Evening star., 1923-07-21
South Dakota Staring Off Pest
Of Unrest That Bit Sister State
Still Menace Her Border,
But FiaScO of Ruined Banks and
Millions Lost Is Lesson.

ly the same grievances-the griev-
! ances that caused them to grasp. like
! dying men, at the radical Straws
| Townleyism held out to them six
heven years ago. They are paying
| Peak urices for necessities, and get
ting rock-bottom prices for their
) own produce.
! They have bitter grudge against
! the government for stimulating agri
. cultural production during the war
period and then letting them down"
! In the defiation period The farmers
angrtly assert they have not had "a
| square deal at the governments
handss They are not minded to listen
! to explanations that world unrest.
| supply and demand economies. war
aftermath and all that sort OF thing
are to blame. They are little ap-
| peased by assurances that interna-
! tional' conditions are such that no
| United States government can. by
| Legislative enactment, suddenly re-
! organize them for the benefit of the
i distressed American farmer. The
| farmer has been hard hit. That is
all he knows, and he insists that the
| administration and Congress get busy
on the paramount job of getting him
( out of his fix. He is impatient with
I further excuses and extenuations. He
, wants action.
Although President Harding did not
! tour the northwest on his way TO
! Alaska, his speeches on the world
court, rail consolidation. prohibition,
! agriculture, taxation and labor We're,
(, of course. addressed to Minnesota,
| the Dakotas. Nebraska and Iowa
! quite as directly as to the regions
/ he traversed. Mr.. Harding was not
! the choice of the northwest for
I President in 1920. This was Wood
/ country, or bowden country. or
| Hiram Johnson country. Yet il voted
| solidIy for Harding. and broadly
| speaking. it has liked HIM although
| one encounters an amazing univer-
salty of view that he Is too much
i in the grip of the east" ever TO be
| a completely satisfactory President
| to the west. Mr.. Harding $ veto OF
! the soldiers bonus cost him some
| popularity in the west. too. The
| Presidents speeches were fully re
ported in the northwest and widely
/ read. though they do not seem to
have stirred people very deeply. IT
| is harvest time and the farmers IN
! terest is attuned exclusively to ms
| crops-and to his manifold troubles
| incident thereto.
/ La Toilette Only Rival.
| Both North Dakota and South Da-
kota expect to send Harding dele
cations to the republican national
convention in 1924 The President
will have no serious rival for them
except Robert NJ. La Toilette and
! republicans in both states are con-
fident they can beat La Toilette If
there is show down in the pri-
maries. Whether Harding can carry
! the Dakotas against candidate Ike
| Henry Ford or La Toilette is mat
| ter Of speculation. The President :
| cause would. at least, be in jeopardy
if farm conditions should not take
a drastic turn for the better. No
republican candidate for any office
is 100 per cent safe in the west in
these hectic times. The Il. o. +. is
the party in power and il seems con-
demned to bear the brunt of the
s. q. Cherry. one of South Dakota )
democratic leaders. terms period
of grinding readjustmcnt.'
Saved by Concessions.
South Dakota appears to have
STAYED off Non-Partisan League radi-
calism by timely CONCESSIONS in the
direction Of state socialism. 1t en-
acted Il system of farm loans from the
public treasury. established Il state
cement plant and even conducts a
state coal mine. 1t has, Furthermore.
had the advantage of seeing North
Dakota SOW its socialist wild oats and
been able to profit from the horrible
example. Bankers at Sioux Falls. one
! of the most metropolitan of mid
, west Small-city communities, insist
that South Dakota farmers are nei-
ther impoverished nor discouraged.
| Country banks, even at points remote
from a railroad. have millions of dol
! lars of farmer money on deposit.
/ Foreclosures are infrequent, and, al
though many borrowers are delin-
| quent for interest and mortgage in
stallments. farmers are apparently far
from being down or out.
Not Dependent on Wheat.
South. Dakota is no longer an es-
sentially wheat growing state. AS in
! Iowa, corn has become the great sta
pie. Diversified farming is on the
march in the DakotaS. Many author
tiles think it is destined to be the sal
walton of the agricultural community.
1t requires a farmer to keep busy the
year round, makes him less dependent
| on one or two crops. gives him less
time to brood over his troubles and
generally makes for improved morale.
In the spread of diversified farming
may lie hidden the solution of many
of the northwest's problems, and, as
not the least of them, preservation
from the evils of political radicalism.
| Copyright. 1921