Evening star., 1934-08-02

less forces Of nature. the other reveals
q brave intelligent, planned effort ia
conserve. % save and. above all, 70
carry on. when rain comes again.
Man Never surrenders.
Here In America there Il being
written this year 9 neS chapter in
the long and thrilling story Of mans
fght 70 conquer nature Man has
always fought. and has never sur
rendered The grim pioneers vino
peopled the Great Plains built their
homes In a region which the maps
once called The Great American
Desert. There they pitt.sd them
selves aRafnss drought, flood, hail,
frost. wind and pests Did they quail
and Quit before these ohstacles7 No.
Instead. these pioneering people bred
and acciinnst ted grains. Their hardy
sclentists searched the earth for va
rites OF wheat which would thrive on
little moisture. Droueht-resistent fer
age plants were brought from dry
plains IN fsr-on Siberia. and other
countries. The Western men devel-
oped the science OF dry farming
glowing and following fields one SUM-
mer to conserve moisture for the
next. They built reservoirs to store
the Spring foods Of mountain tor
rents. They watered the so-caIled
desert and made It bloom. They
built a civilization. these grim men
and women Of the farms. and the
food and feed that they produced be-
came more and more the ultimate
basis upon which Americas vast in
dustriaIism and great cities grew.
looking always to the West and
South for their food and f1bers-
But the record OF mans conquest
of nature is q progressive story. 1t
never stops, because droughts and
floods recur. and because mans needs
grow. his problems change, and his
opportunities for advancement are
never ending.
Social Responsibility.
In the period of rapid national ex-
pansion. when individuals were carv-
ing wealth for themselves out of plain
and forest, we did not readily recog-
nize our collective social response
billties toward those who provided
our food and raw materials The
problems that would come when
growth slowed down and when we no
longer could rely upon export out
lets TO pay interest on debts. were
not foreseen. The great collective
leadership OF the Government, sought
and utilized more and more by COM
pact and powerful groups. was not
extended freely TO either the vast
numbers OF farmers who fed the ma
ton or to the still larger number Of
industrial workers who manned its
mills and factories.
The American farmer has always
suffered severely from his disorganized
state and from the fact that he has
always had to face his problems pretty
much single handed.
The great Industrial interests which
his products could insure
themselves against calamity, but the
protection of insurance never was ex-
tended to the farmers crops. The
millers who ground the wheat could
hedge" against price changes. but
the farmer had to take whatever
prices are paid to him in the markets.
Closely managed industries could
shut down their factories when sur
plus products broke prices, but the
farmers had only to 60 on blindly
producing more units at lower prices
to pay fixed charges of debts and in
terests. The drop of farm prices fell
all on him and the consumer, because
though farm prices collapsed, the
handlers and professors charges
remained about the same, null