Chapter XI 



THE FARM BLOC 

 1920-23 



A CONSPICUOUS as the rapid growth of the cooperative movement and 

 the rise to power of the American Farm Bureau Federation was 

 the political role played by the farmers during the early twenties. In this 

 they were hardly novices, as the experiences of the Grangers, the Populists, 

 and the Nonpartisan League had earlier shown. As seen, the Republicans, 

 who had made a clean sweep in the elections of 1920, had no farm pro- 

 gram to offer, despite the fact that the depression was in full swing by 

 the time that Harding took office. In 1920 it was foreign policy and not 

 the agricultural problem that had held the political spotlight. But once 

 the seriousness of the depression began to be felt, the farm problem at- 

 tracted the attention of a growing number of congressmen and senators, 

 who pressed the administration for action. This agitation took two forms. 

 One group, comprised of progressives, liberals, and radicals of various 

 shades, sought social reform, and favored the establishment of a new 

 political alignment patterned after the British Labor party. A second 

 group, more pragmatic but equally ambitious, the "farm bloc," taking 

 a leaf from the book of other pressure groups, launched an independent 

 program of bipartisan action. 1 



i. Fred H. Haynes, "The Collapse of the Farmer-Labor Bloc," Social Forces, IV 

 (September, 1925), pp. 148-56; E. D. Graper, "The American Farmer Enters 

 Politics," Current History, XIX (February, 1924), p. 817; Arthur Capper, The 

 Agricultural Bloc (New York, 1922). 



