The Nome daily nugget., 1936-06-01
(CITY OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER
BOUNTIFUL BUT DUMB

Many comparisons have been made between Eng Ish and American methods of handling public pro- bemS and between the progress of recovery here and In Great Britain Such contrasts nearly nothing, and it is a waste of time to make them Conditions entirely different in the two countries and so are the people who live in them
 One small difference makes all the difference in the world The English statesman politician doeSn t have to worry about the farmers vote There are farmers in England but not enough to create public nuisance. There is farm problem in England, but the government isn't expected to get down it's knees to it.
 In the United States the farmer is chronic head ache to Congress and the Administration That mall- es him pain in the neck to millions of his fellow citi- zenS. It also makes him expensive luxury for the taxpayers, who put up the money support the farm CT Tn the style to which he is less accustomed
 The biggest department of bureaucratic management in the United States devoted to coddng and fondlng the American farmer The good-hearted government owes nearly everything to the farmer except blow his nose and sing him to sleep at night.
 The farmers health, the farmers family the farm CTS mortgage all matters of worry in Washington The Federal government helps the farmer milk the cow, plant poatoes dig well, fix fireplace or raise rabbits for the betterclass fur trade If he muddles his tinancng he frequently does, bureau is invent ed to save him from bankruptcy. If he can't pay his debts as he often doesn't Washington finds some suck who will
 The National Government will buy the farmers surplus wheat and cotton, lend him more money on tld Il lS LII IL llleS pfOflt price tor his product It restricts production, that the farmer won't be worried by uncomfortable competi- tion And it tells him what he musnt grow and pays him for not growing it.
 So, the average farmer very naturally, believes that there is a Santa Claus and that his other name is Uncle Sam.
 All this makes fairly easy pickings for the farm er though the average hayseed wouldn't admit it. Gov ernment beneVClence Whets the appetite for more. There may time when the solution of the so- called farm problem will be to pay every farmer $5OOO year, more for sitting the porch, and talking politics to the hired man. Special arrangements would have to be made, of give the farmer time off on Election Day. that he could go the polls and vote a straight Administrative ticket And when he got there he would probably vote for somebody else He usually does which accounts for most of the sensa- tional upsets in American politics.
 It is fair to say that the farm population is favor ed class in the American economic and political system
 Perhaps it should be. Though this great industrial nation about half it's population lives the farm And the agrcuturSts easily ouvote any group of their industrial neghbors if the farmers get together on grievance
 That is why the farmer is the fairhaired boy in Washington Everybody loves him at election time. No political platform is complete without promise for the farmer-The Houghton Line.