53 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



During the summer of 1938 the Wisconsin cheese producers were faced 

 with what was described as the greatest supply of cheese in the history 

 of the state. Appeals were being made for new outlets, wider circulation 

 of Wisconsin cheese, and even for a "cheese holiday." 7T The election that 

 fall gave the opponents of the trade program the chance to lay the blame 

 for the plight of the cheese industry on the trade treaties. 78 



Governor-elect Julius P. Heil of Wisconsin, whose respect for facts was 

 generally exceeded by his ignorance of them, said, "I think it is a shame 

 to allow farm produce from other countries to be sold in Wisconsin in 

 competition with your milk, your cheese, your peas, your cherries. . . ." 79- 

 He urged the citizens of Wisconsin to help the rural areas empty their 

 warehouses by purchasing their products. "First we have got to look after 

 our homes and fireside, and never mind the others." "If you want to send 

 Christmas presents to someone, why don't you send something that will 

 help the home state. Get a side of [Wisconsin] bacon or ham. Or, if you'd 

 rather send Wisconsin cheese, God bless you, send that. We have got to 

 get our warehouses empty." * 



The Republican Wisconsin State Journal in similar vein wrote: "The 

 only glimmer of light ... is that this nation will not enter into any 

 reciprocal agreements with Germany and that no opportunity will be 

 given for the dumping through a barter exchange of cheap labor products 

 from the Reich upon the people of the United States." 8 



Heil also was of the opinion that prosperity began not with the farmer 

 but with the industrialists. He made it plain that there could be no pros- 

 perity for either the farmer or labor unless it first came to the industrialist. 

 "It is so important that the industries be so busy so that the group of men 

 that I represent may have orders and employ men. Can't you realize that 

 you farmers cannot be prosperous unless industry is prosperous?" 



The following year Secretary Hull, speaking before the annual conven- 

 tion of the American Farm Bureau Federation, again reviewed the eco- 

 nomic dislocations that came after World War I, the disruptions in the 



77. Ibid., August n, 1938. 



78. Capital Times, November 22, 1938. 



79. Ibid., December 8, 1938. 



80. Ibid., November 28, 1938. 



81. Wisconsin State Journal, November 21, 1938. 



82. Capital Times, December 8, 1938. 



