The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1939-11-02
Mortmoin Law

Mortmuin Law
1t seems paradoxical that not to vote is actually
to vote against. But such is the law. 1t is also paradox
ical that the desire of the voter to be fair actually results
in his being unfair. But that is a fact.
Wisely the law makes it difficult to amend the
Constitution. Amendments must receive a majority OF
all the votes cast in an election. On November 7h when
one votes for Governor or Sheriff he is counted as vot'
ing in the election. At the same time if he omits to vote
on the two constitutional Amendments which will make
possible, under limitations, gifts by will I'd church or
phanages, hospitals, cemeteries, and colleges, he is ac-
tually counted as voting against them. Therefore not
to vote is to vote against.
Most Mississippi voters want to be fair. The great
majority do not know the law and, as stated, when they
find on the ballot amendments to the constitution about
which they are not informed the average voter thinks
he is doing the fair thing by not voting on the amend
ments. He is willing for the question to be decided by
those voting for and against the amendments, but his
failure to vote is counted as a vote against tbe amend
ments. His effort to be fair has actually made him a
partison against the amendments.
Every voter should inform himself as to the Mort
main amendments which will be ON the ballot November
7th and vote his convictions.
In our opinion the amendments should be approved.
How The Government Hos Helped The Former
Much of the Republican sniping at the achieve
ments of the Roosevelt administration has been direct
ed against it's farm plans. An attempt has been made
to concnve the farmer that these have been failures,
that he has been sold down the river" and that alto
gether he is in a sorry plight because of the administra-
TONS activities. The Republicans have no substitute
to offer except the old, misty and lorec9h'~ die
dited gag of the protective tariff, which all hut the
most uninformed farmers know by now is nothing else
than a device to profit the manufacturer at the farmers
expense.
Nevertheless the same threadbare argument is of
fered in every Congress and every campaign and for
that reason it is necessary constantly to show it up.
That is accomplished effectively by a simple recital of
what the Agricultural Adjustment Administration has
done to relieve the farmers situation.
In the first place it prevented the complete collapse
of agriculture in the dark days of six years ago, and it
has kept the farmers going ever since. Farm cash in
come is threefourths larger than before the institution
OF the A and farm cash available for living is one
and a half times larger than it was in 1882. There has
been established the Ever-Normal Granary which is the
greatest assurance of abundance ever provided for a
country in all history. Soil conservation has been made
possible and farmers enabled to shift millions of acres
from soil depicting crops to- soil building crops. In the
case OF Americas three largest crops, wheat, corn and
cotton, income has increased from $77O, 295, 900 in 1882
to 1871, SOC, 900 in 1888, almost double, and this with
out including the government payments.
Despite the fact that at the time most of the Ameri-
can crop was being marketed world prices were the
lowest they had been in $50 years, or since the Liverpool
exchange opened in 1892, the American wheat farmer
was getting IS cents a bushel through his cooperation
with the AAA program this year. Domestic prices are
normally about 80 cents less than the Liverpool price
which at that time, before the exchange was closed. was
around SO cents. Without the aid of the acreage ad-
Justment, loan and export subsidy programs, American
farmers could hardly have got more than 25 cents a
bushel for their wheat this year-a regular Hoover
price.
In regards to corn, the threefourths commercial,
corn growers who are cooperating iii the corn program
are getting an income from their crops more than twice
as great as in 1882. Furthermore the strong 257 million
bushels of corn under loan will be a blessing. AS it is
remembered that the 271 millions bushels stored under
toan IN 1884 proved insufficient in the unusual cond-
lions caused by drought.
AS for the cotton the income from this crop includ-
ing government payments has increased from low S464.
UUu,OOO IN 1882 to an average of 5000, 900, 900 for the
five years 1888 to 1887. Cotton income for 1898 accord
ing to preliminary figures is estimated at 1851 600 600