Imperial Valley press., 1936-01-07
Indiana Farm
Girl Leads In
Big Program

NEW HAVEN, Conn, U.H - An
Indiana farm girl who has donned
overalls and titled a farm, and who
can ride and operate a tractor with
maximum agility, today heads Reg
ion I of the New Deals vast Rural
Resettlement Program, for which
sol 100000 has been allotted in an
effort to improve the status for the
farmer.
She is Dorothy M. Beck, wife OF
Thomas H. Beck, president of the
Crowell Publishing company, and Is
the only woman Rural Resettle-
ment director and the first Con-
necticut woman honored with a
senate appointment.
Knows Practical Farming
Mrs. Beck lives on New Eng
land farm herself. Although not
forced to exc living from the soil,
the new director of the resettlement
program has raised livestock of all
kinds-coWs, pigs, hens and chick
ems, and turkeys, on her Wilton,
Conn, farm. She knows about
crops.
II know how difficult it is to raise
vegetables on a New England rock
pile, because I've tried it," she says
emphatically. She knows horticui-
ture, and she has nursed into
growth many varieties of shrubs.
She knows the species and varieties
of flowers by the hundred.
THE farmers who need help the
most are the ones who are most
loath to accept aid Mrs. Beck said
in discussing the program of DR..
Rexford Tugwell, which she IS oil
recting in the eastern of the ccun-
try. I'm direct contrast with city
welfare cases, farmers who have re-
luctantly accepted loans make pay
ments on their loan inStallments eV-
en- before they are due. Many city
welfare clients are satisfied to be
permanently idle and do nothing
about it, but not SO with the farm
err" she added.
I'VE expect to speed up the loans
to rehabilitation clients" Mrs. Beck
said There are about 10000 farm
families in the region which either
have gotten loans or will get them
soon.
Few Large Loans
Not only do farmers make pay
ments before they are due, but the
administration is experiencing diff
ficulty in having the farmer bor-
row as much as the home economist
analyses their needs to be. Few of
the loans have been more than
81 900 and most of them run be-
tween $500 and $500. The percent
age of payment is very high and
there have been only few defaults. 81
Seeing to it that the farmer gets
square deal out of the New Deal,
accounts for Mrs. BeckS' enthusiasm
for her work, which keeps her rush
ing from the time she leaves Wilton
at 8 o'clock in the morning until
she gets back late in the evening.
There is little time for enjoyment
of her lovely Wilton home; Mrs.
Beck merely sleeps there. Even
when she decides to spend an eve
ming at home, she is always equip
ped with a brief case and accom-
panied by her secretary.
District Embraces 10 States
Mrs. Beck's territory, over which
she has entire charge of all reset
Element activities, includes New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland and the Dis
trict of Columbia, as well as the five
New England states. There are four
divisions of the program, land use,
rural resettlement, suburban reset
Element, and management. There
are more than 100000 farm peo-
pie, with half a million farm fam
lilies, as potential clients who, it is
hoped, will be helped to a better
standard of living.
I'VE must make it possible for the
farm women to have labor saving
devices and greater kitchen conven-
iences," Mrs. Beck declares in dis
cussing the role of the farmer, ITO
make it possible for farm mothers to
devote more time to culture, recre-
alton, and making their homes at
tractiVe."
Mrs. Beck herself is interested in
interior decoration and she has de-
voted many hours toward a collec-
ton of rare antique furniture, with
which her Wilton home is furnished.