Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-23
HARDING PLEASES
FARMERS MEETING
Presidents Program Accept
able to Moderates, Who Seem
Safely in Saddle
DELEGATES OF SOLID TYPE
BY CLINTON W. GILBERT
e,s Corr.srcpdsnt Evening Public Ledger


Copyright. io2P, Jy Pubic Ledger Compdnv
Washington, Jan. 23.--President
Harding, in his speech before the farm
conference today, held out the hope OF
easier borrowing faCilitrs Tor the
farmer, legislation that will promote
co. operative marketing ana IN" d'NcI-
opment of st. Lawrence waterway,
which will make the Great Lakes ports
ocean ports, 80 that the farmer VIII
have the advantages of cheap trahSpor-
tatlon by water.
This Is. in general what the more
moderate farmers want. Radicals Will
demand much more credit aid from tho
Government than il will be practical
TO supply. They will demand ais" Gov
ernment guarantee of prices for the
main farm products.
The issue in this conference is
whether the radical can stampede IN"
delegates into accepting an extreme
program. They are here in force to do
so. on the floor of the convention aud
in the lobbics. but the faces into which
President Harding looked from tho
platform whilu delivering his address
were not the stampcdablc kind.
Look Like Business Men
The convention looked for all the
worh like n Republican National Com
Nention, only not 50 large, The dirt
farmer, when he comes to town. can.
not be told from the small.t town banker
or manufacturer.
Those who sat in the hall were the
representatives Of the business vt agri-
culture This is the great change that
has taken place since the ninetieS, when
distress on the farms brought about the
great political Overturn which led to
populism and then to Bryanism. The
farmers. at least the more representa-
tive OF them. are solid business men
with the hard, practical sense of busi-
ness men,
This convention. It is safe to say.
will not be carried away by any wild
scheme to create abundant credit and
high prices as we're the farmers in 1896.
This change in agriculture and the or
ganization of the farmers and their
political effectiveness IN Washington
are two great factors in keeping the
farmers moderate In the coming cleo
tionS.
Farm Bureau Conservative
The Farm Bureau. the most power.
ful of the agricultural organizations, is
an essentially conservative body. Its
demand that the farmers be treated rs
class in legislation brings them into
conflict with the interests of other
classes. But either they will receive
special legislation or they will swing as
they did in the nineties away from the
Republican Party and over TO radical.
ism.
What President Harding suggests in
his address is moderate compromise
program; what the convention will ask
when it gets down to details will be n
somewhat more advanced program. bur
at the farthest, it will come far short
of radicalism.
Having powerful bloc in the House
and the Senate, formed largely OF con-
servatives, in some instances of in
tensely conservative legislators, tends
TO keep the farmer from going off the
reservation. He feels as he did not in
the nineties. that he is well rcprp .
sented, that his interests are in vigilant
hands.
4 practical view of the situation will
lead him TO work through the organiza-
tions which he has, the Farm Bureau
and the farm bloc. These bring him
much OF what he wants and IL will seem
wiser to take what he can surely get
than to go running after strange prom
ises which he may not obtain at all
That is the theory of calling this con
ference and it is undoubtedly the idea
which animHtes the delegates.
Believe in Parties
The conference is full of the clever
farmer politicians who are responsible
for solidifying the Senator's and Repre- =
sentativPs of their States into n ma =
chine for their better service in Con =
gress. They believe in the machine
t.ey have created. They believe in
working through it within the parties.
rather than in going outside the parties
after a radical program.
The depression on the farms has not
lasted long enough, in view of this
organization, TO lead the farmers into
such break from parties as occurred
in the nineties. The real test of the
present party system will not come In
the congressional elections next fall
though there will b. some breakln!
away nt that time. but in 1924 and
only then If the world situation has not
improved and If, in consequence, the
depression continues on the farms.