156 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



Among the arguments advanced for adjourn- 

 ment were the hot weather ; the necessity of tak- 

 ing up tariff and revenue bills; and numerous 

 other reasons principally designed to detract 

 attention from the main objection which was 

 to pass over the matter until some later date. 

 Postponement is a favorite method of those who 

 are opposing legislation and can usually be put 

 down as a perfectly good reason for judging the 

 speaker to be an opponent of a measure even 

 though he will not admit it. 



When the matter of adjournment came to a 

 vote, the result was 27 to 24 against it, with 

 45 Senators absent or not voting. This was 

 only a beginning, however, of a number of 

 efforts to bring about an adjournment which 

 made it necessary for the representatives of 

 the Agricultural Bloc to stand solidly together 

 at all times. 



Wliile June had been a month in which much 

 legislation had been started on the way to pas- 

 sage, the record for August in the midst of 

 one of our hottest summers was one of the best 

 ever made so far as agricultural measures were 

 concerned. During that month both the Packer 

 Control Act and the Future Trading Act be- 

 came law. The contest on the Future Trading 



