FARMERS: Parting

John Nance Garner looked down from his rostrum, his keen eyes seeing everything taking place on the Senate floor. Deliberately blind to half-a-dozen Senators on their feet clamoring to be heard, he put an end to four weeks of haggling, took a final roll call on the Pope-McGill Farm Bill. It was passed 59-to-29. His act was a defiance of the sacred tradition of free speech in the Senate, and an eminently sensible thing to do because 1) the bill was going to be passed anyhow, 2) its form was immaterial—it and...

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