Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-09
Politics and Farm Relief.

If sauce is equally good for goose
and gander, the economic theory en-
bodied in the McNary- Haugen farm
relief bill is as applicable to other
industries as to agriculture. Why
not an equalization fee on every ton
of bitNminous coal in order to enable
high-cost mines to compete with
low-cost mines, storing the ever-ac-
cumulating surplus or dumping it
abroad and requiring American coal
consumers to foot the bill? And
when the coal industry had been
cared for, the cotton spinners, who
just now are hoeing a hard row.
would probably be found standing in
line, with others hurrying up to get
in on the good thing while the getting
continued good The McNary- Haugen
economists apparently still cherish an
abiding faith in the ability of any
number of families to sustain them
selves by taking in each others
wash.
But the difficulty does not seem to
be one merely of unsound economics.
With a considerable number of the
bhrs proponents political considera-
tiorSs have come to outweigh eco
nomic principles. In some cases
these considerations have to do with
the personal political fortunes of the
proponents. In others the motivat-
ing idea apparently is to be to put
the President in a hole" The latter
are proceeding on the theory that
passage of the bill by Congress would
place the President in a dilemma
with political dynamite in both its
horns. They figure that if he vetoed
the bill he would ALLEVIATE the West
and that if he signed it the East
would turn against him. The fault
in their reasoning is that they credit
both the President and the people as
a whole with the same political slant
with which they have deluded them
selves. There is nothing in the rec
ord of Mr.. Coolidge to warrant belief
that he has come to the point of
surrendering conviction to political
expediency, nor is there anything in
the history of the American people
to justify the theory that they will
repudiate a leader because he has
the courage of his convictions.
There is reason to believe that
many Senators and Representatives
are scheduled, or propaganda
luded, as to the real sentiment of
farmers. Trustworthy reports from
the agricultural areas do not show
anything like unanimity, or even a
preponderance of sentiment, for the
McNary- Haugen bill. Only mi
nority of farmers would benefit from
it, and even among the proposed
benef1ciaries those who do their own
thinking realize that Government
price fixing and class taxation are
too great q national peril to COM
pensate for any temporary benefits
they might derive from the McNary-
Haugen scheme.
Informed opinion which has not
been blinded by prejudice holds that
farmers generally would be album
dainty satisfied if Congress would
pass the Curtis Crisp bill, which pro-
vides a revolving fund for the orderly
marketing of SURPRISES, but avoids
both Government price fixing and the
equalization fee of doubtful consti-
tutionality. 1t is believed that the
President, who is sincerely anxious
that farmers should be helped
through their present difficulties,
would sign such measure, and that
the country as a whole would be
glad to see the program given a fair
working trial. Even those farmers
who think they want the McNary-
Haugen bill see hope of substantial
benefits in the Curtis-Crisp measure
and are not likely to be happy If,
through political ambitions or political
animosities, adjournment of Congress
finds them left without any measure
of relief