The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-16
DISASTER IS
FACING u. S.
WHEAT FARMS
Great Grain Flood PourS on
Market at New Low
Prices.
SOUTHWEST 'DISGUSTED'
Hoover May Be Forced to
Turn His Attention
From Europe.
SOUTHWEST 'DISGUSTED
BY WILLIAM B. DICKINSON JR
United Press STAFF Correspondent


KANSAS CITY, Mo-. July 10
Farmers of the southwest faced
financial disaster today as they
poured upon an already glutted
market the greatest flood of the
golden grain in history, and were
forced to sell it at price far be-
low the cost of production.
From dozen markets came word
of new lows reached as the huge
wheat crop poured in and further
depressed prices. In Chicago on
Wednesday, July futures sold at
50A cents a bushel, new low in
the history of the market. At
Kansas City the same month sold
at 415s, while at Minneapolis the
price was 557s.
In country markets of the south
west Is to 30 cents was the usual
price for wagon wheat. At Dighton,
Kan, "a cents.was accepted.
Farmers Are Bitter
To some men such prices said to
be the lowest price since Kansas be-
came a state, brought discourage
ment so bitter that, faced with
clogged terminals and the prospects
of an even lower market, they drove
their plows into the fields to turn
under their greatest crop. They were
convinced, they said, that harvest
ing costs would be too great to
justify the reaping.
Tenant farmers sought deals with
the men who run combines for hire
by which the landlord would get his
share and the thresher the rest,
leaving nothing for themselves.
In half a hundred Kansas coun-
ties, great mounds of the grain--as
much as 10000 bushels in one pile
lay exposed to the elements, while
farmers looked in vain for storage
facilities in an effort to hold their
crop for higher prices. Near Hutch
inson such piles dotted the land
SCdpe IN every O1reCClOn.
Discuss Moratorium
Discussion of proposals for a debt
moratorium, advaced by numerous
leaders as the panacea for farm
ills, was widespread. Since June
25, when Representative Edgar c
Howard of Nebraska sent a teIe.
gram to President Hoover, in which
he suggested f1ve-year moratorium
on payment of farm mortgages
with only interest to be paic
promptly, similar proposals have
0een advanced frequently.
Criticism of the farm board was
general, with many leaders blaming
this government organization for the
low prices. They believed, they said,
that if the board would alter its
stand and agree positively to hold
its surplus until the new crop is sold,
prices would rise at once.
Senator George McGill, Kansas
Democrat, said:
If the farm board does act, it will
do so after it is too late, Just as it
did a year ago, when it pegged the
price after three-fourths of the
wheat was in the hands of traders"
Quick Action Needed
All agree that if action is taken
to relieve the situation, it must
come at once. With prices as they
stand row, it is feared hundreds
may see their farms taken from
them by the mortgage-holder even
as they reap their greatest crop.
One man at an elevator, disgust
ed, rejected the price quoted him,
turned his truck away from the
elevator, loosened the tailboard and
drove down the streets of a Kansas
town, scattering his grain upon the
pavement,