Milford chronicle., 1923-07-27
BACK OF THE WHEAT BELT REBELLION
rEditorial Philadelphia Public Ledgerl


Most of the political dust kicked up this summer is
rising from block of Midwest and Northwest States In
these sections Senator Moses the dread porent OF
third party 1t States that have thrust into the Sen
ate such men La Toilette, Brookhart Howell MOTIFS
Capper, Ladd, Frazier Shipstead and finally Magnus
Johnson.
These are farm States is farm grievances that
form the foundation thrdparty talk and Farmer
Labor Progressive alliances In them the Henry
Ford lunacy took its rise
By the same token, these all wheat States. In
1929 emphatcally they wheat States Wheat is one
of the things now wrong with them TOO many OF tner
acres are in wheat the price too low If wheat were
S15O bushe there would be little thirdpary talk and
few political whirlwinds dancing the prairies
Wheat is not $15O bushel; for the first time in al
most decade it is below dollar The farmer is smoth-
ering ow-priced wheat with highpriced labor
TOOLS He is growing millions of acres of wheat in
world that beginning again to compete with him on the
basis of ow-cos labor and acres fertile any in
America The wheat grower is in desperate fix.
this he must great part of the blame He
still is trying to grow of wheat on wartime
acreage. He tasted wartime prices in 1918-1919 Then
the Government was begging ordering and entreang him
to grow wheat and wheat The Army the Navy and
Labor in war plants had to fed; Allies had to be
fed The farmer responded. In 1914 he had grown a
heavy acres, with yield of 89lOl7OOO
bushels This better than normal acreage and YIELD
but war demands shot the higher and higher In
900 bushels.
What had happened? The farmer had sown his ''twi-
light acres" in wheat. He powed up meadows, grass
lands faow fields and sowed wheat where wheat could
not be grown economically under normal conditions He
robbed other crops lands that theirs and forgot his
hard-won wisdom diversifcation. To this day. five
years after the farmer still is sowing war crops
of wheat He had war acreage of 614OOOO0 in 1920 of
in 1921 of 5677OOOO in 1922 and of more than
5SOOOOOO this year. Prior to 1914 5O1S4OOO was
the record
Here is the handspring of the wheat rebellion, and
wheat the backbone of the farm revolt An S2OOOOOO
bushe wartime" crop is selling at less than normal
peace prices" and less than production COSTS The far
ner still buying "war prices" is long wheat with
the prices slipping from under him. There many farm
grievances today wheat is the worst 1t is wheat that
is making political history, just Kansas made it
in Populist and Granger days
In the "dog days" the hafblind misleading raer
strikes at every sound and shadow the mood of the
raer the is striking at everything that moves He
listens to wild tak-the wilder the better The patent
panacea pedders around him. Gray Silver of the
American Farm Bureau, wants a $2OOOOOOOO bond issue
in helping the farmer hold his wheat and asks the
President issue wheat-holding proclamation. sena-
Brookhart demands special session of Congress and
$300000OO0 Federal corporation to buy wheat and other
crops at an arbitrary farm-proft price
Would an extra session lifting wheat prices keep the
farmer from sowing 4OOOOO in winter wheat this
IdlI zOOUOVUO acres VI spring WuedC ueAC
Would arbitrary Federalfxed price of $125 $15O
keep tractors and wheat drills from moving from sunup
to sundown? Certainly not. With valorzation and fixed
prices wheat than would be All the twi
light lands" would come back into wheat acreage. We
would be worse off in 1924 than in 1923.
The farmers wheat trouble turks in BIZ 'vA ArtinGa"
crops Too many Of his eggs in 10 - wheat Nasket.
When his saner leaders talk Of divrgifed crops less
wheat he refuses to listen, DemaA oguery and pOesk
ghost dancing won't help him. More 1 can't help>8nz
may hurt him For him third party is snare arSeS
delusion. His slow and only way to '1ro+on is in
own hands,