Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-29

Federal funds Of more than $4,000, 0o(
were supplied for highway improve.
ments, to give work to men in Tho
drought area: railroad rates on food
feed and live stock were cut in half sc
that farmers might not be forced tc
sacrifice or slaughter their one remain
ing ready asset of value. To the farmers
of one State -Virginia-this re-
suited in a saving of between $750,00C
and 81 100000 on feed shipments. Int
this State were shipped at least 10000
carloads of hay and other feed needed
| to supply the deficiency of the crop
Into ether States where cattle. horses
mules and ether live stock would have
persisted for lack Of foud, other thou
sands of carloads of feed went at greatly
reduced rates. Local financial resources
were modified and made available for
those who needed loans and other relief
AS in every other time of stress. q
condition of hysteria soon became
manifest in some quarters. Some of the
proposals were akin to a demand that
the United states Treasury be opened
wide so that all who might come with
plea for drought relief" could dip
their hands in the public till and walk
of with all they could carry without
formality or need for repayment.
Response Prompt and Adequate.
This. of course was not the demand
Of the great majority Of the honest
Woodworking, hard-tit farmers who
were in need of help. The spirit of
American independence is not dead
and particularly is this true in the agri-
cultural sections. What the farmers
needed and what they asked YVES the
means of making another crop.
And that need and request is meeting
| O
On January is Congress appropriated
100000 for drought relief-not for
charity. but for crop production in the
new year. The duty Of administering
that fund and responsibility was in
trusted to the Secretary of Agriculture.
| It is one which I gladly assumed. Later
Congress appropriated $40, 100000 addi-
/ tioual for further use in agricultural re-
! Mobilization, and, besides, a special ap-
| for the benefit of farmers in Alabama,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia and Florida who had suffered
storm and drought losses.
Thus there has been made directly
available within a short time the sum
Of S67.000,000 from the Federal Treas
ury; and UNNECESSARILY more indirectly
as the result of the basis Of credit es-
! tabhshed through assurance that crop
out huge farm area which had been
| financially paralyzed
| No one suggests that the appropria-
tons are other than emergency appro-
! priations. Certainly we do not look for
such devastating droughts year after
year. The means Of meeting an emer-
gency may not always be the means we
would prefer, from the viewpoint of
sound economies and government as a
longtime policy. We can, however,
utilize such appropriations to help es-
tablish in the drought area agricultural
practices that win be Of permanent use
fulness. This emergency help, though
administered in only one year, can thus
be OF use to farmers for years to come.
A large part of that money is already
at work, doing exactly what the Presi-
dent and Congress intended it should
-rehabilttating the farms and farm
population, bringing life and hope and
new opportunity for success where only
a few months ago there was desperate
need and want and the darkness of
despair. Before the middle of March
the Federal relief and loan organization
had received more than 100000 applica-
/ tons for money with which to finance
the sowing and cultivating Of this years
crop. Not applications for charity, but
applications for loans at q low rate of
interest TAT least 40 per cent less than
the prevailing interest rate in most
sections), to be repaid when the new
crop Is harvested. And Of all those
applications. the majority already have
been granted, more than $4,000 have
been paid at the time this is written.
Agents Sent Into Field.
To those who are in distress and
need every hour seems q week every
day q month. 1t was as important to
| feed the relief workers as It was to
| furnish the means Of relief.
! And so even before the money was
available by appropriations the agents
Of the Department Of Agriculture were
out in the devastated area arranging
| for necessary equipment and handling
! claims that were sure to come In once
money became available. The same day
that the appropriation was made avail
able by act Of Congress and approval of
the President the men who were to
administer the relief fund left Wash
ington for the newly established field
Offices. OF course, application forms
1 had to be prepared, disbursement
vouchers printed, Offices equipped, etc.
But within 10 days or two weeks after
the money was appropriated IL was
actually going out into the hands OF
those who needed 1.-THE farmers of
the devastated regions.
In towns throughout the drought
area farmers who have no other means
Of securing credit or cash are signing
the applications for Government loans
/ Their local committees, bankers, bust
ness men, farm bureau agents and
others are assisting them to give the
/ information required as TO their needs
/ They may need SIS or IS an acre for
! cottonseed and fertilizer, they may need
so or so cents an acre for seed corn.
They may-snd many do-need money
| for feed for horses and mules. Some
need money to buy gas and oil for
tractors and other power machinery
Still others need money for other
phases OF crop production and farm
rehabilitation
In some sections where farms are
small the loans are averaging SITS
Small as that sum seems, it is more
very much more-than the farmer could
secure from any local source, because
the whole section has been financially
Frustrated. That sum in thousands OF
instances will keep farm homes intact
prevent abandonments and inforced
migration to the cities 10 will help
redCce unemployment and save an
American farm home from the agri-
cultural scrap heap.
The loans are helping TO create
better. thriftier farmers, for those who
receive them agree to plant gardens for
home use and sufficient acreage OF
feed crops to supply feed for their live
stock In addition. the borrowers agree
TO use the feed, fertilizer and methods
Of farming found 10 be best by farm
experts-local men who have been
trained in scientific methods of farming
The amount of the loen varies, OF
course, with the needs Of the borrower
Some individuals may need only SIS Oh
| Sl00-which they can obtain nowhere
else: others may need $500 or more
The several tenant farmers Of one land
owner may need as much as $1,000