THE FARMERS' PROGRAM 133 



popularity. Cool-headed farmers knew that 

 most of the accusations were groundless and 

 would pass with the change in the public tem- 

 per, so they gave but little thought to the 

 situation. 



As it happened, the organization of powerful 

 national farmers' associations with the purpose 

 to develop business and educational improve- 

 ments was taking place at the same time. The 

 nervous city press was unable to distinguish 

 between a conservative business farm organiza- 

 tion and a radical group which met occasionally 

 to relieve its feelings in a protest meeting. The 

 result was that farm organizations as a whole 

 began to seriously disturb quite a lot of the city 

 people and not a few of the members of legisla- 

 tures and Congress. Without taking the trou- 

 ble to secure the facts, they jumped to the con- 

 clusion, that the farm organization movement 

 was headed toward socialism or something of 

 the sort and proceeded to object to anything 

 that emanated from an organized farm group. 



The result of this situation was that when the 

 Agricultural Group began to meet in Washing- 

 ton there was a perfect panic in the editorial 

 minds of some of our large city publications 

 with the fear that this farmers' revolutionary 



