The Washington herald., 1922-01-22
FARMERS BLOC
IS CHIEF FACTOR
IN POLITICS NOW
Achieves B alance of
Power in Congress and
Is Growing Stronger.
NOT MERELY PHASE
Group Differs from Others in
Being Intelligently and
Heavily Backed.
NOT MERELY PHASE
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

examine its personnel and It's mech
anism minutely and critically: you
may approach It with the skepti-
cIsm born of recollection OF similar
movements in the past: you may
talk with the individuals and the
interests who deplore 1t and argue
that 1t should be eliminated; but the
end OF any such survey OF the farm
bloc is that II Is without doubt the
largest single interest in American
politics, that II is likely to continue
to have the balance of power at the
polls and in Congress for a consid-
erable period. and that IL is more
likely to expand than TO diminish.
The older political leaders in both
parties. who deplore the farm Bloc
and predict it's early passing. are
misled by one of the most frequent
causes of self-deceit, by the length
of their own memories. 1t Is true
that experience teaches; but 1t is
also true that unless there is care
full examination of the analogy be-
tween the past and the present. ex-
perience can readily throw one off
the track.
Some of these older political lead
ers have memories that go as far
back as the Patrons of Husbandry,
the Farmers Alliance. the agricui-
tural wheel, which started in Prairie
County. Arkansas. and spread to
power in eight southwestern States:
the Ancient Order OF Cleaners. and
half a dozen similar organizations.
Remembering how all OF these arose
had their day OF power, then de-
clined and vanished, the skeptical
older politicians are inclined to say
that in due course the farm bloc
Will follow the same course.
Farm "BIoc' Not New.
1t is true that the organized farm
er in American politics is nothing
new. Politicians and others with
any considerable political experience
remember Newt. Gresham's Farm
ers' Union" started in Rains County,
Texas, of which a contemporary his
tortan whose narrative was quail
fed by personal enthusiasm, said:
AN Aladdin army of 1000, 900 men,
with a deadly concentration of pur-
pose that would brook no denial,
came into almost instant existence"
1t was of another organization,
the Farmers Alliance, in the cleo
ttons of 1890, that a historian of the
time said: After these elections
forty members of the new Congress
were pledged to support the demands
OF the Farmers Alliance, and its
leaders were said to have selected
beforehand the place which they
wished this group to OCCUPY .on
either side of the center aisle in the
House of Representatives. where
they expected to hold the balance
of power and to take the place of
the centre in the French Assem-
bly,"
II that quotation from a historian
OF 1880 reads much like a present.
day newspaper account of the farm
bloc. still more does a quotation
from an account written in 1892 of
Sockless" Jerry Simpsons Popu-
ilsts. The author of this account,
ny the way, was Hamlin Garland.
HIS words of 1892 sound a little like
something Senator Tom Hefiin, of
alabama, might use today about the
farm bloc:
The Alliance wedge" said Mr.
Garland, "is a sort of breakwater he
tween the two old parties. Great
forces are moving. The House of
Representatives Is smouIderinp
volcano. The Republicans are appre-
hensive. almost desperate. Place
noloers are beginning to tremble;
out In the midst of it all, the men
VINO are advocating right and ius-
tlce instead OF policy sit ready for
the discussion and eager for the
struggle
MERELY q Passing Phase"
Now, it IS quite true that In the
history OF other farm movements mast
and forgotten, there is comfort for
those who either wish or argue that
the present farm bloc is merely a
passing phase of American politics,
AND II any one wants to argue that
the present farm bloc Is going to last
longer and further than the Farm
ers' Alliance or the Patrons of Hus-
bandry, 1t is necessary to find funda-
mental points of difference that favor
the farm bloc. Before pointing out
these differences should explain that
l have been using the term farm bloc
in a loose sense. Farm bloc In the
term applied to. the twenty or thirty
Senators and the seventy or eighty
members Of the House, who are really
the political expression within Com
gress Of different and much larger
thing.
The organized force behind the farm
bloc Is the American Farm Bureau
Federation. The farm bloc in Con-
gress Is really the political agent of
the American Farm Bureau Fedora
tion. The relation between the two is
indisputable and intimate. It was the
American Farm Bureau. Federation
that first supplied stimulus and
leadership to the farm bloc in Con-
gress. The early meetings Of the
farm bloc group were held not in the
Capital OF the halls of Congress but
In the Washington headquarters of
the American Farm Bureau Fedora
tion. l quote from a recently issued
history Of the federation written by
one OF Its officials, Orville Merton
Kile:
"As result of a series of helpful
conferences at Farm Bureau legisla-
tive headquarters several Senators,
including Kenyon of Iowa, 'Republi-
can; Smith of North Carolina, DEM
ocrat, and Capper Of Kansas, Republi-
can, took the lead and got together
a band OF twenty-five Senator'S from
the South and West pledged to stand
Tor agricultural legislation regardless
of party lines"
Same As Federation.
In political sense, therefore. the
American Farm Bureau Federation
and the farm bloc are one. And in
considering the points of difference
between this naw 20 rxx,..., .~..,,..z.x.