34^ AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



brought out by the late James Pierce, radical farm journalist in the state. 

 In the campaign, support was obtained from the state federation of labor, 

 the Farmers' Union, and the remnants of the Equity. "Although no formal 

 alliance has developed between farmers and laborers . . . Senator Cummins 

 was unable to campaign in his usual vigorous fashion and his connection 

 with the passage of the Transportation Act of 1920 exposed him to the 

 hostility of both groups." 9 Brookhart polled 97,000 votes against 115,000 

 for Cummins. Obviously, Brookhart was going to be the "leader of any 

 radical movement which might follow at a later election." 10 



In 1922 one of the first hopeful signs for the progressive cause was 

 La Follette's winning of the Republican nomination to succeed himself 

 in the United States Senate. This was significant, because many things 

 had happened. The World War had intervened since the last election in 

 1916. La Follette, because of his opposition to America's entry into the 

 war and to the draft law, had been repudiated by many of his former sup- 

 porters. Once the war was over, this "super-patriotism" was converted 

 "into economic conservatism and pacifism into economic radicalism." 

 This was apparent in the campaign of 1922. The "super-patriots" and 

 friends of the open shop put up the Reverend Dr. William A. Ganfield, 

 the president of Carroll College of Waukesha, who ran as a "bone-dry" 

 in a state in which the thirst for beer was great. He was badly beaten. 

 In the election La Follette won by a thumping 289,000 majority, and 

 Governor John J. Blaine was re-elected by 317,000, compared with his own 

 118,000 two years earlier. 



The La Follette triumph was due to more than one factor. The German 

 vote, which had become more pro-LaFollette than ever before, supported 

 him in great numbers ; and the Scandinavians, radically bent on economic 

 questions, were also behind him in sizable force. The farmers were tradi- 

 tional La Follette supporters. Agrarian discontent was evident in Wis- 

 consin as in other states, except that the dairy farmers were not so hard 

 hit as other farmers. They were less given to radicalism, partly because 

 they were too busy for politics and partly because they sold their products 

 in a more highly processed condition and hence were less subject to 



9. Haynes, in Social Forces, IV (September, 1925), p. 153. 



10. Chester H. Rowell, "Brookhart, Howell, and 'Brother Charley' Bryan," 

 World's Wor^ XLVI (August, 1923), p. 481. 



