=The Farmer in Politics.=—While the farmers of the United States do not possess a political organization of their own they are able through the various bodies mentioned in the preceding paragraph and through other associations to exercise a very important influence upon the action of the government. Many senators and representatives come from sections of the country where the farmers constitute an important element among the voters and on matters affecting the interests of agriculture these legislators usually stand together. In recent years this group of congressmen from the agricultural areas has been commonly known as the “agricultural bloc”; they do not form an actual majority in Congress, but they have usually had enough strength to get what they want. At the session of 1921 they obtained a tariff duty on wheat, which is in effect a tax on bread, and any political organization which can put a tax on bread must be powerful indeed. The farmers’ lobby at Washington is exceedingly strong. Attempts have been made to unite the farmers in the rural districts with the workers in the cities into a regular political party. At the presidential election of 1920 a so-termed Farmer-Labor ticket was placed in the field, but it did not muster much strength. A combination of these two elements, if it could be effective, would be all-powerful. It is very doubtful, however, if any such political combination can be really made. The interests of the two elements are too far apart. The farmers are producers of food; the city workers are consumers. One wants prices to stay high; the other wants them to come down. It will be difficult to get two such groups to come together and to stay together. [Sidenote: The rural exodus.] =The Special Problems of Rural Communities.=—One of the chief problems of every rural community is to keep its young men and women from migrating to the cities and towns. In many parts of the country the agricultural population is steadily declining by reason of the constant exodus to the towns, and wherever population decreases there is usually a fall in the value of land.[159] Thereupon the community ceases to move forward; the lands are neglected; methods of agriculture fail to keep pace with the times, and the whole region takes on a shabby appearance.