Evening star., 1926-03-07
FUN AND FARMING
M|NCLE AT FEAST
Alfalfa Club Holds Fro|iC in
GuiSe of "Dirt Farmers"
Urban Gathering.

left the cares of business, congress
sioual worries and governmental
duties far behind last night while
they made merry in the guise' of care
fully tailored dirt farmers at the
farmers dinner of the Alfalfa Club
at the Willard Hotel.
Although the presiding officer and
subsequent minute speakers seriously
pondered over the perpleXities Of agri-
culture and spent some energy on the
problems confronting the farmer. q
glimpse Of the plate cards disclosed
the diners to be prominent business
men. members of Congress, admira Is.
generals, authors and representatives
of almost every industry and pro-
fession but farming.
The night was turned over unre-
Servedly to plain fun. but the agri-
cultural theme Of the dinner and tha
club was carried out to the letter,
even to having Secretary of Agricul-
tlre .Iardine AS the guest of honor.
And Secretary .Jardine responded to
the spirit of the evening by entertain
ing his hosts with a profoundly scien-
t1c and meticulous paper on the
geneticS of alfalfa.
Dirt Farmers Complain.
The fun started when an uproar
from the back of the room eventually
produced d delegation of silk-hatted
and Immediately appointed dirt
farmers" who declared they had come
to lay their grievances before the AL
falfa club. Edgar C. Snyder, the
postmaster. said he did not know
farmers had any grievances. but
finally consented to the delegation be-
ing admitted. the farmers" entering
to the tune of Turkey in the Straw"
1t developed that they wished to
have the personnel of the Weather
Bureau changed because. they de-
Clared. the farmers have not been get
ting the right kind of weather.
For the next half hour the diners
were entertained by the composers of
many popular and old-time songs.
When Speaker LOngworth was
called on for a speech. he astonished
his audience by singing a song in
stead. and he was excused from ora
tory amid howls of laughter. Then
Secretary Jardine launched into his
dissertation on the merits of alfalfa
from Peru and Turkrstau.
In conclusion. Secretary Jardine eX-
plained that the Arabic word al
ialfa means best fodder. And
after looking into your faces
and surveying your figures, he added
Il can see that the word fodder
means much to all of you The din
ner then went into convention as the
alfalfa party, adopted a platform for
more prohibition and larger silos. ="
and nlmousy nominated senator
Pittman of Nevada as its ca ndidate.
The guests were.
The guests We're: Mai Owen s Al
bright Robert l.. Bacon. DR. Emil l..
Baer, John NJ. Baer. Admiral George
w. Baird. Charles ii. Baker. Thomas
I. Bayard. John T. Beasley. Charles
t.. Berry. Capt. William II. Biddle.
George 7. Bishop. Capt. J. K. Y.
Blakely. Oscar +. Bland. John J.
Boobar. Comdr. Joel T. Boone. Robert
J. Bourke. Oscar E. Bradfute. Harry
i Brown Gene Buck. Walker s. Buel
Tom Burke, Elbert X. Berlew. W.
Eben Burnside. Ellis Parker Butler,
Robert Callahan. w. H. Callahan. r.
r. Campbell. Senator Arthur Capper,
Enoch A. Chase. Paul \. Chase. w.
W. Chiswell. Edward r. Clark, Col.
Edward Clifford, Frank j. Coleman.
Edward F.. CoIladay. William Collier.
t'rederick y. Corey, Frederick |. Cox.
Dr. Macpherson trirhtou. Rev. Il. j.
Christopher. pr. Jerome T.. Crowley.
Ut. IluSH - 7 ttIliilItlSN, - Nh IN
son Cunningham. Representative
charles +. Curry. John j. DAILY, A.
D'AnnunZiO. Charles DENLY, John J.
DeViney, William J. Donald. James J.
DOYLE. Representative Patrick IL.
DreWrY.
David ]. Dunigan. George T. Dun
lop. Fred East. Charles A. Eaton. DR.
Lewis G. Ecker. capt. ,Iohn Il. t,die,
Frank H. EdmondS. Burr y. Edwards.
John n. Edwards. James \. Emery,
William Il. t,rsfeId. Frederick De c.
I'au$, William G.. Ferguson. Carter
Field. Robert v Fleming. Col. t'reder-
ick :. Folt2. Dr. f.. r. Carey. Julius
Garhnckel, Dr. W. E. Gibbs. Robert
NJ. Ginter, Mai Peyton Gordon viii
liam Green. Representative William Z.
Green. Randall n. HaGner. William
Hard. George w. Harris Floyd f.
Harrison Jay 6. Hayden. John +.
Hayes, Silvio Helm. Arthur g. Hen
hing. George W. Hess lanes =. Hig-
kins, Frank S Hight. George C. Hill.
Foseph n. Hines, 6. c. Hinckley,
James d. Hobbs. Judge 4. A. Hoehl-
ing, George y. Hoover, Matt T.. Horne.
George Adams Howard. William F..
Humphrey, Charles w. Hunt. Louis
h. Jefries, Edgar Jenkins Rev. Rob
ert Johnston, Theodore G.. .Joslin. Col
Frank r. keech Carter r. keene. DR..
]. Thomas Kelley.
Frank 4. Kent. Judge j. =. Laffey.
Wilton j. Lambert. Robert r. Lane.
Philip H. Lantz Ernest l. Lewis G.
Gould Lincoln, John NJ. Littlepage,
Z. I. McChord. Joseph w. Mcintosh
Lanier 2. McLachlen. Thomas ]. Nc
Quade. Albert Il. Mackenzie. Lieut..
Charles *. Mallory. Mai. William c.
Marrow. John Marshall. Gen. Richard
e. Marshall. DR. Elwood Mead. Mai
J. {. MehaffeN, William c. Miller. Mai
I.ennard tt. Mitchell William NJ
Mooney. Col. j. j. Morrow, James $.
Murray. j. Gilbert Nettleton. Robert
Il. Norton Theodore W Moves. Stan
Ton {. Peelie. Paul $. Phenix. Lieut..
n. II. Porter. l.. 4. Powell. jr.. Rep
resentative Sam Iiayburn. James h.
Reynolds, Capt. j. O. Richa rdson
y :. ~; Roland 5. Robbins. Bertra nd
Il. Roberts. 7. Baker Robinson.
samuel Ross. II. l.. Rust ST.. Thomas
u Ryan, Everett Sanders. Attorney
General John 6. Sargent b. Frank
saul. Bruce Scott. Thomas Il. Scott,
representative Willis G. Sears.
J"hn f.. Semmes. jr. Raphael
S"mmes. l.. :. Sinclair. Arthur J. Sin
mott Reuben ID. sullivan. G. G. Sinsa.
haush. James Sloan, il: John Lewis
Smith. Leonard A. Snead, G.. II.
u0h' w Illldi SpTE. Coi James
Cny Steese. DR.. Howard F. Strine.
Mark Sullivan. Sidney F. Taliaferro.
IGehard V. Taylor. Eugene V. r.
Thayer, Augustus Thomas. A. W.
Thompson. Col. John Q. Tilson Rep
resentative J. y. Tincher. Samuel Tn.
gerleider. Vernon W. Van Fleet. DR..
John Van RenSseler, Harry Won Til
Zer. Austin {. MAILER. w. !. Waller.
John Walsh Brainard n. Warner. ir.
Lee p. Warren. Edward II. Watson.
Frederick ID. West, Maj. r. A.
Wheeler. James G. White, Grafton :.
Wilcox. Frederick W Vile DR. IIa'r.