“L” is for Lever, Asbury Francis (1875-1940)

“L” is for Lever, Asbury Francis (1875-1940). Congressman. A Native of Lexington County, Lever graduated from Newberry College. In 1900 he was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives. In 1901 Lever was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was re-elected eight times.. He rose to become chair of the powerful House Agriculture Committee. He was co-author of the Smith-Lever Act that established the Cooperative Extension Service (1914) and the author of the Farm Loan Act (1916). The Lever Food Act (1917) gave the president the authority to regulate production and distribution of commodities vital to the war effort. Asbury Francis Lever’s role in the passage of several important pieces of legislation that made him a major figure in pre-New Deal federal agricultural policy and earned him the title “grandfather of American agricultural legislation.”