4 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



Ah, the courage of Coolidge is vastly underestimated. He bares his breast to 

 the arrows of outrageous fortune in defense of the steel trust and the banker 

 with an unparalleled calmness and remains Cool! There is none to make him 

 afraid, for his prayer at eventide runs: "The Steel Trust giveth and the Steel 

 Trust taketh away; blessed be the name of the Steel Trust." With such a faith 

 who could know fear ? 



Certain, serene cool and calm are adjectives no longer good enough as Mr. 

 Coolidge makes ready to visit the West for the summer and in a few nasal- 

 toned speeches will convert the rabble to his view. The Western farmer needs 

 only his persuasive drawl to fall down and worship. Could courage go to loftier 

 heights? Could moral man exhibit greater self-reliance? He will come West 

 and fish! He, who until last year, never threw a line into a stream unless it 

 was the muddy pool of politics. He, who posing as a farmer, has never been out 

 of political office since maturity. He will come West and convert us to the 

 Mellon notion that the West must raise food for Mellon's employees at less 

 than cost. 77 



This same journalist added that for years the Bible circulated more freely 

 than did any other book published, but now even that has to take "a back 

 seat" for that "matchless piece of literature" known as the President's 

 veto message. 78 



That summer Coolidge decided to spend his vacation in South Dakota. 

 Farm spokesmen insisted that the President had decided to come there 

 in order to learn firsthand the condition of agriculture and also to pacify 

 the farmers, but even at that the St. Paul Pioneer Press was willing to 

 admit that the farmers were not so angry with the administration as orig- 

 inally had been believed. Farm prices had been rising and the price of 

 manufactured commodities had been dropping, which meant that some 

 real progress was being made toward a favorable exchange ratio. 79 



McNary-Haugenite leaders, however, felt snubbed when the President 

 failed to invite them to the summer White House to discuss the farm 

 problem with him. Also taken as a rebuff was the unwillingness of the 

 President to send a message to the farm conference that had been sched- 

 uled to assemble in St. Paul on July 12 and i3. 80 



This latest conference was expected to draw some 1,500 farmers from 



77. Farmers' Union Herald, March, 1927. 



78. Ibid., May, 1927. 



79. Pioneer Press, June 19, 1927. 



80. St. Paul Dispatch, June 25, 1927; Pioneer Press, June 20, 1927. 



