Evening star., 1923-09-25
PRESIDENT IN MAZE
Of FARM REMEDIES
Must Tread Cautious Path
Among All Sorts of Re-
lief Proposals.
ny FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

s'Congress cannot perform mir
acles," declared Senator Arthur Cap
per of Kansas, leader of the farm
bloc. at the national wheat conference
in Chicago last June. In the uni
versal realization of that fact. both
at the White House and among con-
servative members of Congress. lies
the extreme improbability of spe-
cial session to effect farm relief. All
concerned are agreed that such ses-
sion would speedily resolve itself into
an endless and futile talkfest. From
political standpoint, republican
leaders say, the administration might
emerge in worse shape than If no ses-
sion had been called at all. PRESIDENT
Coolidge has laid down the nat dic-
tum that until there is not only a
concrete program, but one certain or
adoption, he will not move IN the Ql.
rection in which both republican ana
democratic radicals are trying TO push
him.
Heroic Measures Urged.
A mere catalogue of the various
panaceas proposed for improving
farm conditions foreshadows the an
ficulties that would confront the ad-
ministration in any attempt 70
cure congressional agreement. Ielo
are SOME OI lIS OiS
gested: ;os
at S1.75 a bushel. oooooooo
Government purchase of % 2oo;oOo,oGjpI
bushels of wheat, to De nelu uhtii
the market price has advanced
Increase of so per cent in wneat
tariff. in order to shut out Canadiah
wheat. -. -
all manufactured commodities whlch
farmers Duy,
Immediate repeal of section l5-A OF
the Esch-Cummins law, whereby ran
road freight rates are nHed; fador.I
New rural credits from the Ieoerdi
Drastic reduction of freight rates
on everything the farmer produces
or buys.
Sweeping cuts in federal state and
county taxes which affect farmers.
Stringent control of grain ex-
changes like the Chicago Board OF
Trade.
Abolition of the federal reserve
bank system.
Enactment of federal cooperative
marketing laws.
Granting of Muscle Shoals to Henry
Ford.
Sure of Opposition.
The weary weeks and months Con-
gress would mill" over these sub
jects can more easily be imagined
most any one of them would be in
slant and persistent. The regular
session of the new Congress in
December would almost certainly be
at hand before the special session
had got down to business. Apart
from the clash of interests" politics
would be played. With presidential
year in the offing, the opportunity to
make partisan capital would be
tempting to many leaders. Rivals
~ Calvin CnnliHpa for ranmhliPa n
presidential nomination would not be
idle.
Men like Senator Borah, than whom
no man in Congress is more anxious
for quick remedial measures, concede
that the difficulty in evolving emer-
gency relief for the wheat farmers
lies in the establishment of a danger
Gus precedent. This applies particu-
larly to price fixing and schemes for
government purchase of the surplus
wheat crop. President Coolidge is
believed to feel especially strongly
on the unwisdom of a policy of giving
sauce to the goose. that the gander
In the future could hardly be pre-
vented from demanding.
Value of Wheat.
One of the things that would i'm
mediately be aired at a special ses-
sion is the relatively unimportant
part which wheat plays in the gem
eral agricultural scheme. The entire
tHSOulS AHIeTlCdn farmers derive from
wheat is only 10 per cent of the total
income of farmers as a group. Wheat
today is but 10 per cent lower in price
than a year ago, while corn, which
Is three times as large a crop as
wheat. is 10 per cent higher. A 10
per cent drop in wheat is only equal
to 3h per cent of the wealth pro-
duced each year by American dairy
cows. The humble hen produces
more new wealth each year than the
total wheat crop. Facts like these
would strengthen the hands of those
who opposed emergency relief by
Congress on the ground that special
benefits to wheat farmers would be
indefensible class legislation.
Most of the authorities from whom
the farmers derive regular counsel
Secretary Wallace, former Secretary
Meredith and Senator Capper, all of
whom own great farm journals-are
hammering steadily on two major
points. PLANT less wheat" is the