Evening star., 1926-05-30

l926-PART /.
in Iowa are still in debt, and some OF
the banks in which they have their
money continue to fail. The demand
is for a new system, for some aid to
the farmer comparable to the alu
given the industries of the East
through the protective tariff. to labor
through the immigration laws. to the
railroads through the Esch- -Cummins
TRANSPORTATION act, to the financial IN
terest through the Federal Reserve
system.
Come out of the East and try to tell
these farmers, and the business men.
too that 1eevrything is all right with
them, ard all they have to do now Is
to sit tight and attend to their KNIT
ting. It makes you about as popular
as a German in Paris in 1915. TEL
them that they have automobiles. ra-
dio sets and other advantages OF mod
ern life, and infer for a moment that
If they feel hard UP they might go
back to doing without these things.
They shoot back that they are just as
much entitled to automobiles. radios,
ETC., as any one who lives and works
in the industrial sections OF the coun-
try. They work just as hard and sj's-
tenn should be devised which would
give shem an adequate price for their
produce. They do not intend, If they
can help 1t, to have the American
farmers reduced to a stage OF peas
antry, the state of the tillers of the
soil in so many other countries.
IF the Government had done moth
ing for industry probably there would
not now be such an insistant demand
that something be done by Congress
for the farmer.
Whatever may be the case in the
future, agriculture is the great basic
industry in this part of the country.
and men engaged in business and in
the professions feel the effect of every
Ill agriculture suffers. They are back
ing the farmers.
Dawes Report Hailed.
The report that Vice President
Dawes and Senator Watson Of In
diana have found that the principles
involved in the Haugen bill are sound
and not calculated to destroy the eco
nomic structure was received here
with q great amount of satisfaction.
The situation in Iowa has improved
over what 1t was q couple of years
| ago. true enough. But many of the
| farmers still are in debt and many of
the banks are staggering under. the
| load of frozen credits. A nationa!
| bank, 40 years old, one of the strong
est in it's section, failed only a couple
| Of weeks ago, and a State bank,
equally old and equally as well known
failed a few days ago. Little pub
licity is given to these failures. They
| are not due to immediate conditions
| but to the cumulative effect of what
! has happened in the last four or five
years. incidentally. every time there
| is a bank failure, more fuel is added
| to the fires of resentment.
About 48 per cent Of the farmers in
Iowa are tenant farmers. They are
| among the hardest hit, when the price
! Of corn, for example. drops below the
cost of production. Many Of the farm
ers who own and farm their own
land are in better position today than
the tenant farmers.
blue Sky" Stocks Hurt.
The hardships which the Iowa
| farmers and banks have undergone
have been due in part to the sale OF
| blue sky" stocks in 1918 and 1919
when hundreds Of millions of dollars
were taken away from the farmers.
| Iowa went over the top first in Lib
erty bond subscriptions and these
bonds the farmers were prevailed
upon to exchange for worthless stock.
Their troubles were accentuated by
land speculation on huge scale also,
and prices were forced as high as
| $400 and $500 an acre. When the
policy Of defiation was adopted in 1920,
these prices went down like house
Of cards. One Of the charges made by
| Col. Brookhart in his campaign links
| up Charles II. MacNider, one OF Iowa s
| ,,,oct v,rnv,ainoYyt Eo N korc strong S1ln-
| porter of Senator Cummins and
! father OF Assistant Secretary of War
| Hanford MacNider, with this defla-
| ton. Col. Brookhart maintains that
| Mr.. MacNider was present at a meet
| ing Of Federal Reserve Board officials
in Washington May IS, 1920, when a
| policy Of defiation was determined
upon. That such a policy was adopted
at this meeting with regard to the
farmers is strongly denied by Mac
Nider and others.
Bank Deposits Grow.
Turning to the brighter side of the
page, it appears that from December
1925. to April. 1926, the deposits in
the State savings banks Of Iowa have
increased by nearly s10,000,000. The
sale of new automObils in Iowa is also
taken as an indicator of improved con
ditions. In April. 1925, the total sales
/ of new automobiles was 1886 and
65.4 per cent Of these sales were made
in rural communities. In April, 1926
| the total sales of new cars was 1875
and 67.6 per cent were sold in rural
| communities.
The price of hogs has been q factor
in increasing prosperity. The hog has
gone to $14 a hundred pounds. But
there was q bumper crop of corn in
Iowa in 1925, 47S,000,0 900 bushels, as
compared to 322.000,0 in 1924. All
| of this corn, which has been fed to
hogs, is bringing good return. Tn
fortunately. there has been some
shortage of hogs to feed. The corn
sold for cash brought the farmers mis-
fortune. The $14 hog, however, is
used by the Cummins' forces to chase
off the calamity howler. One thing
is to be borne in mind, regarding the
senatorial primaries. If Senator Cum.
minis wins, as he may, it will not be