card-carrying (1927)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

The OED3 draft entry for "card-carrying" has 1943 as the earliest cite.

A syndicated column by NEA Service writer Rodney Dutcher appeared in
several papers on October 22, 1927, including the Wisconsin Rapids Daily
Tribune, the Zanesville Signal, and the Decatur Daily Review.  All include
this paragraph:

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The dominant force in Sheridan county [Montana] is the United Farmers, a
secret agrarian organization which has also made headway in Washington
state, Minnesota and North Dakota. This group is organized both for
economic and political action. Its numbers and membership lists are kept
secret and when it endorses a candidate for office the fact is kept secret
so that if perchance it take a political licking the fact remains unknown.
Meanwhile it arranges with local merchants to give all card-carrying
members a discount when they come to town for purchases.
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--Ben Zimmer