The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1936-09-25

families a better standard of living than
they now have. In discussing conservation
practices the Committee admits that the
Individual farmers cannot bear the cost Of
terracing, strip cropping, dams, reservoirs.
and other measures, and though 1T Sug-
geSts that the federal government should
bear the main cost, with assistance from
the state and local governments, it does
not attempt to submit finished program.
No action has followed the report by
the Drought Committee, except the auth
orization by Roosevelt of an aerial survey
to RAP the southern part Of the drought
area. When Roosevelt gave the signal to
60 ahead with this map. the newspapers
headlined the event as, for example, "Ro-
Csevelt Starts Drouth Program" (New
York Times Sept. 3
Lack OF scientific data is not the. reason
fer holding up a long-term program; ac-
italy the government has accumulated q
vast amount Of research material dealing
with the dry-farming areas. Drs. Frederic
H. Clements and Ralph W. CLANCY of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington write
in their study called, Environment and
Life in the Great Plains:
For the past half-century, the
scientific understanding of the Great
Plains In terms of possibilities and
hazards has far OUtrun the diffusion
and application of the actual facts. In
deed, the gulf between knowledge and
practice Yves never greater than at the
onset of the last drought (1934), due
chiefly to the steady advance of the
che and the unremitting lag of the
other"
Every drought has been accompanied by
new reports and Investigations. But the
time for reports which do not lead to &C
ton has long since passed. The drought
Committee itself says: "The situation is
SO serious that the Nation for its own sake
cannot afford to allow the farmer to fail"
The government is not ignorant of con-
ditions on the Great Plains and of the gen
eral practices necessary to save the land
Morris L. Cooke, chairman of the Drought
Committee, admitted under pressure that
the report of his Committee had actually
been written before the members made
their tour. The need at present. is for con-
crete and specific measures to alleviate and
control drought and not for general reports
whose purpose is to weaken public pressure
and to avoid action. AS we 90 to press,
Roosevelt announces the appointment Of
another Committee instructed to "work
out the Great Plains Permanent Land-Use
Program" and report its findings to him
by January I.
Il cannot be said that Landon has shown
a greater interest than Roosevelt in pres
sing for the immediate adoption of a long
range program At his meeting with Ro-
oseyelt, Landon offered nothing better than
a copy of his proposal, made two years
ago, for the building of reservoirs. This
plan is by no means adequate It refers
only to the areas around the Arkansas and
Kansas rivers; and, of course, reservoirs
are only one item in really comprehen-
sive program.
AS for the Administrations short-term
drought program, reports indicate that
some expansion of it's relief activities has
occurred. The WPA is raising it's drought
quota from 143,052 jobs to 10000 Jobs in
Ii states; that this number is still far
from adequate is shown by Hopkins state
ment that at least 100000 jobs will be
necessary to meet the needs of all drought
victims before the end Of the Winter" At
tn same time, the Resettlement Admins
tration ANNOUNCED on September 10 that #
would have to take care of an additional
$4,000 farm families this winter over and