Evening star., 1923-07-26
ny FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE

DES MONIES. Iowa, July 26.-When
anquirers in Iowa want to know
whether this great empire of corn
can be saved from radicalism they
are told there Is not a man In the
state who can defeat Smith w.
Brookhart for the Senate in 1924.
iowa is not proud of Brookhart. His
ways are not her ways. He is a
prophet OF woe, an apostle Of dis
content. with little honor in his own
land.
Yet he stands. symbol-like, for so
much that the Iowa farmer and the
Iowa worker crave that he probably
will be :nvincible when he comes up
for reelection next year. Nothing
but a miracle in the way OF sudden
and sweeping rural prosperity could
check the ascendant course of the
Brookhart star. Even then, as is the
Brookhart way, he doubtless would
represent himself as the miracle
worker and be perpetuated as the
savior Of the situation. 1t is tails
l-win, heads-you-lose, with the rifle
znan-statesman just back from Mos
COW with a sheaf OF panaceas for
i, agricultural distress.
Wheat Slump is Factor.
The saggine wheat market provides
.Srookhart with an ideal Homecoming <
atmosphere. He has leaped into the
arena, full-throated, 1inding the mo
:nent never more propitious for the
launching OF resounding, heroic
measures. The farmer OF the west
with laborious winter and spring
behind him. is about to reap a vast
crop and sell 1t on d declining mar
ket. 1t is true that this applies main
rafsers. 1t is true that il does not
apply at all TO Senator Brookharts
own state, 80 per cent of whose
grain crop nowadays is corn, and corn
Is selling at profitable prices. But
generalizing is the speciality of ca
lamity- -howlers, and. as the agricultu-
raj times, generally speaking, certain
y are out of joint, Brookhart un-
coubtedly cuts a consistent figure.
Unquestionably he never SO fully
stood out as the spokesman of the
farming west as he stands today. He
must be taken seriously on that ac-
,count. II no other. 1t is the things
lie stands Tor. the men and women he
speaks for. that merit consideration
lie is sign of the times. The con
servattve east" cannot afford to
ignore 1t. 1t transcends Brookhart
or La Toilette, or Shlpstead. OF
Magnus Johnson. or any other in
aiTtdual in Importance.
Abuse Called Unwise.
Mere abuse of the Brookharts and
the Johnsons from "stalwart" quar-
ters Is likely, in the present temper
OF the farmers, not only to argument
the stature of these idols. but tc
give the movement" of which they
>are only vociferous exponents great
er bone and sinew than it had be-
FOR. Radicalism In the midwest
cannot be combated by consentrat-
ing the attack on the type Of states.
heavel Is too deep-rooted, the causes
too fundamental to be met by any
thing but genuine constructive
measures. When political leaders
a valuable first step will have beer
taken.
Iowa is a banner, rock-ribbed re.
publican state. 1t gave Harding 9
was largely a protest vote agains,
after-war conditions in town and
country. for which. as is the Ameri-
can wont, the administration in
power was held responsible. Pledges
of speedy return to economic nor
lnalcy went straight to the heart oi
the Iowa farmer and rail worker
and to the producing and consuming
classes in general.
Still Await NormaIcy.
Two years and a half Of tn,
Harding regime have gone by
Iowa mas not experienced normalcy
The Esch- -Cummins transportation
law. one Of whose co-authors il
a senator from the state, has fal
len into contempt. The new re
publican tariff has proven an il.
lusory boon to the Iowa farmer H,
IS contributing the lions share o
the 60.00o.0oO bushels of corn an,
2,o00.0o0,000 pounds Of pork that w,
are selling to Europe this year, bu
he knows they are being exported
at dumping" prices. and tina
Europe's capacity to pay proftabI,
prices has disappeared
Vaguely, the Iowa farmer holds thu
administration at Washington re.
sponsible for this old-world depres
sion and its repercussion on Ameri
can agriculture. Altogether, they
form a cluster of indictments thaf
can only be described as formidable
Talk to the Iowa farmer in the Ian.
guage Of John Stuart Mill; argue
with him about the inexorable law
Of supply and demand; plead with
him that the world. in an economic
sense, is upside down; show him that
"all the kings horses and all the
kings men" cannot put the agricuI-