EPILOGUE 559 



will depend on local action even more than on Federal or State action. 

 The Federal agencies may advise, assist, and coordinate, State agencies 

 may administer permissive or mandatory legislation, but in the end local 

 attitudes, policies, and actions are bound to be decisive. These can be 

 guided and influenced indeed, they must be if the downward trend is 

 to be stopped but they cannot be coerced." 7 



In 1939 the states of the western Middle West still held the lead in co- 

 operative activities. There were at the time some 1,364,402 farms in the 

 United States that reported doing business with cooperatives. Of these, 

 589,205 were located in the western Middle West. The Pacific Coast states 

 California, Washington, and Oregon were a strong second. Individ- 

 ually and on a percentage basis, Minnesota ranked first with 66.0 per cent, 

 Wisconsin was second with 48.3, Iowa third with 45.3, Idaho fourth with 

 43.3, New York fifth with 39.9, and North Dakota sixth with 39.8. On the 

 basis of the number of farms doing business with cooperatives, Minnesota 

 also led the field with 130,261, Iowa was second with 96,639, Wisconsin 

 was third with 90,261, Ohio fourth with 71,599, and Illinois fifth with 

 70,296. Michigan, sixth with 61,199, was followed closely by New York 

 with 6i,o88. 8 



Both Republicans and Democrats paid tribute to the western Middle 

 West when it came to appointing a Secretary of Agriculture. At no time 

 was this recognition greater than during the twenties and thirties. Over 

 the period from 1921 to 1939, except for one temporary appointment, 

 this cabinet post was filled by a representative from the western Middle 

 West. Warren G. Harding called upon Henry Cantwell Wallace of Iowa 

 to fill this post, which he did until his death in 1924; Calvin Coolidge 

 chose William M. Jardine of Kansas, who served until 1929; Herbert 

 Hoover gave the post to Arthur Hyde of Missouri, who served through 

 the darkest years of the depression; and in 1933 Franklin Roosevelt ap- 

 pointed Henry Agard Wallace, also of Iowa, who held the position until 

 he was elected Vice-President of the United States. 



Both Hoover and Roosevelt realized the importance of the western 



7. Report of the Great Plains Committee, The Future of the Great Plains (75 

 Congress, i session, House Document 144, serial 10117, Washington, 1936), p. 10 

 [also in plain-title edition]. 



8. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1941, p. 704. 



