The Washington times., 1922-12-03
Wedge Driven Be-
tween Administra-
ton and Progress
sive Republicans
Grows Wider, View
of Former Secre.,
tary of Navy.

t8fy OF NAVY.
4 RE we heading toward gov.
"a ernment by "bloc" instead
"A Of parties?
Was that the purpose of the con.
ference of Progressive Legislators?
It was the existence, and militant
operation of the ,rbloc" system in
the Congress last spring that is
said to have been responsible for
the statement by Secretary Weeks
that "this Congress has reached
the lowest ebb In its history"
That surmise seems to be borne
out by the fact that Senator Cap
per, head OF the Senatorial farm
bloc" replied that there were
Senators who wished to destroy
the primary and return to govern
ment by the few or "the interests"
Nobody owns belief in "bloc"
government. not even Kenyon or
Capper. who may be said to be
pioneers. II you ask any of the
Senators. who organized the farm
"bloc" II they favor such divisions
by Congressman. based upon occu-
pational lines. they will tell you
that they do not, and proclaim
against legislation that is proposed
primarily either to help a class or
discriminate against a class.
FARMER GETS BLOW.
The truth 10. they will aver. that
the farmers never heard Of such
legislation until they began to feel
the distress which sent farm prod.
ucts down below the cost of pro-
duction In 1s20-21. They observed
that oil and steel and coal and not
a few manufactured products did
not suffer when the crash came.
They asked themselves: "Why
does the farmer get the first and
hardest blow when initiation and
world troubles Gomez" They tried
to find an answer. None was
forthcoming. and SO they decided
that the reason steel and oil and
coal and railroad rates and man.
ufactured goods did not feel the
depression 80 much or at all was
because the men who controlled
them had an organization in and
out OF government which pre-.
vented the shock.
THE FARM BLOC STARTS.
Right or wrong. they came to
the conclusion that they must get
together to see that II they could
get no direct benefit to stabilize
the price Of their products, at least
they could get some reduction up
on what they had to buy. First Of
all, farmers found that there was
no adequate extension Of credit
for agriculture in the days Of de-
preston. The Federal Reserve
System made more provision for
agricultural credits than the bank
ers felt willing to grant. particu-
larry In the money strain Of 1920
and 1891. They were first invited.
!. Southern Democratic Senators and
Western Republican Senators, to
secure the revivifyins Of the War
Finance Corporation. which has
temporarily made money easier for
farmers. The final decision. after
when the notes mature. and you
have lost tha results Of many
years of thfiff and saving. and
also your friend.
I declined to marry until had
fifty thousand dollars. The happy
day arrived, and I felt the fortunes
Of my family secure, My father
in.law and his son became en-
barrassed in their business. and.
naturally. I endorsed their notes.
A few years afterwards my father
in.law died. his business went
bankrupt. lost my nifty thousand
dollars and found myself consider.
ably In debt. AZ an illustration Of
my dear mothers belief that all
misfortunes are sent for ones
good, It % happened that the nee
essity of meeting and recovering
from this disaster led to extraor.
dinary exertions, which probably.
except under the necessity, never
would have made. The efforts
were successful.
Horace Greeley never could re-
sist an appeal to endorse q note.
They were hardly ever paid. and
Mr.. Greeley was the loser. I met
him one time, soon after he had
been Q very severe sufferer from
his mistaken kindness. He said to
me with great emphasis: "Chaun.
cey, I want you to do me q great
favor. want you to have Q bill
put through the legislature. and
see that 1t becomes q law, making
1t a felony and punishable with