party, which, in time, was joined by the liberal elements of the Non-Partisan League. By 1960, the Democratic-NPL party was formed and the League ceased to exist as an independent organization.
Photographs from the collection of State Historical Society of North Dakota