Evening star., 1933-11-16
+ FARMERS IN IOWA
ASK STERILIZATION
Distrust Of Corn-Hog Pro.
gram Is Rampant in
Picket Sections.
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

men ana commission men is cOn1uS-
ing process. When packing agent in
Sioux City is discovered talking like q
semi -Revolutionary farmer in Lemars,
and at the same time cussing the farm
er. the conscientious inquirer feels as
If he were wandering in the land be-
hind the looking glass. The white
knight should be just around the corner
with his mouse trap.
Even the section along the Missouri,
the counties where live what Secretary
Wallace called the "hell-raisers," is far
from unanimous in discomfort except
In diStrust Of the corn-hog program.
In these counties live mcst of those
who will not sign the production con-
troll agreements when they are ready.
Here are most of the followers of Milo
Reno.
Many opinions can be traced to crop
conditions For instance. in the dis
trict around Missouri Valley, where
Milo Reno last Sunday called Secretary
Wallace names to the evident delight
of his hearers, they have no reserve
stocks such as exist in other parts of
the State, and their crop this year was
poor. These valley bottom farmers
have nothing left They went to Reno's
meeting In overalls and working caps,
looking as If they had just got off
tractor, or in sheepskin jackets and
nondeScript garments. They were neat
enough, but few of the Sunday suits of
yesteryear were to be seen.
Sterilization Is Sought.
What good is this corn payment
going to do us?"' they asked. I'VE
haven't got anything to borrow money
on, it's all gone to taxes and interest.
What We need Is not loan or some
thing we haven't got, but stabilization
Of prices for the future so we can
establish credit and get fair price
based on cost of production"
What do they think of Roosevelt's
gold program?
"Oh, 1 guess it's all right, he means
well, but what good will it do us If
everybody abroad is raising his own
grain"
There is some wild talk around Mis-
souri, Valley, talk of an uprising which
might take the form of march.
Where? Probably to Washington.
Whether rifles would be in it or not,
nobody seemed to know. They talk
good deal about the Boston Tea Party,
finding some analogy between that and
what they would do. Do they intend
to burn crops? Perhaps So said one
man. But most of it, he thinks, is
just talk.
There were a lot of automobiles out
side Renos meeting. One woman said
she drove so miles to hear him, and
would have driven 150 One did not
like to ask how she paid for the gaso-
line.
Ranks Acted CareIessIv-
Lemars, where Judge Bradley was
pulled from the court house and beaten
last year, Is more than 100 miles north
of Missouri Valley. It is peaceful
enough on the surface. 1t used to be
one Of the wealthieSt places in the
State, and its school, with large audi
worthy Of large city. Lemars was
one Of the centers of speculation in
1919 and 1920, when men stood on
the court house steps bidding for land.
rapidity of Florida real estate. The
bank would loan $1,000 on q mans
unsecured note. That Is one Of the
things for which Lemars and Iowa Is
Plymouth County had three bad years
of drought and locusts, although bad
year there would be good year some
where else. But this season the soil
gave up harvest which has filled the
bins, and between the rafting corn
stalks root tens of thousands of pigs.
There Is plenty OF corn on which Ply
mouth County, Of which Lemars Is a
part, can borrow from the Government
this year. and it is certain that 1t will
be offered that opportunity in few
days.
And yet with the prospect of money
in sight In town where the bank is
closed. and will probably not reopen,
there is hesitation to sign the corn pro-
gram. 1t was said by the local editor,
who in fiery way has been fighting the
farmers battles for years and was at
first one Of Reno's warmest adherents,
but is now critical Of him, and by farm
ers and others in town, that not 10 per
cent OF Plymouth County would take
the corn loans and sign the restriction
program. Industrialists' rugged individ-
ualism seems mild compared with the
farmers.
Really Want Fixed Price.
why should we restrict our produc-
tion?" says the farmers of Plymouth.
How do We know this program will
work? II we cut down our acreage
maybe we will have bad year next and
then what will happen? What we ought
10 have Is fixed price, then we can do
what we want with our surplus, and you
can't tell us that this country can't con-
sumo all we grow when there are mil
lions Of people unable to buy food"
Again they say that overproduction
Is the fault Of the Farm Bureaus and
the Government, which urged them to
plant more and yet more acreage. But.
while they blame the Government for
urging increased production in past
years, they cannot see why they should
decrease production and get back to
the normal yield before war demands
brought about artificial market stimu-
lation.
Their reasoning, sometimes, is as
mysterious as the picketing situation.
Responsible men pooh-pooh it and talk
quickly OF something else, but picketing
is obviously directed by some central
head which starts up a group of pick
cts in one locality for a day, then
disperses them and gets another group
together miles away. There is little
doubt that they are farmers, at least
some who work with them saw they
are. One man In close touch with them
says they are secret organization
growing out of the Holiday Association.
Not All Agree With Pickets.
Not all the radical farmers believe
in picketing. One Of them at Missouri
Valley said he hoped the holiday strike
would continue and believed 1t would,
but that people he knew did not believe
in picketing because 1t caused a bad
opinion OF the farmer. But there Is
another viewpoint
In tiny Office in a small town there
sits man with a thin, intellectual
face and the intense eyes of an ascetic
and fanatic behind his spectacles. He
talked OF the plans last year for seizing
an armory and blowing up a bridge
across the Missouri. of tearing up rail-
road tracks with tractors and cutting
telephone and telegraph lines.
Il don't think zoe, 900 men could have
put down that uprising" he said, with
faint suggestion of pride. "And there
has been a lot more shooting going on
than gets into the newspapers. There Is