Pueblo chieftain., 1921-03-21
FIRST Step T0N0RMALCY
TRESTORATlON OF TRADE
CHANNELS WITH EUROPEANS
Bound Up With This is the Important Questions Of
Taxation and Proper
Tariff

crops; in fact, 1t has been impressed
mon the farmers, that it will be a
mistake to plant large crops this year.
The day Senator Hardings party left
Florida on his way to assume the pres
idency, a group Of politicians riding
thru North Carolina, picked up Jose
phus Daniels newspaper. the Raleigh
Observer, which is sold at all the larger
stations in that state. The principal
subject of the news in Mr.. Daniefs pa
per on the particular day, was how lit
tic cotton should be planted, and tho
prevailing burden of argument was
that certain agreements, which the
farmers had made to reduce their acre
age did not go far enough and that
the acreage ought to bo still further
restricted. Facetious remarks. to the
effect that Josephus was working TO
, undermine the new Republican ad-
ministration, were met by the plain
sight of a better reason from the car
windows-fields with last years cotton
still unpicSed and the porches of the
farm houses stacked with unsold bales
This determination to keep the new
crop small is almost universal thfu-
out the cotton country. 1t does not
originate solely with the farmers, nor
with tho newspapers that represent the
farmers. 1t is an attitude of MIND
that is shared by the entirc business
community in those states.
4 leading banker in Florence. 3 e.
|: for example, is said to have announced
policy OF willingness to carry MS
patrons loans on last years cotton over
for another year until 1872, but only
with the proviso that these borrowers
shall not plant any cotton at all TINS
season.
As to now borrowers. this bank is
quoted as being willing to lend money
for the purpose of planting n new crop
l..ga -, th..h h..r-y U-af
narnc a dato by which no promises to
sell or let tho bank sell for him tho
holdings of old cotton that the bor-
rover still has on hand. Parts of Okla
homa have adopted plan that calls
| on the individual cotton planter to seed
| only as large an acreage as he can
| gather with his own hands. That plan
| would work out in Oklahoma, produc-
ing this year about half tho cotton II
produced last year.
| In yot other parts of tho south. the
| banks are so tied up that from 20 per
| cent to 80 per cent of the farmers VIII
| not under any conditions. be able to
| borrow enough money to carry them
| over and get tho supplies necessary to
| plant a crop. 4 Baltimore periodical
| which is almost an official organ for
! tho business men of tho south is ad-
| visinE tho planters to reduce their
| acreage so per cent on the theory that
| the small crop would sell for moro
| than a large crop" 1t may be that
| this tendency toward planting very
much smaller crops is moro marked
as respects cotton than as respects
| grain, and yet persons who come to
| Washington. from the districts where
corn is tho chief crop, say that condi-
/ tions there arc quite as diScouraEinE
/ as In the cotton country. In one OF tho
| largest Mississippi valley stHcs, II Is
said that fully a half OF last years
corn crop is still on tho farms, unsold
and without any prospects Of selling.
Farmers caught in these conditions are
obviously not going to feel strongly like
| planting maximum new crop.
This condition OF distress expresses
! itself in serious human hardships: and
serious human hardships tend TO cS-
press themselves in radical political
movements. In large areas Of the west
I fully u third of tho farms are opcr-
atod by renters, and these renters be-
| ing left at the end OF the year with an
! unsalablO crop, have not been able to
| pay their obligations and are being dis
\ lodged and reduced to the ranks OF
! wagc-carncrs, except whore this fate
| Is avoided by wise lcniency on the part
OF the owner. Large numbers uf other
| farmers havo bought their land on
/ iustalmcnt payments, or have given
| heavy mortgag ges; as tho inStallmcnts
| or interest payments fall due. tho
| farmers are unable to meet them. And
/ there is created a complete reproduc-
/ tion of those conditions which in 1898
caused such acute economic distress
I in the west and led to tho rise OF pop
ulism and later the Bryan movement.
| Sometime ago, | had a letter from
/ ono of the wisest mon west OF tho Mis-
/ sissippi river that spoke OF probable
I revolt against the Republican party.
/ Tho writer said. The world OF 1914.
/ ! think. is gone forever. NO cannot get
! 1t back; and old man normalCy is a
| CONTINUED on rage Six)