The nonpartisan leader., 1919-09-22
"Wait," Houston Tells Dr0uth Farmers
Secretary of Agriculture Sinclair Relief
Plan to Extend Aid in Fifteen Twenty Years

nty Years
farm acreage is not worth farming. At least not
sufficiently to Justify the risk of making fed
eral loans.
Northwestern farmers who have been hit by the
drouth are themselves the best judges of the Sec
retary's statement that for several weeks the de-
partment has been "actively cooperating with the
state and local authorities and the farmers and
stockmen of drouth-strcken regions in making
rangements for securing feed for livestock and,
where necessary, for removing the stock from Sec
tions where their maintenance has become impos-
sible on account of lack of feed and water to
tons in the same or other states where feed and
water available" 1t is known here that the
department has made arrangements with the rail-
road administration that cattle shipped to unaf-
fected regions at full transportation charges may
be brought back later at onethird normal railroad
charge. But the rebate is only for bringing the
cattle back and it seems unlikely that any farmer
would deem the trouble of repatriation worth while
for any but the minority of mich cows.
PLAN is PRACTICABLE
SECRETARY ADMITS
Mr.. Houston freely admits the practicability
of the Sinclair bill when he says that through
the machinery and personnel of the depart
ment and of the federal farms loan banks, the
type of relief proposed by the bill could be ad-
ministered." He asserts, however, that
such use of federal funds is proposed by the
Sinclair bill has yet been sanctioned by the
government except war emergency. He
neglects to mention the statements of Herbert
Hoover that food production will remain
"war emergency" for several years. His stand
is, in reality, direct rebuff to the presidents
repeated pleas to the farmers in favor of in
creased production.
Representative Sinclair himself is of the opinion
that when matters Of strictly local go
ing badly it is not the business of the federal gov
ernment to set them right unless local and state
aid prove unavailing. He holds, however, that the
drouth emergency in the Northwest is something
of national and worldwide Importance in view Of
food shortage and the intolerable cost of living
problem affecting the great cities. And Mr.. Hous-
ton himself admits that reports to this department
from those areas (Montana, Idaho and, to less
extent, North Dakota and Wyoming) indicate that
heavy damage has been done to both crops and
livestock"
The failure of the secretary Of agriculture to
indorse the Sinclair bi which probably means it's
indefinite pigeon-holing in the appropriations COM
mittee, emphasizes defect of legislative govern
ment at Washington which has become strongly
marked in recent years. More and more congress
is becoming legislative rubber stamp for the
executive departments When bill is introduced
the first question is always "What does so-and-so
(meanng the appropriate cabinet officer) think of
it?" No matter what the merits of the measure
if the secretary of the department concerned
frowns upon it, the bill is generally better than
waste paper. If he indorses it there are good
chances of passage, providing the measure
the inevitable gauntlet of partisan attack. The
result is tremendous Capitalization of power in
the hands of the cabinet officers who not
swerable to the people, who generally purely
political appontees, and who very often, in the
in point, have the scantest personal knowledge
of the problems they called upon to solve None
oG 4lo