146 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



some six months and its determination and effec- 

 tiveness was coming to be well understood. It 

 was discovered that suggestions in various quar- 

 ters would accomplish the result almost as 

 quickly as action in the Senate. When it was 

 realized that the Bloc had organized for action 

 and not merely for agitation, its influence in- 

 creased. 



From the very first meeting the Agricultural 

 Bloc was favored with the constructive advice 

 of leaders who were familiar with the agri- 

 cultural situation as well as numbers of other 

 men prominent in national affairs, business and 

 industiy, who realized that the improvement of 

 agricultural conditions was the first step to- 

 ward the revival of prosperity. 



In this group must be named Secretary of 

 Agriculture Wallace, Secretary of Commerce 

 Hoover, James E. Howard, President of the 

 American Farm Bureau Federation; Charles 

 S. Barrett, President of the Farmers' Union; 

 S. J. Lowell, Master of the National Grange; 

 Fred H. Bixby, President of the American 

 National Live Stock Association; Gifford Pin- 

 chot, Barney Baruch, Eugene Meyer, Smith 

 Brookhart, Aaron Sapiro, and Thomas A. 

 Edison. 



