The St. Joseph observer., 1921-11-19
BURNING OUR CORN WON'T HELP

CeDtlon OF the Moth American con
tinent--'here is state OF chronic
bunger-hundreds Of thousands liter-
lilly starving to death-hundreds Of
thousands suffering for want OF food
and I'm the face OF all this. here
comes along President Harding's Iowa
Secretary OF agriculture and advises
the farmers Of the west--our own
state of Missouri included--to burn
their corn for fuel.
And the peculiar part OF this advice
Is that it Is good advice, based on ex-
listing economic conditions, for the
Missouri farmer can heat his home
at less cost by burning foodstuffs
than he can by selling the foodstuffs
and buying fuel with the proceeds.
Whatever he does. the farmer loses
money. All the work and money he
has given. I'm the past year. to pro-
ducing wool. cotton. beef, pork. wheat
corn. oats, to feed and clothe the peo-
pie of the world has represented, to
en- his time for nothing. his sweat for
nothing, his money for nothing. For
worse than nothing. because at tho
end of the year he is worse off than
he was In its beginning.
There Is no market for his products.
They cannot be sold for what 1t cost
him to produce them.
Yet the people OF large and popu-
lous and potentially rich sections Of
the earth's surface. for lack OF what
he produces are going hungry and in
rags Before their very eyes they see
their children dying, as the cold sucks
the lives out OF their naked. emaciated
bodies Even here In our own rich
country, is productivity unimpaired,
millions Of willing hands are Idle, with
no work to do, and in millions of
homes worried mothers can hear the
wolf snarling at the door.
And what is the reason? Why
should these great stores Of corn be
burned why SHOULD great crops OF
oats be left uuharvested. while every
where hungry mouths are waiting to
be fed?
1t is not for lack Of transportation
facilities. They were never before so
plentiful. Great ships lie rotting in
the harbOrs. scores Of thousands OF
freight cars rust on the side tracks,
and in addition numberless fleets of
motor trucks, which only a few years
ago the world did not have are avail
able.
Neither is it for lack of money to
finance shipping and trade. There Is
more gold, more sound and honest
money representing gold, than there
ever was before.
1t is the toIly and incapacity and
lack OF wisdom OF government that Is
at fault.
Governments everywhere have Civ
en- startling proof OF their ability to
organize all their people and all the
peoples activities and resources for
the work of destruction.
They have given quite as startling
proof OF their inability to organize
these for the work OF construction.
They are as inefficient in peace as
they are efficient in war
The government at Washington
spends $40 100000 on a single battle
ship. that in few years will be junk.
1t spent. in the last fiscal year,
$500, 100000 on its army and navy
more than Great Britain and Japan
combined, at a time when the taxpay-
ers were gaspius for breath and the
whole world was sick Of war. And
ye. though famine stalks the earth.
it advises the farmer TO burn his corn
while ne struggles with impending
bankruptCy
bank us nations such as was ad-
vocated by Senator Hltchcocl Of our
neighborhg state Of Nebraska could
have been financed az far as the
United States share is concerned, on
that $500. 100000, and it would not
represent mouev wasted. money un.
productivity consumed, as army and
navy expenditures do. IT would be
money safely and proHlably invested
for the common good--to put farm.
ing and Industry and commerce back
on their feet. II would be an Invest,
ment TO bring order out Of financial
and economic chaos. 1t would be an
investment to enable Europe to buy
what we have 10 sell, to SO stabilize ex.
changes that international trade would
be legitimate business enterprise and
not q wildly speculative gamble. II
would open up A outlet for our piled
up wheat and cora and cotton and
copper and manufacture that nov
block the channels OF commerce.
II is a big proposal, tru1 enough