The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1922-08-10
"The Farm, Bureau
Movement"
A Striking Book Review
by
John L. Heston in the New York Eve
ming "World"
A Striking Book Revie~

Up in the Catskills a young Cornell
graduate drives a busted bronco automo-
bile over obstacles that would turn New
York taxicab artist pale with fright. tie
goes everywhere, in any weather. lie can
give advice on bugs, blights, soil inocula-
ton, dairy methods. He is the County
Farm Agent
Down in Washington a group OF Sena-
tors and Representatives, elected by one
party or another, disregard party to do
the bidding Of new lobby. arisen to power
in a single extra session 30 suddenly that
the city public scarcely realizes il. This
lobby, to which the Anti Saloon League 10
an amateur, recently bumped into Presi-
dent Harding himself by marshalling
the votes Of ninety-four Republican Repre-
sentatives against the lowering Of the SO
per cent. surtax on very rich men. which
MIR. Harding had recommended.
From the modern knight Grant in the
tanned hivver fighting the modern micro
scopic dragons to the great organization
in Washington that commands and We
toes legislation is only two short jumps.
According to Orville Merton Kile, late
Assistant Washington Representative OF
the American Farm Bureau Federation
that is the new power), in The Farm
Bureau Movement" (Macmillan), the
first County Farm Agent in the United
States on the present plan was John n.
Barron, in Broome County, N. Y. Funds
we're provided by the Binghamton Cham
Der OF Commerce, the United States De
partment Of Agriculture and the Lacka-
wanna Railroad Cornell offered scientific
guidance. The date was 1911.
Now there is a Farm Agent in most OF
the counties, usually with an assistant or
two. Associated with him, but indie
pendent, is often young woman who also
drives wicked motor car up the side oil a
boulder when necessary, and who can
tell the farmers wives about science APP
Piled to housekeeping And let not city
people suppose that they despise the Home
Bureaus book larnin'." They do not
ANY more than the farmers repel the Of
fered aid Of the agent. He is their man.
For behind him is the Farm Bureau
organization, local to the county. II in
cludes practical farmers. When the World
War sucked the United States into its
maelstrom, the Farm Bureaus became
sources of war strength 1t was only
when they combined, first in State and
now in national organization completely
represented in every state and with presi-
dent who issues orders to Congress that
the famous bloc" appeared. to which
President Harding devoted awe-struck
consideration in his message.
Mr.. Kile describes farmers movements
Of the past that have sought power and
vanished from sight or, like the Grange.
have been diverted to sociability. He is
cruel enough to point out many demands
Of those temporary organizations. satir-
lied then in cities, that have become law.
Call the roll: Regulation OF railroads,
popular election Of Senators. the K. r.
D. mail, parcel post, postal savings banks,
| Federal improvement OF roads,, Anti
Trust Laws, the land bank, panic-proof
currency. We take all these things for
granted now, yet how bitterly every one
was once fought as "socialistic.
Ii is easy to call the farmers bloc" .
Soviet. 1t is, in fact, about hfty-hfty-
half Soviet or guild socialism as demanded
by G.. n. ID. Cole and others in England.
and half regional representation as at
present; only regional representation is
itself often Of guild nature; for farm is
sues are sectional. Wall Street is a sec
ton. North Dakota is another And,
as MIR. Kile's book will demonstrate.
| North Dakotas experiments have been
dspraised for the wrong reasons
Most of the things North Dakots sought
to do were proper and would be for the
public as well as for the particular interest
If the league could only do them. II
should be condemned not for radicalism
but for inefficiency. Ii bit of more than
| it could chew 1t is no more immoral tor
the farmer to demand legislation in his
interest than it has been for the manu-
featuring trust to demand protection"
in the past, while the staple farmer sold
| his product at free-trade prices and was
double-crossed.
SAYS Mr.. Kile: The Farm Bureau,
being moderate in its demands, got Qrom
| Congress in the session just ended Issc-
tically everything it asked for"-C.Pper-
Tincher Grain Exchange, Packer Control
Bill, Federal Aid to Roads Bill, Farm
Financing and Crop Exporting Bills. In
addition, the plans for a sa.es YAK were
blocked" The book went to prem toe
early to chronicle the crowning achieve
ment that scared MIR Harding-the defeat
Of the effort to reduce income supsr-tax
on very rich men. How the country has
wept over the sorrows Of these poor fell
lows!
People generally avoid important books.
But il they really wish to know how James
K. Howard suddenly has more power over
legislation than the President OF the
United States, the story is told by Mr..
kile.
n ODGING and sQuirming and evad-
~ Ing direct replies TO direct