37 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



Besides banking heavily on labor and the farmers, La Follette sought 

 the aid of the German- Americans and the votes of the recently naturalized 

 citizens. 77 But this was all in vain. La Follette polled a total of 4,826,471 

 votes and thirteen votes in the electoral college, which was considerably 

 less than Roosevelt received in 1912. He carried only his native state of 

 Wisconsin and finished second in eleven others Idaho, California, Minne- 

 sota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Montana, Wyo- 

 ming, Nevada, and Oregon. 78 



The causes for defeat were those with which any new political move- 

 ment would be faced. For one thing, the progressive campaign needed 

 organization, time, money, and a thousand things that could not be ob- 

 tained within the short course of a single campaign. 79 La Follette failed 

 to capture the agricultural vote in the numbers for which the progres- 

 sives had hoped. Even though the farmers voted for him more than did 

 any other group, he carried only Wisconsin, which had an urban popula- 

 tion that equaled or slightly exceeded that of the rural areas; and his 

 home state was even referred to as nothing more than "a La Follette 

 pocket borough." In states like Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska the La Fol- 

 lette collapse was even more complete. More prosperous times appeared to 

 be on the way for the wheat farmers, whose support the progressives had 

 counted on rather heavily. "The narrow escape of Senator Brookhart and 

 the defeat of Magnus Johnson both political leaders whose careers, like 

 Mr. La Follette's, rest chiefly upon the farmers' desire for higher prices 

 merely add emphasis to the situation." Organized labor gave him some 

 votes, but again not in the numbers for which the progressives had hoped. 

 The Socialists also were of help, but their vote never was impressive. Pro- 

 gressive leaders like Norris of Nebraska and Borah of Idaho gave him 

 little or no help. 80 



La Follette led the same type of movement in 1924 that he had been 



77. "La Follette and German Americans," New Republic, XL (October i, 1924), 

 pp. 108-10; "La Follette and the German Vote," Literary Digest, LXXXIII (Octo- 

 ber n, 1924), pp. 10-11. 



78. Edgar E. Robinson, The Presidential Vote, 1896-1932 (Palo Alto, 1934), 



P- 13- 



79. St. Paul. Dispatch, October 3, 1924. 



80. "La Follette's Failure as a Candidate," World's Wor\, XLIX (December, 

 1924), pp. 118-19; MacKay, The Progressive Movement of 1924, pp. 195-96. 



