THE FARMERS' UNION 231 



Equally violent was the Union opposition to the county agents and the 

 Farm Bureau. The Bureau was nothing more than a "gentlemen farmers' " 

 organization sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 the chamber of commerce, the agricultural colleges, and the local business- 

 men; it worked hand in glove with the county agents, who did an excel- 

 lent job in misleading farmers into breeding better stock, improving the 

 quality of the soil, and raising more produce. 25 Simpson declared it to be 

 an agency "ruled by Chicago grain merchants and Washington politi- 

 cians." Reno claimed it was brought into existence to prepare the farmers 

 for the postwar deflation, to check radicalism, and to enslave the farmers 

 with "lollypops, calf-clubs, pig-clubs, farmer's institutes ... to override 

 and destroy the fundamental principles of our Republic." Union folks, 

 according to the Iowa Union Farmer, "believe in good farmers, good 

 homemakers and healthy boys and girls, better pigs, and better calves, 

 but we are more concerned about farmers being placed on an equilibrium 

 with other groups of society, which means nothing less than a protected 

 price, the equivalent of our cost of production." 28 



The benefits promised and objectives sought, although often confused 

 and inconsistent, were significant. At least one eloquent testimonial was 

 delivered in behalf of the cooperative commonwealth. "And when all 

 business is cooperatively owned there will be no profit system left, neither 

 rich nor poor, and in place of the profit system will come the cooperative 

 commonwealth." On another occasion, the Farmers' Union Herald 

 referred to the Union as an industrial, not a craft, union because it took 

 in all farmers tenants and owners alike regardless of the size of their 

 operations. The Union sought "economic justice" for the farmers by resist- 

 ing those who used them as "saddle horses." Getting rid of their exploit- 

 ers, "big and little," was just "a phase of the class struggle," which made 

 mandatory the building of a "red blooded, class conscious, fighting farm 

 organization." 27 The Union was "officered and manned by farmers," 

 published its own paper, was freed from domination by "commercial 

 clubs, county agents, or the agricultural college." Only thus would the 



25. Farm Market Guide, April 20, 1926; Farmers' Union Herald, March, 1927. 



26. Des Moines Tribune, January 16, 1931; Iowa Union Farmer, March 25, Sep- 

 tember 9, 1931. 



27. Farmers' Union Herald, July, 1935; December, 1936; October, 1928; Septem- 

 ber, 1929. 



