Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-07-26
HARDING OPPOSES
SPECIAL SESSION
TO HELP FARMERS
BY ROBERT T. SMALL
Ueased Wire Service to The Journal.

Copyright, 1929
WASHINGTON, July 2S.-Presi-
dent Harding will not call an extra
session of congress, according to
information received here, because
he does not wish to 'dnflict" con-
gress on the people before the con-
stitutional beginning of the regular
session on the first Monday in De-
cember.
The president and his advisers do
not see that there is any immediate
legislative remedy for the condition
in which the farmers of the country
find themselves today.
The greater part of the last ses-
sion of congress was given over to
consideration of the farm problem.
Virtually every other class Of legis-
lation, aside from the routine appro-
priation bills, was sidetracked in or
der to give the farmer the center
of the stage. A farm credits bill
drawn by Senator Capper, of Kan
sas, regarded by many as the real
spokesman of the farmer interests
in the senate, was passed and signed
by the president. The new law, it
was said confidently, would a1nelio-
rate the condition of the farmer in
an entirely satisfactory manner.
Remedy Not Working
But it declared the new extension
- re
to the farmer is not meeting the
problem at all. The placing of the
farmer on an equal borrowing plane
with the business man, or little bet
ter than that, has not proved a
panacea at all.
1t is new proposed by the radical
bloc in the senate that the govern
ment shall guarantee the crops Of
the farmer by fixing a minimum
price for his staple products, and
taking off his hands at that price
all that he can raise. OF course If
the market affords the farmer q bet
ter price than the government guar
Rntee the government stands aside.
To the "old line" Republican line
this proposal smacks of Socialism"
1t is against all his ideas of business.
President Harding himself, IN his
inaugural address, laid down as a
fundamental policy of his admins
tration that there was to be more
business in government and less
government in business" He SAID
he wanted the government to get
out of price fixing and all sorts OF
Control just as speedily as pass1-
bic.
Fights Farmer Control
Holding these views still, it is
easy to see why the president has
no intention of calling an extra SEES
sion for enacting legislation which
would put the government per-
manently in control of the farming
industry of the country and make
it virtually the biggest business con-
Germ in the world.
Further, the president has been
advised from Washington that il the
government undertakes to guarantee
a fixed price to the farmer there
will be an overwhelming demand
from the consumers of the country
that they also be guaranteed reas-
enable price at which they can buy
the necessaries of life.
Already there is a growing de.
mand that the government shall ex-
ercise some sort of control over the
coal mines. The United States coal
commission, headed by John Hays
Hammond, has requested that the
government take control in the
event of strike, but the consumer
who pays SIS to SIS for ton of
anthracite that cost but $4.12 to
mine, feels that the government
might take control of the coal situa-
ton even in the piping days of in.
dustrial peace. 1t is difficult for
the consumer to see how short
freight haul of 200 or 800 miles, and
the handling of the coal by the re.
taller, can amount to the difference
between what it costs to get the coal
out of the ground, plus a reasonable
profit, and what he has to pay for
L.