Evening star., 1923-07-14
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

ern countrys discomfort, with a
leavening of Crouch" that is all it's
own. If President Harding could per-
suade the commonwealth of sheep,
cattle, oil, coal and endless plains to
forget it's troubles and acclaim him
as the prophet of better days, he
trip a triumph.
There could hardly be better test
of the accomplishments or failures it
achieved. At the 1922 election Wyo-
ming administered to the republican
party a brace of defeats which in a
way were classic. 1t rejected by an
overwhelming vote the ambitions of
Frank w. Mondell, majority leader
in the House of Representatives, to
enter the United States Senate. 1t
supplanted q. o. T. governor with
democrat. 1t overturned the Hard
ing landslide majority of 5000 in 1920
by re-electing John b. Kendrick,
democrat, to the Senate by 1880.
Into a region thus saturated with po-
litfcal revolt came Warren q. Harding
to preach the gospel that good still
resides in the party of which he is
the national leader.
Result of Visit Doubtful.
1t would be agreeable to record
that along with Wyoming's friendly,
if not vociferous. welcome to the
President the states political faith
in him was pledged anew. There is
little trace that it was. Naturally
prejudiced authorities like Wyoming y
grand old man, Francis L. Warren.
who is completing his thirty fourth
year in the Senate and will aspire to
succeed himself in 1924, assure one
that Mr.. Harding was well received"
Senator Warren is confident the
Presidents status in the state has
been materially bettered. Cheyenne.
Laramie and Sheridan, which heard
both prepared and impromptu
speeches from the presidential train,
listened to Mr.. Harding, Senator War
rem says. with quite conspicuous at
tention." But there was a noticeable
absence of real cheers or fervid en-
thusiasm.
The nearest approach was when
at Cheyenne the day after the Denver
prohibition speech, declared that
Wyoming might be relied upon to
back up the Harding administration
that demonstration was rather for
Ross than for Harding. Wyoming.
like the rest of the mid continental
west, is incorrigibly dry. 1t loves
equivocal stand upon an issue around
which the state is rallied, irrespective
OF party politics.
Prosperity sHn Absent.
To understand Wyoming's sullen
mood, the country at large-and the
east in particular-needs to be re-
minded that these sparseiy settled,
far-hung western states know moth
ing about the prosperity" in which
the rest of the United States is sup
posed to be basking. II prosperity
ever was really headed this way since
/.
The hard headed men hereabouts s
tell you that wall street"-appar-
emily as of yore considered the chief
devil in the American economic
Barring the oil producers and the
wool growers, nobody in Wyoming is
on easy street. They are but a rela-
lively minor percentage of the states
population of near 100000, in which
men predominant. by the way, in. the
ratio of four to one woman. All the
other producing and middle classes
are just about keeping their heads
above water.
Thousands of them are not even
doing that. The cattle raisers and
the farmers notably are unable to
Keep out of debt. The day this writer
visited with Senator Warren-"the
greatest shepherd since Abraham"
his constituents call him-he had Just
come from bank directors meeting
Senator Warren said it was appalling
to observe the amount for which wy
oming banks are having to carry"
farm borrowers, who cannot pay their
interest, to say nothing of taking up
their notes.
Unable to Pay Taxes.
The county treasurers tell the same
story. Sales for delinquent taxes from
the courthouse block are everyday
occurrences. Within a day or two the
Wyoming legislature is meeting in
SDecial session n state
loan law, whereby S3,000,000 is to be
put at needy farmers disposal at 5
per cent interest. Eight, 10 and II
per cent interest is not uncommon on
Wyoming farm loans. Hard-working
men incapable Of meeting such rates
when they fall due are doubly en-
Uttered.
Gov. Ross carried the state in 1922
paramount issues. Wyoming is CRATE
full for important help rendered its
rural districts by the War Finance
Corporation, but it manifestly has not
salvaged the situation. even approx
mately. Wherewithall to finance
themselves. i.e., better prices for their
produce, is what Wyoming grain
growers and cattle breeders crave,
not more rural credits
The wool industry. apart from oil,
seems to be the only thriving thing
in Wyoming. The new tariff has
played a conspicuous role in bringing
wool back to normalcy. The big
summer clips" are fetching prices
cents and around half a dollar.
Wool Men are Enyied.
The comeback Of the wool grow
ers fills the cattle men and the farm
ers with unspeakable envy, for the
operations of the two last named
groups continue to be exercised on
almost money-losing lines. The cat
tie growers are experiencing one
wholly unexpected result from the
Fordney- -McCumber tariff. 1t has
shut off the arrival from Canada of
invaluable herds of CATTLE known as
"stockers' and feeders"
In the past, American cattle men
have bought about 100000 a year of
these animals from Canada, whence
they now are being diverted exclu-
sively to Great Britain. The farm
bureau federations at Washington
counting their vain appeal to the
Tariff Commission to abate the 2-cent
a pound rate on Canadian cattle, in
order that an old source of valuable
raw material for fattening and con-
ditioninS purposes may not be cut off.
The cattle men and the farmers in
Wyoming sing the same ballad of
woe that echoes everywhere else in
the rural west They get bedrock
prices for their own produce and pay
which they must buy. Our old friend,
High Freight Rates, enjoys here
abouts the same disrepute he has
earned in other regions.
Wanted Talk on Oil.
The Wyomingites would like much
to have heard from President Hard
ing on the Teapot Dome oil affair. A
subject would have come straight
home to- them. The former govern