The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-07-30
Editorial Comment

Editorial Comment
Editorials printed below show the
trend Of thought by other editors.
They are published without regard
to whether they agree or disagree
| with The Tribuns's policies.
The New American Desert
New York Herald Tribune)
Fifty years ago, when the northern
plains that are now a dusty waste
were still pioneer country, the high
est agricultural authorities in the
land said categorically that no more
than trifling portion of it could
ever be settled and cultivated. They
were, of course, wrong, for within
forty years of the time that the De-
partment of Agriculture pronounced
the Dakotas and most of the lands
now included in adjacent states an
eternally useless wilderness more than
four million farmers had achieved
great prosperity there and were 50
sure that 1t was lasting that they
were mortgaging all that they had to
buy and pillow under still wider areas
Of the buffalo grass.
One need only consult the encyclo-
pediaS and other standard reference
books published within the last ten
years to learn that their optimism
had the support Of competent mod
ern authorities. From such sober
sources one learns that In North Da-
kota, for instance, there are but few
small areas that are not marvelously
fertile" that the water supply Is ade-
quate because Of climatic conditions
that conserve 1t, and that almost no
where, indeed, lis the Creators mar
velous policy of compensation better
illustrated than in North Dakota" OF
the adjacent territories equally hand
some things have been written within
the last decade by thoroughly re-
liable authorities. It Is little wonder,
therefore, that when DR.. Elwood
Mead, the Federal Reclamation Com
missioner, says that much of the Da-
kotas, wyoming and Montana should
never have been titled and that their
pioneer cultivators should now be
evacuated" 20 that the ruined land
can be returned to grass. those who
have been developing 1t and those
who have been financing them indig-
nantly pronounce his opinions lab
surd."
Supposedly competent authorities
have been SO far wrong in the past
about this country's potentialities that
skepticism Is by no means out OF
order; but If DR.. Mead Is to be taken
seriously-and he Is by no means
alone In his opinion-he Is bringing
the nation face to face with q social
problem that Is far more serious than
the transient and adjustable eco
nomic one that the drouth has forced
upon the A. A. A. and other would
be adjusters Of farm production to
demand. To the suggestion Of ''evac.
uation" the residents Of the con-
demned area, who have invested dec
AIDES Of hard work and great sums Of
other peoples money In 1t, are Ger
tain to ask: by what authority,
whittier and on what terms?" No
sooner would the government start
formulating replies to these ques-
lions than it would be clear enough
to every American taxpayer that the
problem was national and . very big
one.
A partial answer to the question Of
terms Is to be found in the presi-
dents plan for the federal purchase
Of marginal land for which $l2.500.-
900 has been allotted. This sum Is,
Of course, . drop In the bucket II any
such territory as DR.. Mead has con-
demned Is to be evacuated" And
II the evacuation is to take place in
anything less than q historical era
It viii take q more eloquent per-
suader than any one now in official
life to convince the owners Of the
land and the holders Of their mort
cages that the federal government
should not pay fancy prices for It.
The clearing of the land by purchase
would not solve q problem even more
serious than paying for it, which Is
that Of the disposition Of the present
owners and tenants. Would they
trade their liberty of movement for
Uncle Sans keep and be fed in con-
centration camps until they could be
herded onto subsistence farms In
other parts Of the country: or would
they be handed their cash and set
adrift on the highways, with the cur
rent Of migration running toward the
industrial centers and the slumS?
II the problem is really as close up
on Us as Dr.. Mead would have us be-
neve. the situation IS critical; for II
it = approached by the Federal Adj
ministration a. North Dakota's poll
ticians have approached it, with the
drouth and debt victims vote as the
one big thing at stake, it, mishand-
ling can lead TO Z social disaster Of
the first magnitude.
A statewide survey to determine