Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-09-18
Agricultural States Believe
Washington Has Ignored
Their Interests and a
Change Is Desired
BY JOSEpHUs DANIELS.
Secretary of the Navy in Wilson's
Cabinet)

RALEIGH, n. c., Sept. 15.-How
can you find the real sentiment of
the people of a state or section?
Charles Dudley Warner once said the
only way was to make a journey in
coach, talk to the people when you
stopped to water your horses and
spend the night as you leisurely trav.
eled for pleasure and information.
President Wilson, illustrating the
difficulty of accurately measuring
public sentiment in a cosmopolitan
state like New Jersey, was fond of
telling this incident:
Zone day as 1 was travelling in
1894 on the rraiT = North Carolina,
a reporter hurled this questi6;r ct
me: What do the people of New
Jersey think of CleVeland's admins
tration? II seemed q very natural
question for him to ask, living as he
did in a homogeneous state with no
great cities and diverse interests and
opinions. He could have told me
in five minutes the prevailing opin-
ion of North Carolinians. But New
Jersey is very different. Princeton
rarely speaks the language of Jer-
sey City and Passaic opinion and
that of Camden are rarely in ac-
cord, not to speak of the polyglot Of
differing opinions in Newark and
Atlantic City"
Must Go into Homes
But / have found n way to ascer-
tain the prevailing opinion Of farm
ers and those who live close to
the farms in Oklahoma, Iowa, Kan.
sas, Nebraska, Sou l akota and
Colorado. All cities are alike, and
besides, they have no process of max
ing public opinion in great cities
such as they have in small towns
and villages in agricultural states.
In these towns the farmers and the
bankers and business meet often
and discuss everything from the
price of wheat to the Fascist in
Italy. In swapping views they make
public opinion. For ten weeks |
have been speaking in the above six
farm states. The farmer has a way
of making his opinion felt more in
those states than in any others I'M
less I except Minnesota, Wisconsin
and North Dakota, with perhaps one
or two other western states. Com
paratiVely the southern and eastern
farmer counts far less in power than
in Kansas and the other states [
mention.
Farmers Not Alone
/. The talk of the dissatisfaction
of the farmers in the west that gets
in the papers would make the read
err think the deep seated revolution
in that section was confined to the
farmers. That is error. Talk to any
a. 4, ;r>F1, l.
farmers, and bankers who loan
money to and keep the accounts of
farmers, and preachers whose con
gregations are made up mainly of
farmers, and you find that they are
almost as resentful of the hard con
ditions that lay heavy upon agricul-
tural sections as the farmer him.
self 1t was a banker who told me
that the people of his section were
in revolt and would show it effec.
lively in the 1924 election unle ia
voritism to the east and burdens on
the west ceased.
2. There is a deep-seated feeling
that the prosperity of manufacturers
and the. lack of it in the farm sec
ton is proof of special privilege.
The first question every farmer asks
is: "Why dol pay the same price
for my agricultural implements. for
my shoes, for everything | need ON
the farm and that my family must
buy as when wheat was two dollars
a bushel and can get only seventy
cents for my wheat?" 1t is idle to
tell him that he is selling more wheat
to Europe than in 1912. and it only
infuriates him to tell him that he
must quit raising wheat and go to
raising chickens and cattle. "No
body tells the manufacturer of har
Vesting machines and the bricklayer
to quit what they have been doing
he replies, and adds: "They keep on
at the old business and sell what they
have for more thans ever while the
farmer has to pay high prices and
sell all his stuff for the cost of cul.
tivation or less"
Not Against High Prices
3. The attempt of partisan poll