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Congressman Knud Wefald, a Minnesota Voice for Farm Parity

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Congressman Knud Wefald, a Minnesota Voice for Farm Parity MR. WEFALD is tt teaching fellow in the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he is studying for a doctorate in American intellectual history. The present article is adapted from his master's thesis on the political career of his grandfather. Congressman KNUD WEFALD A Minnesota Voice for Farm Parity J ON M. WEFALD RUNNING under the newly-raised banner railroad freight rates remained high, and of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor coalition in prices on farm equipment continued at war­ 1922, Knud Wefald, a Hawley lumber time inflation levels. Combined with the per­ dealer, defeated the Republican incumbent, sistent problems that had for years troubled Halvor Steenorson, in the battle for Minne­ the American farmer — mortgage indebted­ sota's ninth district Congressional seat. We- ness, high interest and freight rates, and fald's success was one of many ominous signs farm equipment monopohes — were the of an impending farm revolt, for the Red problems of export surpluses swollen by ex­ River Valley and the wheat belt of the panded acreage and improved production Northern Plains were among the first areas techniques. By the 1922 mid-term elections, to feel the impact of the postwar agricultural farm insurgents, making use of a deteriorat­ crisis. The new Representative was to spend ing agricultural situation, and stressing Re­ the next four years in Washington demand­ publican blunders, gained election victories ing aid from the federal government for the in the North Star State and several others, crumbling economy of the nation's farm including Indiana, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and population. In that time he became one of North Dakota. Wefald was one of three Minnesota's leading spokesmen for the prin­ Minnesota Farmer-Labor candidates who ciples which, embodied in the ill-fated moved into the Congress that year, the other McNary-Haugen bills, were to foreshadow two being Ole J. Kvale, elected to the House, more than a quarter century of federal agri­ and Henrik Shipstead, sent to the Senate.^ cultural policy. Born in Kragero, Norway, on November With the end of World War I, farm prices 3, 1869, Wefald, like many other Norwe­ slid downward and continued in most in­ gians in the 1880s, left his birthplace to emi­ stances to fall below prewar figures, while grate to Minnesota. He arrived there in 1887, and after working as a farm laborer in Fos­ 'James H. Shideler, Farm Crisis, 1919-1923, sum for several years, he moved to the agri­ 221-223 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1957); Theo­ cultural community of Hawley, where he en­ dore Saloutos and John D. Hicks, Agricultural Dis­ content in the Middle West, 1900-1939, 102-110 tered the lumber business. As manager of (Madison, Wisconsin, 1951); George H. Mayer, the Wilcox Lumber Company from 1896 to The Political Career of Floyd B. Olson, 24 (Min­ 1902 and secretary-manager of the Hawley neapolis, 1951). December 1962 177 Lumber Company from 1903 to 1923, he as the Esch-Cummins biU, a measure that came in contact with many farmers from had pervasive ramifications for the Repubh­ the surrounding area. According to Harold can party in the national elections of 1922. Wefald of Fargo, North Dakota, "It was my Wefald was aware of the intense opposition father's activity in the lumber business that in the Middle West to those who had voted made him see the plight of the farmer."^ for this act. While in Hawley, Wefald was seven times The bill, which became law on February elected president of the town council and 28, 1920, directed the Interstate Commerce served two terms in the state legislature Commission to establish rates so that car­ from 1913 to 1915. This pohtical experience riers would earn a fair return on the aggre­ largely accounted for his nomination to the gate value of their property. The return was ninth district Congressional seat in 1922. set at five and a half per cent on the values Wefald's election was due in part to the of the properties, and the commission was support he received from members of authorized to increase this by a half of one the Nonpartisan League, an organization per cent to provide funds for needed capital founded by Arthur C. Townley of North Da­ improvement. The result in some sections kota in 1915 and dedicated to securing eco­ of the country was freight rate increases nomic relief for the farmer. Gaining rapid ranging from thirty-five to forty per cent. success in North Dakota, Townley decided As rates climbed in the fall of 1920, prices to extend operations to Minnesota in 1917. for farm products began their downward But rebellious farmers were not enough to trend, and farmers naturally pointed to the insure League victory in Minnesota as they Esch-Cummins Act as a cause of their dis­ had in North Dakota. Finding that support tress. To them, Republican prosperity from the urban dwellers of the Twin Cities seemed designed only to favor certain and the laborers of the Iron Range was groups. Farmers watched as industrial needed to gain state-wide backing, Townley profits zoomed upward, leaving them to by 1918 was convinced that the League plow through the dust of low farm prices had to broaden its political base by courting and high consumer costs. Antipathy in the organized labor. From this arrangement the ninth district to Steenorson's vote for the Farmer-Labor party of Minnesota was born.