The Washington herald., 1918-08-14

puzzling the political leaders.
None of the leaders knows. ap-
parently. just what direction the
farmers will go this year. There
are indications that they may band
together. but in what party and
for what candidates the leaders can
not tell at this time very clearly.
Not everything has been run to
suit the taste or the desires OF the
soil tillers. They have felt this
very keenly in some instances and
there are some Of the leaders who
have utilized this TO swing the agri-
culturists in their direction-that
Is, they feel that they have been
swung in their direction. Whether
they have remains to be seen. Tho
primary elections, about to be held
in a number of the States will DEM
onstrate what the farmers intend
to do this year.
At the outset let II be said, how
ever, that the farmers are loyal.
They have done all that has been
asked of them--and more. They
have sent their sons to war, they
have bought bonds and stamps. they
have contributed to the Red Cross,
the Y. NJ. C. A, the K. of c. and
everything legitimate in war activi-
ties. But the following editorial
from Henry wallace's pen. which
has been approved by many farmers,
and by multitude of farm organiZa-
tions speaks their mind in one di-
rection. 1t may presage a vote
against Democratic Senators and
Congressman 1t may not Any
hA l. 1T,
they knew what II meant. The
editorial, which bears largely on
the lease of life given the baseball
leagues. reads in part as follows:
when Ii was announced that a
heavy call for men would be made
In July, it was explained to the
authorities at Washington that this
call would come at a very bad time
for the farmer: that the small gram
harvest was just in progress, and that
the farmer would have a good deal
OF trouble to get help to save the
grain. But the word came back that
that situation on the fighting line
would permit of no delay: that we
must push the work of training SOL
diers just as rapidly as possible.
THE farmers Of the country ac-
cepted this ruling with the same phil
osophy that they have been accept.
ing everything else that the govern
ment has thought 1t necessary to do.
Boys were called from the farms right
In the midst of the harvest. Marriei
farmers who were farming for them
selves have been called without being
given time to arrange their affairs.
But the baseball player seems to be
in very different class. He is con-
tributing nothing toward the winning
OF the war. He is engaged in a wholly
unnecessary occupation; but for some
inscrutable reason he is permitted to
go right along. 1t may be all right.
We hope it is. But we think the
farmer who is working fourteen to
eighteen hours a day, and is having
to depend upon unskilled labor to take
the place of his sons. would like to be
shown"
What will the government do after
the war with the railroads, the ex-
press companies, and the telephone
and telegraph companies?
The companies managers wish they
knew.
The people have varying attitudes
VII lHe QuesdoH. Ine people Will
settle it eventually. of course, but
the satisfactory solution. to them, ap-
pears not to have Shown up in
the offing rs yet.
Mr.. c. l. Hitchcock, an insurance
man, of Louisville, KY, and one OF
the leaders in his profession in the
nation thinks the Insurance field may
be invaded while Uncle Sam is march
ing on taking one public business
after another under his wing. Mr.,
Hitchcock voices his aiarm-and his
opposition-in an article from which
we quote the following:
The business of insurance Is q
phase of Individual endeavor, and
has been so since its inception. II
is not government function, as So
cialistic propagandists would have US
believe. You may have your differ
ences with 1t, Just as you may
with your banker and your haber,
dasher. But that Is no reason why
the government should undertake
either banking or haberdasherys Ye,
We find men who would have our
government go into the insurance
business and try the social upiif,
in q wholesale way by compulsion
A government "of the people" by the
people and for the people" does not,
or rather should not, do actual bust.
ness. Yet the signs are all pointing
to its actual entry into the insur-
ance business.
'Do not naistAka ma IN thinklns