Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-12
Pinchot as Farm Advocate
Is Placed Among Candidates

Part Of the public holds that Gov.
Plnchot of Pennsylvania was making a
Did for the Western vote when he told
gathering Of Missouri people that the
farmer was the orphan child OF
American politics. His attack upon
the Farm Board as a lemon" is de-
bated, and his words favorable to the
equalization fee are made a subject of
comment. There is some agreement
with his belief that the middleman is
a factor in prices.
Declaring that Gov Pinchot 'is now
advertising himself as a presidential
lightning rod" and holding that the
Farm Board, "for all the criticism
loaded on its back. has done some use
full things" the San Francisco Chronicle
advises that 1T should not be forgotten
that the farmers themselves insisted on
this lemon" that they handed it to
themselves" and that they demanded
that Government do the impossible"
The Chronicle emphasizes the fact that
the board has not stopped the farmers
from raising too much wheat, cotton,
grapes and other commodities which go
to make up the agricultural surplus
X X X X
Finding that the Governors Endorse
ment of debenture and equalizat ton fee
made the basis for 'volley cfter volley
of verbal onslaughts calculated to in
jure him in the eyes of those who be-
lieve that the methods proposed are
worse than none" the Harrisburg Tele-
graph declares: They have overlooked
Mr. Pinchot'S main proposal-which Is
that labor and agriculture must unite
for mutual protection and assistance"
That paper continues: "Unquestlon-
ably, If the organized workers OF the
country were to join with the organized
farmers in support Of mutually help
full program. they would become at once
a force which would have to be recog-
niZed. But it never has been done
and there is no present outlook for such
union of interests. AS for voting in
unison, why there is not now united
farm vote or a united labor vote. There
never has been. 1t Is difficult to believe
there ever will be. Certainly there is
no sign of such a movement now. Just
the same, that is the crux OF the Gov
ernor's speech-the meat OF the COCO
nut, and if he should make himself the
center of such movement he would
become at once an even larger national
figure than he now is. With the Gov
ernor's charge of too large share OF
farm profits for the middleman there
can be no debate. The Governor Is
right. The spread between the price
the farmer receives and the cost to the
consumer is unjustly large. Here Mr..
Pinchot is on safe ground"
The Portland oregon Journal calls
the Governors address "a powerful bid
for the Republican nomination for the
presidency in 1892" although cit may
not have been so intended" and de-
clares that cit has a melody and tone
that will make it delightful music to
millions of Gov. Pinchot's country
men," The Journal further asserts,
In his own Pennsylvania, Mr.. Pinchot
defied the ring politicians and all the
big shots of his party in the latest
election and was elected Governor in
spite of them and their propaganda
and their support of the Democratic
candidate. His loyalty to the Ameri-
can masses and his leadership in their
behalf has been tested in the crucibleS
of scores of political battles"
'Tn consigning the farmer to po-
litical orphanage," contends the South
Bend Tribune, Gov. Pinchot ignored
political and legislative trends in the
last so. years. The United States De-
partment of Agriculture is functioning
so diligently that the taxpayers cannot
forget it. The agricultural tariff rates
were recently lacked up so high that
at least one of the neighbors is re-
vealing embarrassment and resent
ment. The Federal Farm Board Is
spending $500,000,000 and is expected
to request more. For the last 10 years
Congress has devoted more time to
agricultural discussions and made
larger appropriations for Federal agri-
cultural ventures than it has to dis
cussionS Of and appropriations for any
10 other American industries that Gov.
Pinchot may name. If agriculture is a
political orphan the dictionaries offer
erroneous interpretations of orphan