^ measure was sensed by Wefald, who ob­ Townley argued that genuine farm relief served, "I think that Steenorson is the strong­ could be achieved only if farm representa­ est [candidate] around here, but even the tives worked within the framework of the merchants remember how he lauded the two major parties. But his Minnesota col­ Esch-Cummins bill to the skies and they leagues overruled him in the 1922 election swear every time they pay a freight bill."^ when a full slate of candidates ran on the third-party Farmer-Labor ticket. Their suc­ CONGRESS had passed three important cess in capturing Congressional seats was agricultural bills from 1921 to 1923. The counterbalanced by failure in the race for ' Joseph A. A. Burnquist, ed., Minnesota and Its state offices.* People, 4:660 (Chicago, 1924); Hawley Herald, Wefald launched his campaign by exploit­ October 29, 1936; interview with Harold Wefald, ing farm resentment against a phlegmatic June 17, 1960. ^ Robert L. Morlan, Political Prairie Fire: The Republican party and articulating the hopes Nonpartisan League, 1915-1922, 191, 207 (Minne­ of the Red River Valley farmers. He criti­ apolis, 1955); Mayer, Floyd B. Olson, 18-22. cized his opponent's position in the Congress * Morlan, Political Prairie Fire, 345; Mayer, Floyd B. Olson, 24. during a sixteen-year tenure and pledged " Shideler, Farm Crisis, 28; Murray R. Benedict, himself to a new deal for the farmer. He Farm Policies of the United States, 1790-1950, 170 played up, moreover, Steenorson's vote for (New York, 1953); Wefald to N. E. Thormodson, February 14, 1922, Wefald Papers, in the possession the Transportation Act of 1920, also known of the Minnesota Historical Society. 178 MINNESOTA History KNUD Wefald at his desk in the Minnesota State Capitol, 1913 Capper-Volstead Act of 1922, which bore Credit Banks, through which the federal the name of Minnesota Representative An­ government could extend short-term loans drew J. Volstead, legalized co-operative to organized groups of farmers. This legis­ marketing associations; the Grain Futures lation, however, did not seem sufficient to Act, passed in the same year, sought to pre­ many farm leaders, including the new Rep- vent discrimination against such associa­ sentative from the Red River Valley. Aware tions by boards of trade and chambers of of extensive government support for Ameri­ commerce; and the Agricultural Credits Act can business and industry, and searching of 1923 set up a system of Intermediate for ways to realign the economic balance of power to benefit the American farmer, We­ " Saloutos and Hicks, Agricultural Discontent, fald began backing the farm bloc in Con­ 288, 322, 340; John D. Hicks, Republican Ascend­ gress by supporting one of the most impor­ ancy, 1921-1933, 193-195 (New York, 1960); Wil­ fiam E. Leuchtenberg, The Perth of Prosperity, tant proposals set forth by that group in the 101-103 (Chicago, 1958). The bipartisan pressure 1920s: the McNary-Haugen bdl.« group known through the 1920s as the "farm bloc" came into existence in 1921 as a response to the The measure was conceived by George N. decline in farm prices and the fact that neither major Peek and Hugh S. Johnson, two capable and party had a strong farm refief program. It included energetic executives of the Moline Plow at one time or another some thirty Senators and as many as a hundred Congressmen. (Hicks and Sa­ Company of Moline, Illinois. Viewing loutos, Agricultural Discontent, 321-341.) The bleakly the sales charts of their enterprise, McNary-Haugen bill received its name from its sponsors. Senator Charles L. McNary of Oregon and they saw mounting losses due to a dwin­ Representative Gilbert N. Haugen of Iowa. dling market for farm machinery. Peek's re- December 1962 179 mark was telling: "You can't sell a plow to ized at two hundred million dollars, with a busted customer."'^ Coining the phrase power to buy and dispose of surpluses. If the "equality for agriculture," Peek initiated a export corporation, consisting of the secre­ movement that continued until the passage tary of agriculture and four presidential of the Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1933. appointees, found the domestic price of a Advocates of his plan attempted to pass basic farm commodity lower than the ratio legislation that would fit neatly into the price, it was to buy the surplus at the ra­ framework of the Republican party princi­ tio figure.
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