Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-10-11
REPUBLICAN, REVOI. 7
GRABBED III IOWA,
LAWRENCE FINDS
Ply DAVID LAWRENCE

Especial Leased Wire to The Journal-Copy-
right, 1921
DIES MONIES, Iowa, Oct. 9.-Th1s
might we'll be called the cradle Of
political revolt in America. Here it
was in 1912 that the insurgent move
ment came into being. And here
This year has developed the clearest
case of rebellion which the Repub-
lican party faces in the entire
nation.
He is a short-sighted politician
who brushes aside as ephemeral the
ills Of Iowa or the significance of
the protest that is being marshaled
throughout this state. President
Coolidge may carry the state-it is
not a certainty by any means-but
the administration can get pretty
good idea Of what it's troubles are
going to be for the next two and
perhaps four years by listening to
the murmurs Of Iowa. Why should
Senator Smith w. Brookhart feel
impelled to defy the national Repub-
lican ticket and organization and
live politically to tell the tale? Why
should there be editorials in news
papers steadfastly supporting Presi-
dent Coolidge but arguing at the
same time that the Dawes part OF
the ticket be soft pedaled? Why
should there be well authenticated
rumors that Federal Judge William
S. Kenyon, formerly the leader OF
the farm block in the United States
senate, is restraining himself with
difficulty from announcing his sup
port of Senator La Toilette?
Truly these men would not have
taken the position they have taken
if they thought the Republican vot'
ers of Iowa disapproved, and that
is just the situation. Here, as per.
haps nowhere else in the west, there
is a certain bitterness against Presi
dent Coolidge for adopting a passive
policy with respect to farm legisla
ton. Here they are denouncing
the tariff and arguing for "the prin
ciples of the McNary-Haugen bill
and the sterilization of farm prices
| Here they refuse to accept the rise
| in prices as permanent and they in
|
| which by means of an export cor
poration shall keep the prices OF
farm products from 60 to 70 above
pre-war levels.
Laugh at Radical" Cries
And who are the men backing
Senator La Toilette and running his
| campaign? One would expect tC
find them in the musty precincts OF
the labor temples or in the upstairs
! barracks of railroad terminals. Not
at all. Dante Pierce, publisher OF
the iowa Homestead" the most
powerful farm weekly in Iowa, is the
| head and shoulders of the La Fol
lette movement. He laughs when
any one calls him a radical. He
sits in his office in a big seven
story building, or he meets you al
the Des Moines. club. Yes, in the
atmosphere of the conservatives
themselves-and he sweeps aside as
rubbish the talk of La Toilette be
! ing unsafe. He retorts that Wis
consin never found him unsafe in
the years he was governor. AS for
public ownership and the supreme
court issue, Mr.. Pierce speaks OF
them as of secondary Importance
He insists he is personally friendly
20 President Coolidge, but that issues
are more important than men in
| Iowa.
To get some idea of what IS hap
| pening out here one must point out
! that "Wallace's Farmer" owned by
Secretary Henry S. Wallace, of the
| department of agriculture, is not
taking any part in the defense OF
| the president. 1t is stated that
Mr. Wallace has, on a recent visit
| here, told friends he didn't intend
! to stay in the cabinet after March
4, next.
| All these farm editors keep their
ears to the ground 1T is important
to their magazine circulation. And
they are endeavoring to voice the
protests of the farmer in season and
out of season. Discretion makes
| the Wallace periodical more or less
neutral as between the views OF
Iowa farmers and the record of the
! Coolidge administration. Incidental
! ly, Secretary Wallace is credited
with writing the farm plank in the
Republican state platform. That
| plank commits the party to an in
| Nary -Haugen bill" But the presi
dent has not seen fit to go that far
SO Senator Brookhart, Dante
Pierce and the rest of the La Fol
/ lette crowd insist that they are the
true Republicans and that the ma
tional ticket has failed to stick by
the state platform.
G. o. p. Harmony Lacking.
Nor is all peace and harmony
among the Coolidge men. For some
reason or other, unfathomed by the
! Republicans, the management didn t
seem to recognize the troubles of the
party in Iowa. Men like Addison
Parker, the Coolidge leader, implored
the White House and the Republic
an national campaign committee
for home help early in the year to
help quell the agricultural revolt,
but only recently have the regular
leaders felt themselves taken care
of by the national organization.
Meanwhile the Democrats are at
skies and sevens. Echoes of the
fight last spring when Wilbur
Marsh, the friend of the late Charlie
Murphy in Iowa, was dethroned by
the McAdOo leaders, Clyde Herring
and the former secretary of agricul-
ture, Edward T. Meredith, are still
heard How John w. Davis will
fare as result of it cannot be fore
cast, but usually when there's a
factionaI row in Iowa, the Demo
Gratis do not poll their full vote.
There is talk, Of course, of swing
ing Democratic votes to La Toilette
to keep the state from Coolidge.