Evening star., 1927-06-12
BY REX COLLIER.
Staff Correspondent of The Star.


special train rested on a siding IN
Arkansas. there came from the lamp
| lighted cabin of plantation uai ny
some strains of music grouho oue uy
a phonograph lately rescued lFo'A 'Ae
| flood. ,.u
Members of the official party lis
tened and found themselves hummlng.
! in Unison with the squawky record:
"The World Is Waiting for the SUM-
rise"
The music stopped, but the coEver-
sation which had been in progress a
moment or two before in secretary
| Hoover'S private car was not lnlihe-
diately resumed. Thoughts were turn
| ing over in the minds Of those pres
| ent. and presently some one remarked,
almost under his breath:
That's it. The South is waiting Tor
| the sunrise"
Waiting for Sunrise"
The South-the Mississippi Valley
indeed, is waiting patiently. but at
times almos hopelessly, for the sunrise
that will dispel the dark clouds OF
desolation and despair which now
surround 1t.
1t is waiting for a new day, when
its people may begin life anew and go
their ways in the cotton fields with
light heart and bright prospects for
the morrow, when it may be rid OF the
crushing fear of the mighty river
which now has the people crlnglng at
its feet.
A flood in February, the biggest
flood in history in April and now the
June rise to blast away the hopes that
rose with recession of the waters ana
planting Of the muddy expanse lett IN
their wake-such a succession or trlp-
ulations Is sufficient to discourage the
most optimistic of valley residents.
Sees Ray of Hope.
But the Mississippi Valley has
glimpsed a ray of sunlight through
the fog of sorrow. It is a ray OF good
cheer, to steady weakening constitu-
tions quite frayed nerves and give
new hope to those who were faltering.
This new factor in the situation is
none other than Herbert Hoover.
1.-THE Chief" is the term used to de-
scribe him by these stricken southern
ers. Some of the darkie,s know him
also as Uncle Sam" 1t is no sense
of levity that these nicknames for
the Secretary of Commerce have be-
come popular. It is with a feeling Of
reverential, almost worshipful affec-
ton that Hoover has been acclaimed
their "Chief," their Uncle Tam."
Returns i'm Time.
Relief workers in Arkansas and
Louisiana declare that had not "The
Chief" returned from Washington last
week at the psychological moment
that he did, the morale Of the peo-
pie in those States undoubtedly would
have been broken to a degree dis
tinctly menacing to the South's al
ready grave economic condition.
Hoover returned to the valley to
find new flood waters pouring from
the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers
over thousands of acres Of farm land
just planted in cotton. Rain, rain and
more rain, supported by a few cloud
bursts and several cyclones, had
wrought fresh devastation and swelled
the rivers back to and beyond flood
stages of a few weeks ago.
Recession of the waters had dis
closed conditions grim enough to
break the courage Of most men. Re-
turning from the refugee camps the
people found their homes shifted from
their foundations, their barns caved
in or turned over, their corncribs
washed away, their household goods
floating in stagna..t pools Of water
down in the meadow, their wells and
cisterns filed with corruption, their
mules dead or missing, the family COW
drowned on the front porch or in the
pasture, their hogs gone, their fences
scattered over the landscape-their
ruin, in short, complete.
Keep on Fighting.
Yet these sturdy folk did not give
UP the fight. With the aid of the
Red Cross they Strengthened their
homes up as best they could, hung
the mattresses out on the porch rail
to dry, collected what remnants of
furniture were left, hammered the
porch floor back in place, nailed card
board over broken windows, or in
some cases, where the house was not
at all habitable, set up tents in their
front yards, and started to rehabil.
itate themselves.
They had no food supply of their
own and no money with which to buy
any, so the Red Cross sent them the
necessaries of life as required. All who
needed food got It; those who had
stock which had been rescued re-
ceived feed; families were supplied
with simple iron bedsteads and mat.
tresses. with tables and chairs and
other household necessities. But more
important than all, these returning
victims of the ''big water" were pro-
vlded with cotton seed.
Crops in the Mississippi Valley are
divided into two distinct classes
cash" crops and food crops. In the
former category are cotton and sugar
cane and other produce by which the
valleys alluvial soil is turned into
money. The latter classification in
cludes vegetables for the table, for the
sustenance Of the farmers themselves.
Cotton Grows Quickly.
1t takes cotton seed only three or
four days to shoot up through the
black soil of the valley. The farmers
pushed these seeds into the muddy
fields just as fast as the water re-
ceded. and by the time a week or two
had passed their f1ood-ridden fields
had been converted into acres OF po-
tential "cash crops"
Then came reports from up the
river about another flood crest. June
rises are a regular thing to these
people, but ordinarily the waters do
not overflow the levees. This June,
however, the levees had fallen down
on the job. Only remnants OF them
remained after the unprecedented
flood of April and May. The new
high water had begun to empty onto
the cotton fields again through the
crevasses already there.
1t was the last straw on the
camels back"
Then came "The Chief" with beam
ing countenance and sympathetic un-
derstanding of the crisis, to make the
South brace up and take new heart.
He did not accomplish this miracle
by issuing a series of mimeographed
exhortations to relief officials or
proclamations to the people. dictated
to a stenographer from his bedside.
Accepts Railroad Offer.
"Chief" Hoover accepted the offer
of the Missouri Pacific Railway to
put special train at his disposal,
! dubbed it his Booster Special"
| and in,irnarnd forth infn tho Nnru