THIRD-PARTY IDEOLOGIES 



from the competition of imitation dairy products filled milk and cheese, 

 oleomargarine colored like butter, and the use of deceptive trade names 

 and also for the steps that were being taken to insure the production of 

 high grade dairy products. Also beneficial to agriculture was the early 

 encouragement that the Progressives gave to the cooperative movement 

 and to the establishment of a railroad commission with power to make 

 a physical evaluation of railroad properties, to reduce rates, and to com- 

 pel the railroads to pay taxes that were based on the true value of their 

 properties. 75 



The attempt made to bring about a political fusion of farmers and 

 labor met "skepticism and even distrust" in certain quarters. A question 

 asked time and time again was what conceivable common interests the 

 two had. The La Follette campaign was a coalition of farmers, organized 

 labor, Socialists, and other groups; but these groups had many points of 

 conflict. Railroad men blackballed farm representatives who voted against 

 labor legislation, and among those so censured were strong supporters 

 of the McNary-Haugen bill. An alliance of this type, if it did actually 

 take place, would simply serve to make "the farmer [the] catspaw ex- 

 traordinary to industrial labor and the Socialist Party. As Mr. Dawes has 

 put it, Senator La Follette is preaching high beef on the hoof and low beef 

 on the table. Only one of these two desirables can be had. . . ." As proof 

 of the predominance of labor in any proposed farmer-labor coalition, the 

 Minnesota Farmer-Labor party was cited as a conspicuous example. 



The McNary-Haugenites were especially grieved because of the stand 

 that La Follette took against their pet measure. La Follette eventually came 

 out for the measure, but only after the damage had been done. He was 

 suspected of deliberately contributing to the defeat of the bill in order 

 to keep the agricultural question and agrarian discontent alive until after 

 the election. La Follette by so acting also enabled the critics of the farm- 

 ers to charge that they were not united around a common program of 

 action. The La Follette program was nothing more than "a loose jumble 

 of the catchwords which are supposed to appeal to the farmer's fancy": 

 this was a political program and not that of "the special protector of 

 agriculture." 7e 



75. Equity News (Madison, Wis.), October 15, 1924, p. 6. 



76. Pioneer Press, October 19, 1924. 



