The People's Experience: Farming and Labor
The Democratic campaign of 1916 focused on winning the allegiance of several key groups, one of which was farmers and laborers. To do so, the campaign emphasized Wilson's liberal legislation record. During the campaign months Wilson signed three very important bills involving farmers and labor, sealing this contingent of voters for the Democratic ticket.
The first major piece of legislation signed by Wilson during the campaign was the July 1916 Federal Farm Loan Act. This act established twelve regional farm loan banks, at which independent small farmers could borrow up to fifty percent of their land's value and twenty percent of their land improvements value. The first act of
its kind, the act allowed small farmers to compete with larger business farms. The act was criticized by some, because agricultural workers had to own land in order to benefit (thus excluding sharecroppers, the most destitute of farmers, from its benefits) and because the benefits were surrounded by mountains of red tape.
The second major piece of legislation was the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, signed in September. This act prohibited interstate commerce on goods produced by child labor.
The third major piece of legislation was the Adamson Act of 1916, also signed in September. The Adamson Act was the first law to limit the number of hours an employee could be expected to work during a day without overtime pay, limiting railroad workers to an eight hour day.
Combined, the Keating-Owen Act and the Adamson Act were considered a huge victory for labor. Along with his appointment of former labor leader William B. Wilson as Secretary of Labor, Wilson's record won him tireless support from labor leaders and laborers themselves. For example, the 1916 election saw the southern Wilson win a greater percentage of the vote than any Democratic candidate between 1904 and 1924 in the eight non-southern states with the greatest percentage of laborers.
Click here to read about The Inauguration of 1917.