Evening star., 1936-10-04
Farmers Sitting Pretty in
The 1886 Campaign.
BY OWEN L. SCOTT.

The election lowdown: Real victory
already is in the bag. American farmers
are winning In q walk to take the cam
paign honors and to enjoy the resulting
rewards.
Either Roosevelt or Gov. Landon Is sure
to lose. But victory or defeat for either
candidate still leaves the farmer q
winner How come? Chiefly owing to
the fact that he faces the November 3
balloting with blank check on the
United States Treasury in hand, care
fully Endorsed by each candidate and
each party.
That check will be cashable in 1887
and the years that follow. 1t is sure
to be big enough to cause war veterans
and tariff beneficiaries and other special
favor groups to turn green with envy.
Farmers faced this election in . pre-
eminent bargaining position. Both
parties today are ready to attest to the
fact that they played the game right
to take advantage Of their position. The
rewards are written in big figures.
-
Republicans realized from the first
that the farm vote Of the big Middle
Western agricultural States was essential
10 their victory. Gov. Landon was chosen
as the man most likely to attract this
vote.
His bid now is in. 1t involves:
A promise of checks from the Treasury
to guarantee farm income in an amount
ranging from $500. 600, 900 to 81 000. 900, 600
based on the difference between the
world farm price and an American pro-
tected farm price.
A promise of something approaching
an embargo on imports of foreign farm
products that directly or indirectly COM
pete with American farm products.
A promise Of loans to farm tenants
who want to become farm owners.
A promise OF generous drought relief
and Of a plan to insure farmers against
loss of income through crop damage due
to weather or insects.
A promise Of additional payments to
farmers in return for their efforts to
check soil erosion and to build up the
fertility OF their land.
Combined, these promises involve q
formidable array of experiments Of high
cost. They represent, too a shift in
Republican position since the time when
both Presidents Coolidge and Hoover
frowned upon the use of Federal Gov
ernment machinery to guarantee farm
ers a definite slice Of the countrys
income. E
President Roosevelt at the start OF the
campaign found himself in q position
where he had to have either the vote of
the big farm States or the vote OF the
big Eastern industrial States. He had
given the farmers vast bounties in the
last three years, treating them as the
favored element in the population. But
still he and his advisers decided that
they could not afford to take a chance
on loss Of farm support. So they raised
the ante
Now the Democratic promises involve:
Continued payments to farmers for
conserving their soil, with these pay
ments limited to $500 0,000.000 a year
an amount considerably under the Re-
publicaa offer.
But with supplementary assistance
through generous aid to drought suf-
ferers, through Government subsidized
insurance Of farm crops, through price
fixing loans on commodities and through
loans on q large scale to farm tenants
who want chance to become farm
owners and who can meet Government
tests.
Further. the President already has
approved q Treasury subsidy to assure
lower interest rates to farm borrowers
than to any other class Of citizens, and
his program Of reciprocal tariff bargain
ing-whatever its ELECTS based onthe
Idea of reviving foreign markets for
American farm products.
When the two groups of promises are
added up, farmers are assured Of: A
minimum. unsupported income; pro-
lection against the hazards Of Nature,
some measure Of price fixing, low inter-
est rates, assistance in becoming property
owners.
The total cost of these promises will
be between 81, 900 900 900 and 81 500 ,000,-
900 annually. In period Of falling
prices the cost might be much higher.
This program Of subsidies Is devised for
q group making up barely one-quarter Of
the total population. Admittedly, it
represents the highest bidding for votes
yet recorded and serves to put the war
veterans In second place Is pressure
group.
To tell the truth, the Democrats this
year are inclined to be bit sour on the
whole proceeding. The reason Is not
hard to discover.
The bulk of Northern farmers have
been Republican since the Civil War.
Middle Western agriculture took 1t. for
granted that high tariffs were its saliva
ton and that markets for its goods were
unlimited. There came a rude awaken
ing, first in 1921 and again in 1929.
Democrats took advantage Of the situa-
ton and won farmer support In 1882.
In power, the New Deal has been
lavish in its aid to agriculture. Bounties
totaled q billion and . half; drought
relief added more than half Q billion;
commodity loans involved another big
sum.
Yet now Democratic party leaders note
q definite drift Of farmers back to their
old allegiance. This drift Is noticeable
enough to cause Henry wallace, Secre-
tary of Agriculture, to drop broad hint
to the,rural folk that q display of in
gratitude on their part might lead
politicians to be less solicitous in the
future.
There Is known to exist some senti-
ment among the political strategists for