FARM BOARD TO FARM STRIKE 4*5 



wheat forthcoming for sale. Newspaper stories had it that speculative 

 sellers, who had been bears on the market, suddenly had become heavy 

 purchasers to reverse their former position. Excitement also broke loose 

 on the Minneapolis pit, where prices rose sharply on receipt of the news 

 of the actions of the Farmers' National. Even the Liverpool market was 

 said to have responded to this action and closed strongly before the Amer- 

 ican markets opened. 32 



If this latest move had what appeared to be a stabilizing influence on 

 wheat prices, it had no such effect on the wrath of the private grain trade, 

 which brought to a head a controversy that found Legge and Julius 

 Barnes, both close friends of Hoover, on opposite sides. This latest flare-up 

 gained farmer support for Legge, and caused many of the earlier skeptics 

 to feel that the Board chairman probably had their interests at heart after 

 all. The grain interests, through Barnes, made explicit their fears that 

 Board actions such as that of December were likely to bring about their 

 end. At one point, Barnes was quoted as saying that "the grain men are 

 willing to be eliminated by an evolutionary process of fair competition, 

 but not by unfair methods." If they were going to survive, there were 

 certain things that the administration had to do: the cooperatives belong- 

 ing to the Board had to be charged the commercial rate of interest instead 

 of the low government rates they reportedly had been paying, and the 

 private grain interests had to be consulted before the administration 

 embarked on a new policy. 33 



After the elapse of several weeks the grain interests quieted down, but 

 in the Minneapolis area the denunciation of the Farmers' National in 

 terms of socialism and communism was strong. The attitude of the United 

 States Chamber of Commerce was described as being one of "watchful 

 waiting." The canners and packers also appeared greatly worried over 

 what the Board would do next. It was empowered to aid the cooperatives 

 gain control of processing facilities, and this was precisely what the 

 processors did not want to happen. 34 



Early in 1930 the Farmers' National advanced its bid for No. i winter 



32. St. Paul Dispatch, December 21, 1929. 



33. "The Farm Board Finds a Fight," Literary Digest, CIV (January 4, 1930), 



PP- 5-7- 



34. "The Farm Board Plans a Little Canning," Business Wee\ (February i, 

 1930), p. 6. 



