THE FARM STRIKE 44 1 



In the fall of 1931 hostilities broke out again when "armed agents" met 

 the resistance of about four hundred farmers in Tipton. Governor Dan 

 Turner was advised of the situation while he was in Washington at- 

 tending a conference. He immediately declared martial law and hurried 

 back to the scene of the disturbances. 17 Violence broke out, accompanied 

 by the exchange of heated words, mud, clubs, and tear gas. The law was 

 enforced, but at an estimated cost of about $2,500 per day a heavy item 

 to an administration that had committed itself to economy. Threats of 

 staging taxpayers' strikes and of boycotting unsympathetic merchants 

 were heard, but the veterinarians proceeded with their work and the cows 

 were tested. 18 



The bulk of the Iowa farmers were not in sympathy with the objectors, 

 yet the outbreak was indicative of the temper of certain areas of the nation, 

 both rural and urban, which had been floundering in the depths of depres- 

 sion with slight evidence of relief in sight. The "cow war" also demon- 

 strated the hostility of certain farmers to the far-reaching hand of the 

 government, colleges, and other centralized agencies, especially at a time 

 of falling prices. In addition, this outbreak furnished a precedent for the 

 farm strike that was to gain more attention and for which the "cow war" 

 had served as more or less a proving ground. 



A "farm strike" was nothing new. It had been attempted with limited 

 success during the first decade of the twentieth century by the Equity 

 and the Farmers' Union. In 1920 shortly after the withdrawal of govern- 

 ment guarantees, wheat farmers were talking in terms of striking and 

 holding their wheat until they got $3.00 a bushel for it. Milo Reno favored 

 such action at that time. 19 As time elapsed farm-strike sentiment appears 

 to have been gaining headway among certain Farmers' Union leaders. 20 

 In 1930 one Union leader suggested that "if the farmers of the nation 

 would band together and for sixty days neither sell nor buy from industry, 

 the farm problem would be solved any way farmers wanted it solved." 21 



17. Des Moines Register, September 22, 1931; Des Moines Tribune, September 

 22, 1931. 



18. Ibid., September 24, 1931. 



19. New Farmer, October 30, November 27, 1920; Oklahoma Union Farmer 

 (Oklahoma City), December, 1920, p. 323. 



20. Des Moines Tribune, September 25, 1931; Des Moines Register, September 

 27, 1931. 



21. Ibid., September 19, 1930. 



