Evening star., 1936-08-31
'Spending to Save

The President has chosen a catchy
three-word Spending to Save
to describe the Governments policy IN
dealing with the kindred problems OF
soil erosion. land-waste and drought.
The policy is strictly one OF conserva-
ton. AS such it should command wide
interest and support, for in recent years
we have received repeated and solemn
warning from Nature that the resources
of this bounteous. land are not unlimited
and man must lend hand to preserve
them. The disastrous effect OF drought
is only one such warning.
But conservation is more than spend
ing to save" True conservation de-
mands more than the ability and the
willingness to spend money. 1t involves
trespass on the rights of individuals,
changes in the mode of living and the
scrapping of traditions of large num-
bers of our people. Conservation de-
mands a public realization OF the bene-
fits in store from wise saving and public
support for the hands OF Government
in making such savings count.
The President has listed the three
Immediate aims of governmental policy
In connection with the drought: First,
the provision of relief for those who
need it; second, helping thousands OF
families through the difhculties they
face in the coming Winter; third,
long-range program, designed not to
depopulate the drought regions, as
has been extravagantly predicted, but
to permit an increase in these regions
of population and prosperity.
The first two parts of the program
are under way and are relatively simple.
In these, the main question is furnish
ing cash, in the form of grants or
loans or relief work. The machinery
set up for dealing with the depression
is functioning and merely requires fuel
in the form of appropriations to keep it
going.
1t is the third part of the program
the long-range program-that will oc-
cupy the next Congress and many sue
ceeding Congresses and State Legislatures
for years to come. The report OF the
Great Plains Drought Area Committee,
laid before the President last week,
outlines the nature of this program. 1t
involves water conservation, through
the construction of thousands of small
dams and irrigation systems; the pur-
chase by government, local, State or
Federal, of sub-marginal lands, which
SHOULD be taken permanently out OF
commercial production; soil conserva-
ton through contour plowing, terracing,
regrassing tree planting, etc.; purchase
bv Government and the leasing OF land to
individuals on condition that they follow
prescribed rules of planting or grazing;
the discouragement of tenant farming
by provision of credit to competent pur-
chasers of land and the possible develop
ment of a system of crop insurance.
The Drought Committee is convinced
that the Initiative must be taken by the
Federal Government" with respect to
many parts of the program, and sug-
gests early study of necessary legislation.
"The emergency" says the committee,
sis a test Of the democratic system,
which can be met without any exercise
of arbitrary power" 1t also represents
a test of the ability of the Federal Gov
ernment, the States and the local COM
munities to cooperate to the extent
necessary for realization of the pro-
gram-that is to say, for the States and
local communities to assume their share
of a burden that, under existing policies,
is too readily shouldered by the Federal
Government.