Evening star., 1928-04-12
NEW YORKER PLANS.
/ TO SEEK FARM AID.
Butler win Carry Fight for
!, Basic Industry to G. 0. P.
n Convention.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

"rarm relief" will be demanded at
The hands of the Republican party. IN
national convention assembled, from
new and unexpected quarter - what
Hrvah called the enemy country" o1
Manhattan Island 1t will be voiced
hv a DISTINGUISHED delegate from an
ariStocratic district of New York City
Or. Nicholas Murray Butler, president
of Columbia University.
DR.. Butler will urge the necessity oi
graphing with distressed agriculture
plight from two standpoints. He terms
ii. in the first place, "a national and
international problem of basic i'm
poriance," deserving Of solution not
only in the farmers interest, but IN
the interest of the whole country
The veteran C. o. P. leader calls for
farm relief" as vitally essential TO Re-
publican success in the presidential and
CONGRESSIONAL elections. DR.. Butler VIII
arxue at Kansas City that metropolitan
New York is as deeply concerned with
AGRICULTURAL welfare as the corn belt.
Question Held National.
We here in the urban East" says
DR.. Butler. ARE personally so our OF
foneb with the problems and difficulties
of the farmer that 1t is hard for us TO
realize how greatly concerned he Is
over the welfare of his industry. which
IS the Nations basic industry. agricui-.
tllre II VIII not do for us who dwell
in cities TO treat this as mere local
question. affecting only the inhaoitantS
rf the corn and wheat belts. It is much
rnore than that. The problem is a
genuinely national one, with large In
ternationa2 bearings
The Republican party has for half a
century depended in large part upon the
vote of the farming population through
out the Northern and Western States. DO
not forget that in 1924 Senator La Fol-
lette of Wisconsin, running on tnno
ticket, polled nearly five million votes,
of which 425oO0 were in California,
4s2 900 in Illinois. 272, 900 in Iowa, l4l.-
600 in Massachusetts,, 10000 in Mich
igan, $4,000 in Minnesota, 100000 In
Nebraska, Io9, 900 in New Jersey, 49,
600 in New York, 358, 900 in Ohio. 3O7,-
600 in Pennsylvania, 10000 In wash
inrton and 453.00O in Wisconsin. ANY
repetition of that immense third party
vote, strengthened by any considerable
number of farmers who have heretofore
cast Republican ballots. might well be
disastrous next Nnyember. On every
ground of practical politics, to say
nothing of constructive and farsighted
kI2kESIldIlS4l1Q. t11C INCHa0AASdAA POI "
must show itself prepared TO attack the
problem Of agricultural relief with in
teiligence, with vigor and on sound
principle"
Much More Than Farm" Problem.
DR.. Butler was asked by this writer
Il he has any specific panacea in mind
for relieving the farmer.
Il don't like 10 speak Of it in terms
90 narrow as a farm problem" DR..
Butler replied It's much bigger than
that and much more basic. It is pri-
MARTY a land problem. 1t has its
roots IN the fact that there is no more
free land in the United States. The
result is that We are down to the in
tensixe basis where Germany. Denmark
and Belgium have been for generations.
We shall not tackle effectively the
question OF farm relief in this country
until we recognize that We are dealing
with utterly changed conditions. We
have to come TO grips with situation
entirely different from what has pre-
vailed In the past.
MY own feeling is that American