THE FARMERS' UNION 229 



$4,095.85, plus interest, in back dues. When the parent unit lost, it ap- 

 pealed to the Nebraska supreme court, which decided that the members 

 of the Nebraska Union were also members of the national organization 

 and hence subject to its by-laws. 20 



More typical of farmer opinion than the antistatist, free-competitive- 

 society philosophy of certain elements within the Nebraska Farmers' 

 Union was the militant, strongly pro-government-aid, revivalistic, often- 

 times doctrinaire attitude of some of the other state bodies. These views 

 were far more representative of the psychological and economic status of 

 the depressed farmers than were the unusual notions expressed by the 

 conservative members of the Nebraska Union. 



The typical Union member of the western Middle West displayed a 

 belligerent attitude toward the existing agricultural colleges, toward the 

 daily press, and toward professional politicians. Politicians, for instance, 

 were accused of accepting an obvious untruth when they extolled the 

 farmers as constituting the "backbone of the nation." There was no evi- 

 dence in support of such a statement. If these politicians were really in- 

 terested in the farmers' welfare, they should do more than talk, and join 

 an organization which advocated bringing farmers "cost of production" 

 for their products. The agricultural colleges were likewise accused of 

 feeding the farmers a big "dose of bunk." Of what use were admonitions 

 to "become more efficient, produce more" at a time when the domestic 

 surplus was great and foreign markets were scarce. The press contributed 

 its share to this chaotic state of affairs by telling the farmers that "the 

 cow, the sow and the hen, have worked overtime," and that their products 

 "sold through cooperative marketing organizations" would solve farmer 

 problems. This kind of talk was designed to keep "the farmer confused 

 and joining all sorts of associations, from cabbage to cream, and gets him 

 out of the hole not at all." 21 



Milo Reno, the stormy leader of the Iowa Farmers' Union, was venom- 

 ous in his attacks against the typical agricultural college. His thrusts were 



20. Ibid., January 28, 1920; National Union Farmer (Oklahoma City), December 

 i, 1932. 



21. Farm Market Guide (Minneapolis), May-June, 1926. Compare this militant 

 stand against the agricultural college in later years with that taken previously. See 

 ^Sth Annual Report of the Board of Agriculture, The Missouri Year BooJ^ of Agri- 

 culture (Columbia, 1916), p. 317. 



