Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-06-05
:, T, Meredith, Of DeS
MoineS, Already Has
Strong Influence With
Farmers and Is Well Con-
neCted Financially
BY GEORGE BRITT

DIES MONIES, Iowa, May 3l.-Ed
win 7. Meredith hasn't been men
toned loudly as a Democratic presi-
Dental possibility, but just weigh
these points:
If William Gibbs McAdoo should
find after d round of ballOtinG that
he himself could not be nominated,
he yet would hold IAN imposing
strength of delegates and might be
in position to dictate the selection.
Meredith is one of his staunchest
hackers, a personal friend. McAdoo
might point to him.
Meredith is strong with the farm
ers. AS secretary Of agriculture the
last year of the Wilson administra-
ton he sold" his department to the
farmers. And for two decades he
has been forging grip on them with
his monthly magazine, Successful
Farming.
His business connections are no
less strong. He is director of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States and he formerly was director
of the Chicago Federal Reserve bank
and president of the Associated Ad-
vertising Clubs of the World.
Not Farm Bloc Man
Meredith is for McAdoO because
he believes the same creed. He is not
a farm bloc" man, but he can ex-
pound plan to assure a market and
a fair price for farm products which
ought to appeal to both reason and
desire
Iowa, with its 10 electoral votes,
would look good to the Democrats if
it could be converted from its rock
ribbed Republicanism. Meredith cam
paigned the state for both senate and
gOvernOrship unsuccessfully.
Meredith is AZ years old, a broad
shOuldered siXfooter. His eyes are
black, his black hair has grayed a
bit at the edges. His mustache is a
narrow close-clipped bristle. He talks
with intimate frankness.
Twenty-one red-backed books, in
creasing in bulk rapidly after a thin
start. are arrayed on his office table.
They are the complete file of Sue.
cessful Farming.
Meredith started the paper under
debt of $1,000, secured by life insur-
ance. He used to push the monthly
issue to the postoffice in cart, and
Mrs Meredith helped in the business
office.
Keeps Boys in College
AS money has flowed in much Of it
has been spent again in welfare
causes. The paper pioneered for
boys and girls farm clubs eight
years ago. 1t offered to lend $25 to
any boy or girl upon a note to help
buy a pig, calf or sheep. Nearly
0000 accepted, and the great ma
jority made good on the investment.
Just now and partly through the
Masonic organization Meredith is
lending large sums to keep boys in
college when finances would force
them to quit in the middle Of the
year.
Two hobbies are admitted They
are the boys and girls clubs and
making speeches on agriculture. A
third. granddaughter. becomes APP
parent to almost every visitor
His greatest service as secretary
of agriculture. Meredith believes,
was in showing business how de.
pendent it is upon the farmer. He
likes to trace the farmers dollar
through various hands until it turns
up, say in the purse of a distant
city stenographer. His speeches
avoid what he calls Fourth Of July
but they reach the crowds, great or
small, rural or urban.
Waited on Table
Meredith was born at Marine, Cass
county, Iowa, one of numerous chill
dren Of a storekeeper. They moved
onto a farm IN a few years, and the