Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-08
BY WILLIAM HARD.


Government should do and should not
fdo regarding the sufferers in the
drought-stricken regions Is getting
worn very thin at this week end. The
realistic prospect is that within few
| months Federal public funds will be in
| course of being used in the drought
stricken regions for all needed pur-
poses, including the supplying of hu-
| man food. This Is because of numerous
accommodating circumstances which the
President, who is conscientiously OPP
posed to Federal public funds for
human food, Is unable to control.
+ One such circumstance Is the United
| States Weather Bureau reports, Show
ing direful continuation of drought
bringing weather throughout large
sections of the regions already drought
afflicted. In those sections another
excessively dry season, with poor or no
crops, now seems highly possible. The
need for food by drought sufferers
seems likely to increase.
The second uncomfortable circum-
stance is the gradual exhaustion Of
private charity funds in the North and
| Northeast, where distress caused by
unemployment is in many localities
| rapidly increasing. People contributing
to local unemployment relief efforts in
| their Northern or Northeastern COM
munities find it more and more diff
ficult to contribute also to Red Cross
| efforts for drought relief in the South.
When the senatorial discussion Of the
proposed $25,000,000 Federal appropria-
ton for human food in the drought
stricken regions began Senator Reed
Of Pennsylvania urged the Senate to
refrain from making the appropria-
ton until the Red Cross drive for q
$40, 100000 private fund had been
pushed to February 8. AS these words
are being written on the eve Of the
dawning of that day the Red Cross
drive has not yet yielded $7000,00
The average contribution to the Red
Cross drive per inhabitant of the
United States has been less than 6
cents.
The reason for this result is held to
be partly the anticipation of a public
Federal subsidy to the Red Cross, which
would make private contributions I'M
necessary, and partly q growing inabil-
ity or unwillingness in the North and
Northeast to respond to remote de-
mands when local demands are so
pressing. There is a mounting realiza-
ton here that both of these factors in
the situation, however regrettable, are
facts. They seem to make 1t unlikely
that further Red Cross drives for
drought relief through private charity
will now be attempted.
The third circumstance portending
the use of Federal public funds for all
drought relief purposes is to be found
in the steady and apparently uncheck-
able expansion of Federal humanitarian
activities On this point the President
himself is giving the country striking
illustration.
The President, in rebuking the pro-
posal of Federal charity for human
food, quotes q message Of President
Cleveland vetoing q Federal charity
bill. That bill, however, was for grant
ing seeds to farmers for the planting
Of their crops, and the present drought
relief law, which was passed by the
Congress last December and which
contains a provision for loans to farm
ers for seeds for the planting of their
crops, was signed by President Hoover.
President Cleveland vetoed a law for
gifts of seeds. President Hoover signs
q law for loans for seeds in circum-
stances in which it is clear that the
recovery of the loans is extremely
problematical. Thus the Federal Gov
eminent keeps always tnching onward
toward more and more general welfare
humanitarianiSm, until, at this week
end, in the matter of drought relief,
we have arrived at the following ex-
traordinary developments:
The Federal Government undertakes
today to do almost every conceivable
thing for drought sufferer except hand
him a quart Of beans for eating.
Under the present drought relief law
It will loan him quart of beans for
planting. 1t will presumably watch
him to see that he does not eat but
plants them. If they grow into new
beans, he can eat the new ones. Old
ones for eating he must get from the
Red Cross. In the meantime though
the Federal Government will be at his
side continuously.
Under the special emergency en-
ployment bill 1t will start building near
by him q road which has no interstate
value whatever, but which is designed
to provide him possibly with D job
and with some cash, which is really q
gratuity to him out Of the goodness Of
the Federal heart.
Under that same bill it will start
dredging near by him into the shadows
Of q creek which never will carry any
interstate commerce but which In the
udtlC Vi waterway uCNClOplAChI WAA4
possibly also provide him with job
and some cash for the food which the
Federal Government does not think
it ought directly to give him.
X X X
Meanwhile, under q continuing APP
preparation, and as a matter of routine,
, the extension service of the Department
Of Agriculture will give him and his
wife course Of lessons in the cooking
and canning of food. The extension
service maintains nutrition experts who
aim to teach all farmers, including
drought sufferers, what TO do with food