Chapter XV 



i , 



THE FARM STRIKE 



THE FARM STRIKE short-lived, dramatic, and unsuccessful was an- 

 other episode in the expression of agricultural discontent. It began 

 in Iowa, and its leader was Milo Reno, the militant president of both the 

 Iowa Farmers' Union and the Farm Holiday Association and aggressive 

 advocate of "cost of production" as the basis for the farmer's price. This 

 opposition had two stages: first the farmers resisted the state veterinarians 

 who tested cattle for tuberculosis; and then as conditions worsened they 

 applied the principle of the "bank holiday" to agriculture, hoping that 

 this would encompass the nation unless relief was forthcoming to them 

 soon. The strikers sought to restrain their members from shipping goods 

 to market first by persuasion if possible, then if that failed, by using 

 force. But in these and other efforts they were no more successful in 

 alleviating the burdens of the farmers than the Federal Farm Board had 

 been. If it accomplished anything, the strike helped dramatize the plight 

 of the farmer as few events did. 



This movement had its incubation in Iowa, one of the wealthiest farm 

 states. The years 1929 to 1933 were among the most trying in its history. 

 As elsewhere, prices were dropping and debt burdens were high; hence 

 farmers who had purchased their land and equipment at inflated prices 

 found themselves face to face with bankruptcy. What had made the sit- 

 uation especially acute was the fact that the Iowa farmers had been so 

 prosperous. 1 



i. Staff of the Department of Economics at Iowa State College, The Agricultural 



