The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-11-15
GRAY SILVER
BIG FACTOR IN
FARM BLOC
Active In Securing 0f
Adequate Farming
Legislation

But not all of Mr.. Silver's work
in Washington is in connection
with legislation-not half. In
fact his early efforts along this
line were not fruitful Of much re-
suits. He was shunted off here
and side-tracked there as politici-
ans have a way of doing. and was
not taken very seriously anywhere.
He continued reporting back, how
even, to the farmers the positions
taken by their chosen representa-
tivcs on various measures. This
frequently made it embarrassing
for those representatives when
they went back home and Silver
had many backfres to fight which
they started. He had had enough
political experience, however, to
take all this philosophically and
he knows the kind of a game he IS
playing and plays it with very lit
tie hard feeling for anyone who
may be against him. Tomorrow
they may be with him.
But while he was not getting
much Legislation that the farmer
wanted, he was busy with the 9th
er, and larger part of his lob
which has to do with the admins
t%ration of laws. When the Depart
ment of Justice brought suit under
the Sherman antitrust law, for
instance, against the raisin grow
er3 cooperative marketing COM
pany of Central California, an
S. O. S. call came from the raisin
growers to see if the Farm Bureau
Federation could do something to
help them. Mr.. Silver went to see
Attorney General Palmer and eX-
blamed to him that the suit had
been brought right at the height OF
the harvest season and might re-
suit in actual loss of half the raisin
crop unless it could all be market
ed through the cooperative asso-
citation. 1t was then that the
compromise mentioned in last
months article on cooperative
marketing was made. Later the
Volstead act, another farm
bloc measure, was passed by Con-
gress legalizing cooperative mar
kctlng agencies and fixing definite
Government control over them.
1t was during the period when
the railroads were experiencing the
car shortage that Mr.. Silver went
to the Shipping Board and con-
WINGED them that they should put
bulkheads in the boats being built
on the lakes and bring them out
loaded with grain instead of
empty. This helped to relieve The
traffic Jam through the neck Of
the bottle between Chicago and
Buffalo. One evening wnen MI.
Silver was sitting in the Willard
Hotel, a stranger came up to him
and said, you helped the Ship
ping Board make money carrying
grain, why don't you help Us VINO
have lake boats tied up that we
would like to put into service.
Then he explained that the rail
roads charged 1873 cents rate on
gram from chicago 10 New OK
ana 10 cents of this was for car
rying it from Buffalo to New York.
The lake boats could not compete
with the 50 rate bringing grain
down the lakes. At first Silver
thought the mar must be wrong,
bu. he found out he was not and
the next day he went to e two
OF the Washington members OF
the Railway Executives Commit
tee. They SAID they could not
change the rate. Silver went back
to see them every day for several
days. In one Of his calls he drop
ped the remark that the farmers
had taken one referendum on gov
eminent ownership and had stood
against it, but that on another vote
, they might change their views. As
a result of his repeated calls, a
ch9nge was made in the division Of
this rate which further relieved the
car shortage.
(Contlnued tomorroW)