THE FARM BLOC, 1920-23 3 2 3 



American manufacturers, it was incumbent that the same be done for 

 agriculture. If Congress established a banking system that was helpful 

 to the business and commercial interests of the nation, then it was the 

 duty of Congress to do the same for the farmers. If Congress failed to 

 respond, bloc spokesmen were justified in taking the initiative to press 

 for such action. 



Bloc leaders were on the watch for cries of favoritism and special 

 privilege. They insisted that since agricultural prosperity was essential 

 to national prosperity, the enactment of the desired legislation would be 

 beneficial to the entire nation and not merely to favored sections or 

 industries. 



Nor was the emphasis that they placed on legislation to be construed 

 to mean that the sole hope for the farmer was to be focused in the passage 

 of remedial legislation. But it was to be interpreted to mean that the co- 

 operation of the executive and legislative branches could hasten the return 

 of a healthy agriculture. 7 



The farm-bloc program came into being because the Republicans had 

 failed to offer a satisfactory agricultural plan in the special session that 

 had been called by Harding. The regular Republicans wanted tax and 

 tariff revision, while the western representatives were interested chiefly 

 in cooperative legislation, liberal credit facilities, and the regulation of the 

 packers. 8 The crisis came on July 5, 1921, when the regulars tried to ad- 

 journ Congress without having taken the desired action. The rebellious 

 westerners, pressed for action by their constituents, succeeded in post- 

 poning the adjournment of Congress by the narrow margin of 27 to 24. 

 This was the first outward act of defiance to regular leadership and 

 definitely pinned on the agrarians the name "farm bloc." 9 



The leadership in the formation of this bloc was furnished by the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation, acting largely through its Wash- 

 ington representative, Gray Silver, dubbed the "Silver Eel" by some. 

 Silver, a former member of the West Virginia senate and an able lobbyist, 

 had been watching the progress of farm legislation during the closing 

 session of the Sixty-sixth Congress, and reported back to Farm Bureau 



7. Capper, in OutlooJ^, CXXX (February i, 1922), pp. 176-77. 



8. J. G. Welliver, "Agricultural Crisis and the Bloc," American Review of Re- 

 views, LXV (February, 1922), p. 159. 



9. Graper, in Current History, XIX (February, 1924), p. 819. 



