NEW DEAL: FIRST PHASES 



ness of such action, yet said that he would not hesitate to join in such a 

 move if the other governors did. Governor Tom Berry of South Dakota 

 expressed sympathy, but refrained from so acting because he lacked the 

 authority. Governor Clyde Herring of Iowa said that he had no intention 

 of proclaiming an embargo, and Governor Charles Bryan of Nebraska 

 declined to comment after his attorney general said that he lacked the 

 authority. 



The Langer embargo placed the railroads in a quandary. If they defied 

 it, they would be in for a first-class legal and political battle with the state 

 administration and a large faction of the farmers who supported Langer; 

 besides they would be accused of playing the game of the grain trade, 

 which was so roundly hated in the state. On the other hand, if the roads 

 sat back and awaited action by the grain trade to break the embargo, 

 their yards would be choked with blocked cars, liabilities for delayed 

 shipments would arise, and a mass of litigation would result. 17 



It was hard to see just what good such an embargo would bring, other 

 than to focus more attention on the well-known plight of the farmers. 

 After all, wheat was a standard world crop and the withdrawal of the 

 ouput of one state would have little effect on prices. It was estimated that 

 about 45 per cent of all the wheat already had been sold for the season 

 and that North Dakota was likely to be in for more difficulties because 

 it did not have a large enough local market to absorb its crop. 18 



Meanwhile, the presidents of the four railroads shipping wheat notified 

 Governor Langer that they would be forced, under the Interstate Com- 

 merce Act, to accept wheat for shipment and to transport it despite the 

 embargo. In fact North Dakota wheat was beginning to move into Minne- 

 sota when the adjutant general's office started to make plans to use the 

 national guard. 19 



About a month later North Dakota lifted its ban on out-of-state ship- 

 ments of durum for a period of six days, but the embargo on spring wheat 

 continued. The reason given for this action was that durum prices had 

 risen to the point at which the Canadian product could be shipped into 

 the United States, even with the tariff of forty-two cents on it, and still be 



17. Pioneer Press, October 18, 1933. 



18. Ibid., October 17, 1933; St. Paul Dispatch, October 17, 1933. 



19. Ibid., October 19, 1933. 



