33^ AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



thirty-two Senate and House progressives, including both Republicans and 

 Democrats and one Farmer-Laborite. Enlisted in its ranks were such 

 political warhorses from the western Middle West as La Follette of 

 Wisconsin, Norris of Nebraska, Capper of Kansas, Frazier and Ladd of 

 North Dakota, Brookhart of Iowa, and Shipstead of Minnesota. The 

 program that it adopted was strictly a progressive one. It asked for the 

 extension of the direct primary to the nomination of the President and 

 Vice-President of the United States, for the direct election of these two 

 officers without the electoral college, the passage of an effective corrupt- 

 practices act, and the immediate release of all free-speech prisoners con- 

 victed under the wartime espionage laws. 47 



The leaders of this insurgent group, amidst the queries of onlookers, 

 insisted that this was merely a protest against the policies and the per- 

 sonnel of the Harding administration and not a third-party movement. 

 Still, the third-party implication was there. The appeals that the bloc made 

 gave to it an ominous note. The support of the American Federation of 

 Labor was solicited on the grounds that it favored legislation to protect 

 labor, and the help of the farmers was also sought on the grounds that it 

 favored the growth of cooperative marketing associations and legislation 

 to stabilize prices. 48 



Little was to be expected from this group in the Sixty-seventh Congress, 

 since the session was due to end in about three months. Yet its influence 

 was felt. Its avowed purpose was "to drive special privilege out of control 

 of the government and restore it to the people." To achieve this end there 

 were created "special committees composed of members of the Senate and 

 House cooperating with men of affairs and experts, to prepare and submit 

 from time to time during this and the next Congress, practical and con- 

 structive plans for dealing with . . . Agriculture, labor, railroads, shipping, 

 natural resources, credits, taxation, and amendments to the Constitution 

 looking to the abolishment of the electoral college and the earlier meeting 

 of the newly elected Congress." 4 



President Harding, bent upon stealing the thunder of the progressive 



47. The New International Year BooJ^, 1922, p. 24. 



48. "Will the 'Insurgent Tail Wag the Party Dog?'" Literary Digest, LXXVI 

 (March 31, 1923), p. 7. 



49. "Big Possibilities of the Progressive Bloc," Literary Digest, LXXV (December 

 16, 1922), p. 7. 



