Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-06-12
West Ge++inq
Dirty De al
In Defense
Instead Of Helping U. S
Spending Hurts Farms
BY HUGH S. JOHNSON

OUT in this short-grass coun-
try of Oklahoma there isn't
much sign of any war boom,
and you can hear the same of
a large part of this western
country from here clear to, but
not including. California.
The complaint is that all the
billions are being spent else
where and that. far from bene-
fitting. this part of the country
is being pinched by it in several
ways.
Here In Enid, a metropolis of
the wheat country of western
Oklahoma, there recently has
been very slight decline in
population-people moving 10
production CenterS. II is one
OF the great wheat-storage spots
OF the nation, but there is real
apprehension that these rcscr-
voirs will fill and clog. because
OF a railroad car shortage which
is already being felt.
There is no absolute national
car shortage yet. But wheat
men here say that cars shipped
either west or east are not re-
turning. They are used or held
for war shipments.
If that happened 10 a para
lying extent wheat growers
would merely store in bins on
the farms and a thriving bust
ness would be crimped. Such
home granaries are already
being built.
SOMETHING else would be
~ crimped. