Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-26
E[V ERA IS SEEN
HNFARMERS' bloc
e.nate Group Advocating Agri-
cultural Measures Is Al
ready Powerful
MEMAcEs 2-PARTY SYSTEM
NJ CLINTON w. GILBERT
! r..-.snopdent Evening Public LEDGER

\ fopyioht. 1921, oD Ppo"c Hcope' oo'
w,.ht,eton. May 28.--In the United
s.,,ss Senate exists an organized group
4 Senator's from the agricultural
sss,es whose purpose Is to control leg
..,.,ion affecting the farmers.
Il Is not Republican. 1t is not Demo
ATTIC Virtually It is third party
s.r,rs caucuses of its own and not obey
~, the caucuses Of the two big parties
wbeu their decisions are not in agree
'acnt with its own. II does not call
,s,e,f by any name and for the lack Of
soy better it is referred to in language
lorrowed from foreign parliamentary
t,.,ory ms the Agrarian Bloc.
Senator William $. Kenyon. of Iowa,
/. its chairman. IL has committees on
ssr;o,,s legislative subjects I'm which II
n Interested. such as finance and tariff.
u was formally organized within tho
ia few days. IL is the first great group
mcyement in this country to show it.
IN III actual organized form in Con-
sress. A corresponding organization in
he House is In process. which will
have. " Is PNDttttu. lVV UitTlUtTb. Inc
sctual votes which the bloc will control
4 both houses exceeds its membership.
%r there are many Senators and Con-
srsssmcn who will vote with It on most
a lis proposals, but who will not bind
themselves to thorough agrarisn pro
gram.
To Improve Farmers Credit
II follows the example of the prohi-
htionists and Women Suffragists in
working within the parties rather than
a resorting to third party movement,
x the Populist farmers did. But It
soes farther than any similar movement
lor a specific purpose has in effecting
An actual organization of members of
he Senate and the House.
Its general purpose Is to obtain for
the farmer by means Of Government aid
What the farmer thinks he needs. At
present its two chief objects are credit
ior the farmers better adapted to the
conditions Of agricultural industry than
are loans from banks. and marketing
eonditions that will result in his obtain
Ing larger share of what the ultimate
consumer pays than he now receives.
Specifically IL wants n Federal Board,
Ike the Farm Loan Board. which lends
money borrowed by the Government to
farmers upon farm mortgages. created
10 loan money to the farmers upon
warehouse receipts for farm products.
The banks created to sc--c industries
In which the turnover is quick do not
adeQuately serve nm industry like that
Of farming. in which the turnover is
annual. They do not like long term
loans which are called in banking
circles too slow assets.
Cooperative Marketing
II makes no difference that the Re-
publican party is pledged to get the
Government out of business. The
Asrarian bloc plans to put the Govern
ment into the business of financing
farm operations. which will enable the
organized farmer to carry out his am
bilious plans for COT operative market
ing. These plans are ambitious. They
involve the retaining of Bernard NJ.
Barnch to direct, the financing of crop
holding and distribution CO. operative
y. They rest upon the Farm Bureau
movement which with Federal and State
aid at one end have gathered the farm
en into the most powerful and effective
Industrial organization ever brought to-
gether. The Agrarian bloc In Congress
VIII tend to become, If they arc not 40
already, the political representatives Of
the Farm Bureau.
Specifically again in the way of leg
station to change marketing conditions.
the Agrnrian bloc supports bills for
The control OF the packing industry and
for the regulation of grain exchanges.
And to make clear the legal pathway
for the great sales organization the or
sanized farmers contemplate, which will
rest upon Government financing of
crops held in warehouses. the Agrarian
lroup will support amendments to the
Antitrust Law in the interests OF the
farmers.
u was the Agrarian bloc that spoke
when President Harding indicated re-
Gently desire that American bankers
making foreign loans should attach the
condition that the proceeds of their
loans should be spent In this country
On the products OF American industry.
10 put it bluntly,' the American farm
ess do not want the foreigner to bor-
row money here and spend It on the
iarm products Of Argentine, Brazil or
.anada, where the rates of exchange
are slightly more favorable to him !;
mey want him to spend 1t here. This
vas an instance of Agrarian influence.
before the Senate organization be-
came FORMAL an example Of SIS success
was the securing of the passage Of an
emergency tariff bill on farm products.
lhe farmers have got their high tariff
rates as q class. They may be less
interested in what other seekers of high
protection obtain. The attitude nf SEN =
ator kenyon's group will be worth
watching. One indication that the Re.
pnpiicans in 1t may not vote az Ra-
puoncans, but as farmers, was Repre-
sentative Ioung'S voting with the Dem =
NraS IN committee against the Long
worm resolution to make rates in the
plicable.
The object Of the I.ongworth measure
W prevent dumping here in anticlpa e.
uoh OF high tariff rates. But rush
oi foreign goods here with such an cnd
wv stimulate the market for Amer
rNh iarm products abroad. Similarly
sne iact that the farmers have got Their
nish rates may influence their iudg
~ I,n. OF rates on other products. After
~ u the farmer Is TO sell abroad his
assomer abroad must be able to sell
e' Inc farmer free from party con
M NNUs aiters the aspect of much legisla
ne senate organization of Agrarians
ot profound political Significance. !,
m across party lines. There Is Ken.
XXI XXI IN one side of il and Barurh, prob
H. IN another. 1t springs from the
,bneency developing in recent years OF
vr Wv great parties to break up into
n,"uM: no,rl Here is the biggest and most
"uriul group represented In Congress
en owing in certain respects IN
theis INC. to it admittedly superior &c
sSa ai'egiance TO their parties. Out
ron @ OF Congress there IS the Irish
,stsp; no longer attached TO the Demo