Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-06-24
A WORD ABOUT RAlNLESS DAYS
AND GREAT FORGOTTEN THINGS
The Drought and Its Dangers to the
crops Considered In Relation to the
General Scheme Of Life Hereabouts

General Scheme OF LIE Hereabouts
WHAT is the most important thing in the
w world?
Fling that question suddenly at an average
crowd anywherc--at. sav, the sort Of crowd
that gathers so easily on City Hall Plaza
and the diversity of the replies will show you
what is the matter with civilization
Determined voices would be lifted for the
Republican Party. There would be votes
Tor the Nolstcad act, for Mr. Bryans code
of modern ethics. for the protective tariff,
for electric energy. for the Treaty of Yer
saillcs. for the philosophy of Mr. Wilson
and for thousand other things.
Once in whie--not often in these parts.
but pretty frequently in the Middle West.
in some parts of China and in limited areas
of Europc--the fog through which men see
with so much difficulty is suddenly cleared.
There Is a flood or drought Then it is
apparent that there are only two indispcn-
sable things upon this earth Everything
depends on them; everything needed. valued
or desired in life They cost nobody any
thing, not even an effort Of mind One is
sunlight. The other is rain.
So long as these things fall in accordance
with immCmoral routine out of tho silence
and mystery Of the skies there ought to be
no need for complaint. Should thcv fail for
even II little while. there could BE- only
doubt. fear. hunger. panic and chaos in an
inevitable and dreadful succession. Men
take a vast lot for granted Who doesh
complain because the sun is too hot or the
rain too wet?
Up Burlington County way. in what Jer-
seymen like to call the richest bit of earth
in tho East. there has been no rain to amount
TO anything for almost two months. Miles
of cornfelds arc dry and heavy with the
dust thrown up from the roadways by un-
troubled vaCationiStS who believe that the
twin six gasoline engine Il the supreme tri
umph of the agos--the greatest thing in the
world.
Down in the regions Of Delaware and
Maryland. known as the green corn Coun-
try where millions Of money annually
come out Of the ground for the growers,
numberlcsS people stare daily to the sky az
II they were awaiting miracle. There has
been no rain there, either
In all the farm regions Of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania folk. who have put almost a
year of labor into the soil see all their hopes
and rewards dependent on "a good fall of
rain
People everywhere are beginning to talk
as if drought were upon the whole East.
But the East doesn't know tho meaning Of
drought To know what q drought can
mean tn a community. to the individual for
tunes Of a man. you have to 60 to the Mid
die West. to the plains and the plantations
where people get nothing that they do not
wiring out of the earth with their hands
Failure Of the sun tN shine at the right
times. failure Of rain in midsoason. NAV and
often does mean to the Middle Western
farmer loss and confusion that cannot be
rrnaired for years or for half a lifetime.
II is no wonder that tho typical farmer,
working as he does. putting his seed in the
ground and his fortunes upon the knees of
the gods waiting for the rain and hearing it
fall in tho night reading his future not in
C0ngrcssmcns $ speeches. but in the temper
and direction of winds and the color of the
sky over his head remains a stubborn indi
vidualist hard to reconcile to the follies and
fippancics of the newer schools of politics
and economic theory. II is from men of this
sort that Uncle Joe Cannon got most of his
philosophy and all Of his celebrated imra
ticncp with the faddists in Washington who
seem now and then to believe that riches and
luxury can somehow be trickod out of the
natural earth without toll or sweat.
It is odd to feel that a season of dry
and parching weather should be required to
remind people generally that they survive
only through the smooth operation and co.
ordination of forces that they cannot
measure. control or comprehend. They live
because IN" rains fall in April and because
the sun shines warmest in July. The
scheme on which they depend is mysteri
ousv, firmly fixed. II it were to vary ever
so slightly there would be- uproar and misery,
The rain doubtless will come in time to
save all the Eastern crops. II alwavS does.
That is why life ought to bc good deal
more happy and more peaceful than it Is.
Its essential needs are provided for. 1t
holds no troubles that cannot be easily dis
posed Of. II men bicker and brawl and
torment each other in large and small ways
it is, perhaps. because they lack the dieci-
plinc that contact with real and general
misfortune usually brings. Humanity rows
and RACES and imagnos itself unfortunate
because apparently. it cannot be happy
without being troubled or aOrrowful.