Evening star., 1927-09-09
SEED AND CREDIT
! L0U|S|ANA'S NEED
Hoover Assures Debt Ridden
= Farmers Foreclosures
/ viii Be Delayed.
BY REX COLLIER.
staff Correspondent of The Star.

The flood has left hundreds of these
"Cajun" families in utter poverty
and face to face with the rigors of
Winter without any source of in
come beyond the aid furnished by the
Red Cross.
As the school bells Of the Nation
ring out their familiar message to mil
lions of youngsters in the next week
or two, the tanned. skinned children
of these stricken parishes will wend
their way to water-stained schools in
nakeshift garments contributed by
the Red Cross. But for the charity
of the American people these tots
would have no clothes in which to at
tend their classes.
Food Stations Planned.
While Tom and Mary. outside the
Mississippi Valley. are munching on
tasty sandwiches and fruits ut lunch
time Pierre and Celeste viii partake
of buffet lunches supplied through the
generosity of sympathetic friends.
The Red Cross will set up food sta
tons at a number of the schools. un-
der a plan approved by Secretary
Hoover.
School days always are a worry to
fond parents. Here, as elsewhere.
mothers are busying themselves with
the task of outtitting their offspring
for the Fall opening. While they SIT
BY and watch the boiling pot full of
vegetables ready for canning, they
are cutting and sewing the blue
denim and Bingham of relief agencies
into waists and dresses for the brown
nd sVtS
yard.
Half of the 5000 school children in
Avovelles Parish alone lost all their
clothing i'm the rampage of the Atcha-
falava and Bayou des Giaises. Sec
retarv Hoover was told by local rep
resentatives. About SIS persons are
destitu.e and 500 farmers need seed
for Fan planting. On the strength
of the urgent plea for the returned
refugees, the Red Cross raised the
total grant to this parish to S161 800
Neevil Ravages Late Crops.
Tn ST. Landry Parish, where 1,7do
persons are being rationed, it is said
fhere will not he a single bale of cot
ton reaped from the post flood plant.
ing. because of the ieUredations OF
the boil weevil In past years it
ranked second among the state s par
fshes in the production of cotton.
There will be no cash crops this year,
hut many families plan to raise late
crop of vegetables from seed supplied
by the Red Cross. An additional out
Law of $50. 600 to carry the relief work
through December was given the
parish.
Saint Martin Parish, in one Of the
richest sections Of the famed sugar
bowl" is agriculturally and imam
cially broken. Six hundred thousand
dollars of public donations VIII be
eynended there by the end of TINS
wear OF this money $500 a day is
needed 10 fill hungry mouths ana
blv stock feed. seed, clothing recon
str,iction and other necessaries. The
Red Cross agreed to spend Sllo,ooo
In the parish between now ana the
middle of October.
Saint Martin. home of Evangeiine
and land of romance. is confronted
with stark. prosaic facts. Ninety
Ave per cent of the tillable land is
taken up by small farms. Their
owners have loaded themselves up
with farm mortgages of every de-
scription and are unable to meet even
the interest payments, soon TO come
due The chairman OF the parish re
$40. 900. 900 IN credit will be needed
IN order 10 meet or extend these obll-
gations and obtain further loans with
which to plant next years sugar
cane. rice and corn. There are no
crops this year beyond small truck
gardens.
Labor Problem Acute.
The labor problem is growing more
and more acute. With no crops to
harvest, there is no employment Tor
the families employed by the small
group of large plantations, and an
exodus of these hapless households
already has begun. They Will not
come back until some assurance can
he given that the levees which broke
down will be repaired.
Withdrawal by Controller General
McCarl of 50 900 ono Of rivers and har'
bors money sought for this repair
work has deepened the gloom OF the
Parish. 1t is now too late TO repair
the breaks IN time to prevent Spring
flood. il is declared, even though the
money became available right now.
In Saint Martin Parish the Red
Cross has established sewing centers
where sewing machines are available
to the good housewives who wish 10
fashion clothes out of the $4,000 yards
of cloth given them. Steam pressure
cookers. for the canning of fruits and
vegetables, also are being made avail
able. Six carloads of lumber have
been ordered for reconstruction and
repair Of ruined or damaged buildings
About $500 families of the parish are
in urgent need of clothes for the
Winter.
Three hundred families are penniless
IN Iberia Parish, in the heart of the
sugar bowl They need seed cane foi
3 500 acres of land in order to start
Spring planting. Their land bank
mortgag ges are coming due shortly. and
they fear foreclosures. Informed oi
their plight, Secretary Hoover gave
assurance that a plan would be work
ed out whereby foreclosures would be
deferred at least until the end of 1928
Makes Auto Tour.
aftzT listening 10 the report:
OF parish representatives, Secretary
Hoover made an automobile tour
through most of the territory in ques
ton. In LAFAYETTE Parish, which suf
fered but lightly. he passed through
f1ourishing fields Of waving cane, ant
thence to st. Martin Parish. where The
fields of cookie burrs were in sharl
contrast TO those of the neighborins
parish He stopped beneath th'
spreading branches of the famous
Evangeline oak, on the Bayou Teche
IN st. Martinvilie and viewed th'
food marks on the houses near by
where deep water ran but shor
time since.
The Secretary and his party wer
driven over dctours necessitated b.
washed-out bridges and past counties
farms but recently released from tn
high water. Bare-foOted women ant
oenim-clad men stood in the door
ways or gateways along the route
curious over the unusual procession o
large automobiles, but unaware of VIII
occupied them. Hogs. chickens an
cows scattered from the roadway a