Plight of a Millionaire Farmer

Some Democrats make an issue of John Block's borrowing

You are not the first farmer to be in financial difficulty primarily through no fault of your own." Thus wrote Senator James Exon, a Nebraska Democrat, in a letter that was probably intended to needle rather than console. The recipient: John Block, a millionaire hog farmer from Illinois who also happens to be Ronald Reagan's highly respected Secretary of Agriculture.

In fact, it is by no means sure that Block is in any serious economic trouble; Block dismissed all criticism as "political sniping," and the...

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