Evening star., 1933-10-20
No Time for Surrender.

The predominant element in the new
wave of bitter protest and unrest in the
wheat States seems to be disillusion-
ment. The N. R. A. is condemned, the
various forms of extraordinary aid to
farmers are condemned because the
miracle of achieving prosperity for the
farmers has not been wrought within
che short space of seven months. There
Is weariness with new tkings already
pld, and demand that newer things
Etill be tried This does not lessen the
seriousness Of the situation. 1t may
possibly represent the most serious Of
Ill disturbing elements, for 1t indicates
b breakdown Of morale, lessening Of
the will to fight through, and these
are all important.
There Is little unanimity of opinion
over why things are wrong, but there
Is agreement that everything is wrong.
Governor Bryan blames much on the
abandonment of the antitrust laws.
Senator Norris warns the President of
unrest among the farmers, as if such
warnings were needed to spur Washing
ton. Former Governor Neville not only
planes the N. r. A. for increasing the cost
Of things the farmer buys, but for de-
ereasing the cost of things the farmer
sells. A letter to Henry Morgenthau,
jr., farm credit administrator, does not
ask that farm appraisers wear rose
colored glasses" but suggests they
throw away their smoked ones" The
Governor of Minnesota believes the
farm strike" called by the agitators
of unrest among the farmers is "in-
evitable,' and the Governor of North
Dakota seeks to enforce an embargo
On whsat shipments from his State b.
calling on the National Guard.
Ferrl prices have gone down while
the farmers cost of living has gone up.
NebraSka'S N. R. A. chairman resigns
in a huff because the increasing prices
of goods sold to the farmers, without
commensurate increase in the farmers
purchasing power, has brought on new
form of buyers strike Yet what is
the remedy proposed? Initiation, varying
from the revived cry by Governor Bryan
to pay the soldiers bonus in order to
increase the farmers income by in
creasing the amount of basic money in
circulation with which to bid for his
products to Senator Norris plan of
redeeming Liberty bonds in fiat money.
euphoniously termed new money"
Such proposals are, of course, not
new, and by tradition are associated
with hard times. They seem born of a
state of mind The complaint is over
the excessive cost of things the farmer
buys as compared with the price Of
things the farmer sells. Yet the de-
mand for imitation is, basically, a de-
mand that all prices be increased by
measuring them with cheaper" dol
lar And all history shows that what
appears at first to the farmer as his
benefit becomes his curse, for imitation
affects the things he buys, in the end,
as it affects the things he sells. In
some quarters the demand for infla-
ton is quantity rationalized by the
childish contention that, everything else
having failed, initiation should be tried.
That is the philosophy of recklessness,
but it has no place in the policy of a
Nation that must be guided by thought
for the future as we'll as experience
OF the past.
The farmers, like other citizens, have
been sorely tried by the ravages of the
depression. If they lose patience and
a determination to fight through the
struggles that still lie ahead, they have
lost what the President and his ad-
visors rely upon as their most effective
weapons This is no time for bitter
and complaining surrender.