Evening star., 1922-04-23
BY THOMAS r. MARSHALL.


T. p TO the present time.
neither by argument nor
by actual experience have
Il been convinced that the
pence. quiet. good order and pros
perity of the American people
were enhanced By the government
taking a hand in business. l still
believe that had the government
kept its hands out Of business and,
compelled business to keep Its
hands out OF government. we
would today be as we'll Off as we
are, IL not better.
Government. began to take
hand In business upon the theory
that the only way 1t could pun
ish a crook was to regulate him
and that the only way in which
1t could provide for the general.
welfare was to run a free lunch
counter at Washington. With this
idea becoming prevalent, every
one and everything that langaish-
ed In America commenced to seek
q tonic in the form of legislative
aid. us.
The manufacturer was first up
to the counter. In time he was
elbowed out of place by labor
unionism. Now the farmer is at
the front. The general welfare
OF the country. according to pres
ent view, is demanding that the
antitrust law shall not prevent
the farmer from combining for CO.
operative marketing and the FIX
Ing of prices. He must have bet
ter facilities for credits or the
general welfare will suffer, He
must have a representative on the
Federal Reserve Board and federal
p reserve banks must be authorized
to discount his paper and to issue
emergency currency upon II. II
the general welfare is to be pro-
NOTED men of wealth must be COM
PEELED to loan him money at low
rates of interest.
The government must furnish
the farmer a warehousinG system
and extend its research, work in
order to reduce danger from pests
and climate. It must provide bet
ter roads. 1t must bar agricul-
tural import by high tariff rates.
And, as elimination of the many
things that the government
should do for the farmer. 1t must
insure his crops. All this is reg
uletory, 1t is argued. and comes
within the legitimate province Of
government in the interests Of the
general welfare.
Well may it be asked II all of
these things are to done, why
should the government stop at
mere regulation? Why not pro-
coed to the ultimate conclusion
at once? Why not the govern
ment take charge OF the farming
interests Of America, run them in
its own name and give all the
people. rather Than a few, the
benfft that may happen to accrue?
If the people want a change in
their system of government. let's
have the change outright and not
countenance. methods that are be-
ing used to overthrow the -gov~
ernment in the name of the Con-
stitution.
No sane man will deny that the
farmers Of this country are In
serious straits. No reasonable man
not been denied them. When the
minimum price of wheat was fixed
during the war and when that
minimum price was made by an
administrative officer the maxi
mum price. the farmer became khe
goat of the governments var
necessities, The national peril may
have justified this. but never be-
lieved 1t. When once the laws Of
nature are interfered with. no one
can tell when the trouble is. going
to end. The farmer was taught as
that time that the government
could disarrange things and 1t ts
not at all surprising that he should
expect the government to disar-
range them again in order to Sc
cure for him a reasonable return
upon his investment and labor.
Personally, I should like to see
this crop insurance go through. If
owning farm makes a farmer. !
am a farmer. If getting nothing
out Of a farm makes an owner
busted farmer. 1 am a busted
farmer. And if busted farmer
has a right to be insured by his
government, 1 possess that right
along with others. But to insure
the crops of America would be to
gamble on a hundred different con-
ditions of soil, of climate and OF
labor cost and on a million differ
ent degrees of efficiency in the
management and control OF farms.
We would have to place an, In
spector on every acre Of land TO
see that the farmer prepared the
soil Alright, purchased the right