The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-06-18

Washington, June 1.-THE insurinl
| OF crops not only against fire and hail
but also against drouth. insect pest
and plant diseases. SO that when 1
farmer plants crop he will be as
sured Of a certain financial return pei
acre, Is a project which is now engag.
ing the attention OF experts in and oul
OF the government.
Crop insurance. as explained by III
exponents. would be OF the utmost Inn
| portance. not only TO farmers, but tc
the entire business and financial world
Nearly every farming section Of the
United states has money crop" upon
which the entire prosperity of that sec
ton depends. In Kansas, they watch
the wheat crop as a mother watches a
sick child. Not only the farmers. but
the bankers. the merchants. and In
ness and financial interest, is depend
ent upon the wheat crop. In the south,
everyone's hope Of an easy winter and
new car hinges on how the cotton
grows; In the middle west King Corn
u the arbiter OF all destinies. and in
the northwest hope wanes or wakes
with the apple yield.
When a money crop fails in county
or state. that county or state suffers
directlY-and the whole country suffers
Indirectly. 1t is not the loss of given
amount OF wheat or cotton, which, per-
haps could not be prevented. that does
the harm. The most serious result is
that the hard-hit farmers are crippled
In their next years operations. And
they are unable to meet their obliga-
lions. Thus the bankers and merchants
suffer. These scenes of crop failure,
scattered all over the country, are un-
sound spots In the business texture of
the country; they affect business every
where.
rrh.ra q. 80 .na.... -. 49,. ...s.,A
sections should thus suffer, and cause
the rest OF the country to suffer. The
individual farmers and business men
affected cannot stand the loss, but the
country as a whole can stand II, and
the country as whole should bear the
burden.
Grain crops are now generally insured
against destruction by hail. and In some
sections they are insured against fire.
But the farmer has no protection
against the ravages of the hessian fly,
for example. or against the smut, and
none against drouth or floods.
The experts say that protection by in
thoroughly practicable. Indeed, there
is scarcely anything which cannot be
safely insured, II the insying organiza-
ton Is strong enough. Lloyd's, OF Lon
don, which insures, among a host of
other things, the hands OF musicians,
SlHBcIS VulceS, anu tne sex OF UNBORN
children, has proved that.
During the war a strong demand
sprang up for government crop insur-
ance. Famers were being called upon
by the government to plant every posi-
BILE acre In certain selected crops
IF am to risk everything I have in
extending my operations" said the
farmer to the government. you must
insure me against loss" Many letters
IN this tenor reached the department of
agriculture, senators and congressman.
The experts say, that II the war had
continued another year, the government
would have been compelled to offer
:rop insurance in order to get out of |
he farmers the foodstuffs 1t needed. |
But with the ending of the war came |
/ strong reaction against government |
and less immediate need |
or this particular enterprise. Con- |
FRESHMAN King. of Illinois, has long |
,een an advocate of government crop