128 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



Washington found our mail-bags filled with let- 

 ters from strong men who were down, but not 

 out. Only one who has lived among farmers 

 could read between the lines the unwritten story 

 of the privations and disappointments and 

 actual tragedy which these letters carried. And 

 yet, the great mass of our people in the cities, 

 living in comparative comfort, read the mislead- 

 ing editorials in many newspapers and believed 

 that the Agricultural Bloc in Congress was 

 based upon a selfish class interest. 



More recently the suggestion has constantly 

 been repeated that there was soon to rise a new 

 party, some sort of an agrarian movement which 

 would sweep the farmers of the country into its 

 ranks. It has been argued that the farmers 

 of the country were becoming politically self- 

 conscious and were dazed by the knowledge of 

 their power when organized. 



That there are no grounds for such an outcome 

 to the situation can be demonstrated by examin- 

 ing the political balance of the groups that have 

 been organized in Congress. The political 

 managers have been obliged to revise their 

 tactics, however, since there are two outstanding 

 features of the Blocks activities which have been 

 disconcerting to many of them. The first is 



