The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1936-10-16
One Thing
Needed

Needed needed was a con-
greSs whic h
would cease attempting to amend
the law of supply and demand. The
observation was made in the midst
of the most depressed economic con-
ditions that modern times had
known and it brought down upon
my head a vast amount of criticism.
Readers wrote me at length about
the stupidity that / had displayed
by making such a statement.
Reference to that circumstance is
made here at this time, because it
Is apropos again. 1t is apropos be-
cause we are in political cam
paign out of which will come either
the reelection of Franklin d. Roose-
welt or the election of Governor
Landon of Kansas. The results of
this political campaign are going to
hinge to considerable extent on
the attitude of the farmers of this
country and if there is one segment
OF the American economic structure
to whom the law of supply and de-
mand means more than to another,
it is to the farmers.
Now, Democratic spokesman are
going about the country talking
about soil conservation, about relief
for the farmers. about anything and
everything that will give the farm
ers money.
Republican spokesman are shout
ing and waving their arms with
other propositions to aid the farm
er. Some of them probably are
workable, and if they are workable
they must be considered construc-
tive.
But the point am trying to make
is that in the case of either can
didate, there is still too much of
the idea of the superficial, of surface
help, for agriculture. In other
words, the programs still take into
account some circumvention of the
law of supply and demand. That
statement is not wholly true of Gov
ernor Landon's farm program, but
unless the New Dealers come for
ward with more than they have
thus far advanced, I think 1t can
be said their program offers moth
ing more than a continued raid or
the Treasury of the United States
with no plans at all for correcting
underlying conditions.
There was one phase of Governor
Landon's program, as advanced in
speeches at pes Moines, Iowa and
Minneapolis, MINI. that appealed to
me. Brushing aside verbiage and
detail, Governor Landon basically
has in mind, apparently, a desire
to get the government out of the
farmers hair. He seems convinced
that there are many things which
the farmers would like to do for
themselves and will do for them
selves if the machinery upon which
they can operate is made available.
He proposes, for example, to seek
legislation that will enable the farm
ers to finance themselves through
borrowing from commercial agen-
cies, banks and trust companies, in
stead of from the government. With
that agree to the fullest. 1t means
simply that farmers again can be
masters of their own souls as well
as the crops which they grow for
it, puts them in a position to sell
when they want to sell, without the
necessity for asking permission
from a bureaucrat in Washington.
1t means further that no bureaucrat
in Washington can issue an order
to that farmer that he must dispose
of his stored crop.
1t seems to me as we'll that any
one who analyses the present regi-
mentation of the farmers from
Washington must recognize that
which has always been true: Every
TIME the government, which means
politicians, attempts to mess into
private business, that private bust
ness goes from bad to worse and it
does not matter how bad it was
when bureaucrats took hold. 1t
will be worse thereafter.
have been wondering, however,
how far Mr.. Landon will go in en-
ne. couragement of
Hits Root of the family type
Farm Problem farms. You will
remember that he
spoke at length of family type farms
in his Des Moines address. Person
ally, / feel that he hit upon a very
important point. think it is inn
portant because it strikes at the
root Of the farm problem.
In discussing help for the man
who owns or wants to own small
farm, Governor Landon surely is
proposing a program that will serve
this nation well because no nation
whose farms are widely owned by
those who operate them can be
headed toward fascism or commun-
ism. l do not know how the Gov
ernor as President will be able to
put the federal government behind
such a program, but it is to be
assumed that he had definite ideas
on the subject or he would not have
boldly stated his position. My hope
il that it can be done not with
government money, but with money
supplied from private institutions
since there has been too much gov
erment competition with business of
the nation already. Further, regret