132 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



affairs by the world war. Some of the very 

 provincial self-styled statesmen of the East 

 worked up a greater fear of the wave of unrest 

 which was sweeping the country-side than they 

 had experienced for a long time. 



We were faced with a constant discussion of 

 the spread of Bolshevism, Red doctrines and 

 Socialism among our farm people. The nation 

 was warned time and again that its foundations 

 were being undermined by the very people upon 

 whom we had depended for standards of liberty. 

 Minor incidents such as occur in some commu- 

 nities every day were given wide publicity as 

 evidence that the farmers of the country were 

 becoming dangerously radical. Sensational 

 writers* sought for material to feed this popular 

 demand and were able to supply instances 

 enough to keep the agitation going. Business 

 men from eastern cities who had apparently 

 assumed that the old reliable farmer was still 

 thinking in the terms of 189Q and had not been 

 keeping abreast of national progress became de- 

 cidedly nervous and jumpy because of this 

 imaginary danger of farm radicalism. 



There were a few professional agitators who 

 lived by leading insurgent movements among 

 groups of farmers who had a lively day of 



