Evening star., 1925-05-03
No Wild Radicals i'm Senate.

Those who assaing the Senate are bit
ter in their -denunciation of the farm bloc
and the "insurgent bloc and 1.-The radical
bloc"
The classification of Senators as conserva-
tives and radicals is much msrepresented
and much misunderstood division
There are no radicals, in the of ex-
treme or wild political agitators, in the United
States Senate There are Senators who honest
ly and sincerely believe that the present
nomic system is operating to the detriment of
the farmers of the West; who believe that dis
crininatory legislation in favor of the finan-
cial interests in the East has placed burdens
the farming populations of the West that
it ought not to bear; who contend that the agri-
cultural producer is overburdened by the ex-
tortions' of the middlemen and the high cost
Of transportation.
These Senators were elected to Congress by
their constituents who, under the Constitution
of the United States, have the right thus to
express their convictions.
What more need be said, in justification of
the presence of these ''irregulars" in the SEN
ate, than that the changing economic problems
Of the country are responsible for their being
there.
The East has not appreciated the farmers
problem. 1t does not understand their psy-
chology.
The agricultural West has sent new type
of Senator to Washington. He represents an
economic group that has been hitherto made
quately represented there. and has suffered ac-
cordingly. 1t is all very we'll to rail against
demagogues and economic nostrums and to
say no Government can make agriculture pros
porous. The Western farmer will reply that
, the Government has given very substantial as
sistance to- the railroads and to the manufac-
turer.
Sees Signs of Strength.
Upon analysis much of this abuse Of the
Senate will be found to originate with those
who have looked upon the Senate as their verv
a a exiS
their interests and to advance their private
projects, and to ignore the interests of mil
lions Of their fellow citizens, interests which
in the adequate are just important and just
as vital to the prosperity and happiness Of
the country as those of any group.
see no reason why any who believes
in democracy should be depressed because the
Senate has lost caste, because the farmers of
many Western States manifesting a new
spirit of independence, and in some cases are
sending to the Senate representatives lacking
the cultural resources and the bank rolls of
their predecessors. To my mind, this is sign
of the strength or our system of Government
That the Western farmers for several wears
have been suffering acute economic distress
cannot be disputed. In some sections rs per
cent of the farms have been sold at the auction
block because their proprietors could not meet
the interest charges and taxes Nor are their
troubles yet over. In New York last week so
conservative man as eX-Gov. Lowden of IIli-
nois presented picture of conditions in the
farmer West which, had it been painted by
farm bloc insurgent Senator would have
made him the target for attack as a dema
gogue.
It is healthy development that this eco
nomic distress among important element
of our citizenship should find constitutional ex
preston in politics. What if some of the pro-
posed remedies recommended BY the new tyne
CONTINUED on Fifteenth rageJ