The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-03
ERODED AREAS
PRODUCE CROP
OF RADICALISM
Dakota Farmers Embrace
%CommuniStic Ideas as
Land Fails Them.
BY WILLIAM r. COLLINS
Times Special Writer

49,
ern Indiana counties that pay one
and one-half million dollars less
than nothing in general taxes to
the state lie in Indiana's turgid
stream belt.
Another fact that l found to be
OF considerable interest to me and
it may interest you is that the
highest concentration of persons on
public relief Is within the areas
most deeply erOded and where the
native. valuable timber resources
have been completely cut of. To
me. this marks the end Of a chap
ter. The state has been trying for
years TO bring about reforestatiOn
in this identical area. but the rec
ord Of achievement up to 1884 be-
cause Of lack Of public interest was
pitiful.
Not only was the forestry depart
ment OF the state handicapped by
lack of public cooperation outside
Of the washed treas. but within
them. The natives set fire to and
burned off every fall the young tree
growth on more than $50 900 acres
while the tree planters we're re-
planting $50 acres.
We never will miss the water till
the wells run dry; we never have
and We never Will. There have de-
veloped SO many washed acres in
southern Indiana and so many
more millions are now developing
in northern Indiana that only the
time element IS lacking to make
evident to the most stupid among
us the lessons that have become a
pain in the neck to the wind blown
West.
Dakota History Traced
Let us go back to North Dakota.
East of Yarmouth. a small town w.
ing close to the Montana line. ex-
tending for so many dusty miles
that my memory Of them is bathed
in a heat haze of dust and desola-
ton is a nation of farms. 1 saw
them 20 years ago. just as they we're
being recovered from the plains.
Dotted as thickly as wheat cakes
on a griddle were small lakes and
ponds that found their eventual
outlet through evaporation.
The country is level: so flat in
places that the horizon seems to
meet the sky at a higher elevation
than where you stand. The few
water courses were filled with sedge
and wild fowl.
Throughout the summer months
periodic local rains kept the a
fresh and green. replenished the
ponds and runlets that trickled
slowly out of them through the
prairie sod. Local evaporation took
care of the rains through the sum-
mer season. one acre of water
evapOrates 1000 gallons of moisture
into the air every 10 hours under a
summer sun.
Ruined Water Source
The farmers arrived. They were
the fathers of the present gener-
alton of farmer communists who
have thrived in the dry Dakotas.
The farmers plowed and narrowed
and dry mulched and drained and
did every thing known to their art
OF farming to dry up the state.
They dried up the ponds that sup
piled them with life giving moisture.
They plowed up the grass roots that
held water. They diSked and scraped
and scratched and planted until
only grains could be seen as far as
the eve reached.
Because the rainfall was fast di-
m%inishing they started tall blowing
10 conserve what little soil mois-
ture tPNv had left. And that was
the last touch. AS they had farmed
so had the farmers in an area 1900
miles long and 1000 miles wife
surrounding them. They all dried
up in a bunch and at about the
same time. And last summer part
of them blew away. The rest will
follow; give them time.
The Cobb was not created in a
day. Fertile fields once stood where
the Shenzi Desert now stands.
Psychology Robs Up
The peculiar psychological result
that followed the parching process
Is OF Just as much importance 10
us as a nation as is the loss of a
province Of grazing land
When the DakotaS we're going
strong. before the aridity became
pronounced. the newly arrived farm
ers found it comparatively easy TO
float loans. The money was used
TO develop and improve" the
country Just as We developed and
improved" southern Indiana.
With a constantly diminishing in
come. with fast recurring thoughts,
the Dakota farmers started looking
for some enc TO share their burden
with them.
They invented the share-the-
wealth idea about II years ago and
they had a number of high apos-
ties working on the idea before
Roosevelt was known to the nation.
OAk Va AAANN1 wv states - AASAA4E
a generation of "share-the-Wealth-
ers" and they are sending their
Lemkes to Congress to prove it to
the rest Of us.
There is a reason behind every
thing and the arid acres of the
West form Just as good a reason
for communism as the washed and
e~c1-5 Scr,s CT southern Indiana
Go for a plethora Of "~bssketeerS'
and "relieferS."
Steals Lock. Nothing Else
A lock. valued at $50. was stolen
from the front door Of the Bar As
ISOLATION Building. 224 n. Meridian
ST. yesterday. Agents for the build
ing reported that the lock was I'M