Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-18
KANSAS GRAIN BELT
P'LOWS KEEP IDLE
State Apparently Abandons
Wheat Raising in Face
of Low Price.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

special Dispatch to The star.
CIMARR RON. KanS., July 10
(NANA). Having broken all records
for wheat this Summer. Kansas appears
as II it intends to abandon the produc-
ton Of its premier crop altogether.
trip through the wheat belt shows vir-
tually no efforts have been expended
toward the seeding Of a new crop this
Fall. Where normally thousands Of
acres of stubble would have been plowed
by this time, hardly any has been turned
under.
The situation is paradoxical in two
cases. Kansas is just concluding the
harvest on 1880, 900 acres. with yield
Of more than 2oo,000,0O0 bushels
probably more than Canada will pro-
duce in all its prairie provinces. Only
weeks Of steady harvesting. and the
yield and quality of the grains have
been unimpaired.
Never before has it been possible to
seed a new crop so cheaply. Blue"
gasoline is being delivered in the fields
for 2-l0 cents gallon. Wheat worth
is cents would seed an acre, and labor
can be hired for 50 day. Ordinarily
the stubble would be turned under i'm
mediately after harvest, since blowing
in July increases the yield 8 to 10
bushels an acre the following Summer.
Forced From Farms.
Yet the State has not made a move
toward its new crop. One explanation
Is that farmers are short Of power. A
more important one is that ascent
wheat threatens to force many farmers
off their farms this Fall. A third ex-
PLANTATION Is that wheat at present
prices Is not an attractive investment
for labor or land.
Just what Kansas will do in wheat
this Fall is yet to be settled. The thou
sands of tenant farmers are yet to
learn whether they will be able to OPP
crate this coming Winter. Most of
them are so deeply in debt that only
the indulgence of the implement COM
panies, bankers and landlords can save
them.
Nearly all want to retain their land.
The farm furnishes a home for the
tenant and his family and part of their
living. Going to town would put him
in an even worse situation. That ex-
plains why all the Kansas wheat was
harvested this Summer and why the
wheat Is being delivered, in many in
stances, on mortgages when the deliv-
cry means that it breaks the farmer.
He wants to keep his farm.
A leading Western Kansas banker
said yesterday he looked for a substan-
tial decrease in acreage.
Many farmers will let part OF their
lands lie idle year in an effort to in
crease acre yields" he said. "Substan-
tial farmers who are not forced to sell
their crops will carry it over and plant
less wheat this Fall, figuring that it is
better business to hold wheat produced
at less than cost than to sell it and
raise another crop.
"Unquestionably there will be many
tenants who are so hopelessly involved
they must leave their farms. However.
the spirit of the debt holiday now be-
ing arranged through the wheat belt
will be carried over into the Winter for
every man who can possibly survive the
situation"
Alexander Legge, former chairman of
the Farm Board, is winning many
friends in the wheat belt because of the
leadership he has taken as head of the
International Harvester Co. in assisting
farmers to hold their wheat. No reports
have come that the International has
been forcing the sale of wheat to satisfy
its mortgages. That is not true, how
ever. of two other implement companies
and an agricultural credit association,
whose agents have been reported active
in the wheat belt.
tCopyrieht 1891. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, Inc0