AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



Roosevelt a 3 to 2 lead in the state, and the pro-Hoover Des Moines Regis- 

 ter gave him a 5 to 3 advantage. 17 



In his Des Moines speech Hoover called attention to the economic storm 

 "which embraces the whole world," ascribed it to "a terrific eruption in 

 civilization itself," and then recited the efforts made by his administration 

 to check industrial strife, unemployment, falling prices, foreclosures, 

 and the drought and to balance the budget. His faith in the Smoot-Haw- 

 ley tariff was as uncompromising as his belief in the gold standard. He 

 felt it unfortunate that in 1930 the Democrats had gained control of the 

 House of Representatives, and assailed the opposition party for its failure 

 to place patriotism above party. The tariff, he repeated, was the "very 

 basis of safety to American agriculture." ] 



The other parts of his twelve-point relief program for agriculture in- 

 cluded the repeal of the stabilization features of the Agricultural Market- 

 ing Act, the adoption of a "sound" land-use program, advancement of 

 the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence seaway, relief for drought-stricken debtors, 

 a readjustment of land taxes, extension of short-term credits, loans to 

 processors to enable them to carry their usual stocks, the extension of 

 credits for the sale of farm products abroad, mortgage relief, recovery 

 of world markets through disarmaments and peace, the use of "any an- 

 nual payment on the foreign debt" for the expansion of the foreign mar- 

 ket, and finally a reversal in the "process of deflation" to "bring things 

 back to their real values." 1 



With Roosevelt elected President, the chances for the passage of some 

 kind of domestic allotment bill grew brighter. Many were becoming 

 more receptive to the plan. No doubt the "decisive November elections" 

 helped make up the minds of those who were still hesitant. But much to 

 the disgust of the new administration, the big farm organizations were 

 still divided. Then something happened. "On December 12 and 13 'the 

 most representative group of farm leaders ever assembled in the United 

 States' met in Washington's Hotel Harrington and there behind locked 

 doors conferred long and earnestly with Henry Morgenthau, Jr. ... pub- 

 lisher of the American Agriculturist, and Roosevelt's right-hand man in 



17. "Hoover's Fight for the West," Literary Digest, CXIV (October 15, 1932), 

 pp. 7-8. 



1 8. Myers, Public Writings of Herbert Hoover, II, 295-97, 301-6, 309. 



19. Ibid., pp. 309-17. 



