Evening star., 1935-08-19
COurting the West.


and Republicans upon the necessity of
carrying" the West in the next ma
tional election should be fiattering to
that section of the country. Without
the favorable votes OF the States of the
Middle West and the West, victory, it
is said, would be denied President RooSe-
welt or his opponent, as the case might
be. The question apparently seems to
be: Will the Democratic South or the
usually Republican East be able to form
an alliance with the West?
The West, in such an analysis of the
political situation, clearly holds the
balance OF power. Primarily, great
stretches OF the Western territory are
agricultural. They are controlled by
the farmer vote. The Roosevelt Demo-
Gratis are laying great stress upon the
New Deal farm program, with its A. A.
A, crop curtailment and Government
checks and processing taxes. The Re
publicanS are seeking to present sub
stitute which will appeal to the farmers.
The farmer is clearly entitled to con-
ditions that make it possible for him to
earn living. Unless there is a measure
Of prosperity for agriculture-the basic
induStry-prosperity In this country is
always in danger. The Democratic New
Deal theory, however, that the farmer
is to be paid for not producing crops,
is calculated to pull the props from
under American agriculture sooner or
later. The farmer who goes along with
this theory will find in the end that he
has sold his birthright for a mess OF
pottage.
But Republican leaders from the West
are fearful that if they go empty handed
to the farmers, with no rosy promises
Of panaceas for farm relief, they will
not get the farmer vote next year. In
consequence they are tinkering at plat
form making. with the old McNary-
Haugen equalization fee principle or the
debenture plan, with bounties paid on
farm exports, as starting points. A
simple, direct attack on the A. A. A. and
all it stands for, they contend, would
not be sufficient.
Notwithstanding the fact that wheat
farmers and corn and hog farmers of the
West have voted for a continuance Of
the Government checks for not produc-
ing certain percentages of the crops
which they might produce, there is
growing feeling in the farm regions that
all is not as it should be. The farmers
see importations OF farm produce from
abroad growing larger in American
markets and the markets for American
produce abroad shrinking. There is
restlessness, too, because farmers are
unwilling to be told what they must do
by a group Of bureaucrats taking their
orders from Washington. Furthermore,
there is the likelihood that the Supreme
Court Of the United States may in its
wisdom hold that the A. A. A. and its
processing taxes are unconstitutional
The counting of the West by the polit-
ical leaders this year, in preparation for
the coming national contest, is more
marked perhaps than has been the case
for some years past. However, these
same leaders may yet come to realize
that there is a vast population in this
country which does not live on the farm;
which is found in the East and the great
industrial centers scattered across the
continent. The wrath which the process
ing taxes and the skyrocketing of prices
of some foodstuffs has aroused among
the consumers is already making itself
felt politically.