Arthur Capper

Arthur Capper was an American politician and publisher from Kansas who became one of the most influential voices for organized agriculture in the United States Senate. He served as governor of Kansas from 1915 to 1919 and then represented Kansas in the Senate from 1919 to 1949, where he chaired the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry and led the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture. He co-sponsored the Capper-Volstead Act, which gave farmers the legal right to market and process their crops cooperatively without violating antitrust law, a protection that became foundational to the American farm cooperative movement. Capper had earlier served as president of the Board of Regents of Kansas State Agricultural College and built a large farm publishing business, including Capper's Weekly, that gave him a direct line to the farm families whose interests he championed in Washington.