The Washington times., 1936-09-07

extent in every one of the
drought communities. Beginning
in 1884, when we also had serious
drought conditions, the State
and Federal Governments CO.
operated in planning a large num-
Der Of projects-many of them
directly aimed at the alienation
Of future drought conditions. In
accordance with that program
literally thousands of ponds or
small reservoirs have been built
in order to supply water for
stock and to lift the level of the
underground water to protect
wells from going dry. Thousands
Of wells have been drilled or
deepened; community lakes have
been created and irrigation prof.
ects are being pushed.
Water Conservation
Water conservation by means
such as these is being expanded
as a result of this new drought
all through the Great Plains area,
the Western corn belt and in the
States that lie further South. In
the Middle West water conserva-
ton is not so pressing a problem.
Here the work projects run more
to soil erosion control and the
building of farm to market roads.
Spending like this is not waste.
It would spell future waste if we
did not spend for such things now.
These emergency work projects
provide money to buy food and
clothing for the winter; they
keep the live stock on the farm;
they provide seed for a new crop,
and, best of all, they will conserve
soil and water in the future in
those areas most frequently hit
by drought.
Sees Future Peril
II, for example, in some local
area the water table continues to
drop and the top soil to blow away,
the land values will disappear with
the water and the soil. People on
the farms will drift into the nearby
cities; the cities will have no farm
trade and the workers in the city
factories and stores will have no
jobs. Property values in the cities
will decline. If, on the other hand,
the farms within that area remain
as farms with better water supply
and no erosion, the farm popula-
ton will stay on the land and pros
per too. Property values will in
crease instead Of disappearing.
That is why it Is worth our while
as nation to spend money in
order to save money.
have, however, used the argu-
ment In relation only to a small
area-it holds good in its effect
on the nation as q whole. Every
State in the drought area is now
doing and always will do business
with every State outside it. The
very existence of the men and
women working in the clothing
factories of New York, making
clothes worn by farmers and
their families; OF the workers in
the steel mills in Pittsburgh, in
the automobile factories of De-
troit, and in the harvester fac
tories of Illinois, depend upon the
farmers ability to purchase the
commodities they produce. In the
same way it is the purchasing
power of the workers in these
factories in the cities that en-
ables them and their wives and
children to eat more beef, more
pork, more wheat, more corn,
more fruit and more dairy prod
ucts, and to buy more clothing
made from cotton, wool and lea
Their. In a physical and a prop
erty sense, as we'll as in a spirit
ual sense. we are members one of
another.
No Simple Panacea
I want to make it clear that no
simple panacea can be applied to
the drought problem in the whole
Of the drought area. Plans must