The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-08-03
An Open Letter to
President Harding
Under-Nourished Business
Responsible For Under
Nourished Lives

Nourished Lives
Hon. Warren G. Harding,
| President Of the United States,
Washington, D. C.
My dear Mr. President:
Your profound interest in the
health and welfare of the people of
the South, as shown in your recent
! letter called forth by the state
ments in regard to the spread Of
pellagra, due to under-nourished
conditions Of many Of the poorer
! tenant farmers OF the South, is
duly appreciated by the people OF
that section. They know that you
voiced the feelings Of your heart
in behalf of suffering humanity,
even though the health conditions
are not relatively so alarming as
/ the reports that you received
would indicate.
! In this connection, however, will
you permit me to call your atten-
ton to the fact that it is not sim
ply the South which has suffered
from the terrific decline in the
value of, it's products, but that the
West and Southwest have likewise
suffered. The cattle growers of
the Southwest are largely bank
rupt. The farmers Of the entire
West have, likeftheir fellow-labor-
ers in the South, had to endure
great hardships.
Moreover, I would beg to sug-
gest that the farmers are not the
only ones that have been suffering.
It is estimated that there are live
million industrial workers out OF
employment. Their condition is
probably even more serious than
that of even the poorest Of the
farm laborers and tenant farmers
in the South. Their wives and
children are suffering in deep pow
erty, lacking food and are under
J nourished, and many Of them need
more medical attention than do
the reported pellagra victims IN
parts O. the South.
I, have just this moment clipped
from the editorial columns Of the
New York Herald the following:
Exhausted from lack Of food
and his prolonged search for a
| place in his plumbing trade, Arthur
Challis, % years old, a world war
veteran, Of 254 West 21st street,
fell in front Of the house at 1913
Third Avenue. To policeman
who went to his aid he explained
THAT he was starving. At Bellevue
| Hospital his sickness was dlagnos-
ed as the result Of starvation and
exhaustion.
This condition Of unemployment
as you we'll know, is due to the
unequaKed depression in the in
dustrial interests Of the country
The. iron and steel industry OF
America is running on a basis OF
about 15. per cent to 20 per cent
Of its capacity. Hundreds of these
great plants stand idle, and not in
the history ofrthe iron industry
was there ever before such a eur
tailment Of production in proper
ton to capacity. 70 large ex-
tent similar conditions exist in
nearly all other industries.
These appalling facts (for ap-
| paNing they are). show that up-
/ employment and poverty are not
confined ltp the farming interests
Of the South and West, but extend
to every line Of business. AS the
farmers have. seen, their products
shrink in value to far less than the
actual cost of production, so mer-
chants and manufacturers have
seen their stocks and their pro-
ducts sink in value far below the
cost Of replacement or Of produc-
ton. Securities O, every kind have
decreased in value to an extent
that has endangered the safety OF
the financial interests of the coun-
try. Great corporations. upon
whose dividends hundreds OF
thousands Of people have depend
ed for their living, are no longer
paying dividends.
Your intense interest manifested
in the welfare Of the South
prompts me to remind you of
these facts, and to say that you
j.. Id within your power a remedy
which would vitalize the industrial
and agricultural interests Of the
country; remedy which would
quicken the ifeblood business and
would do more to stay the progress
Fof disease than all the medicines
which all the physicians and all
the druggists in America can pro-
vide; a remedy which if promptly
applied, heroic as it might be,
would put back to work the five
million unemployed industrial
fyorkers, would give life to the
agricultural interests, hope to the
tdespondent, food to the under
Enourished, and health to individ-
Iual and TO national life.
| 1t is tremendous responsibility
(which rests upon you, Mr.. Presl-
dent, when you hold within your
Hands this tremendous opportun-
fity. The remedy. if applied
lpromrtly would be magical in its
effect, and once more hope and
loptimism and employment and
prosperity on the farm and IN the
Efactory would revivify the life OF
the entire country.
~%,4x