8 ^'HE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



This organization movement met opposition 

 from business concerns, both large and small, 

 and the very organization which was designed 

 to promote orderly marketing to stabilize prices 

 and conserve the food supply for the consumer 

 was declared in conflict with the anti-trust 

 legislation. 



Efforts to secure a definition and authority 

 for farm cooperation under the law were met 

 with opposition from middlemen's organiza- 

 tions and large business concerns. Farm co- 

 operation, which has proved successful for gen- 

 erations in Europe and other countries, was 

 strenuously opposed here. There was not an 

 economist nor an authority on agriculture who 

 did not advocate cooperation to some degree. 

 They all knew that the methods of a corpora- 

 tion would not do for agriculture because farms 

 are independent units, each widely separated 

 unit producing a variety of products, that can 

 not be welded into a corporate aggregation. 



For many years the cattle men had protested 

 against the control of the live stock industry 

 by the packing industry, and there had been 

 constant agitation for packer control but with- 

 out result. The abuses of the grain exchanges 

 had been pointed out repeatedly without any- 



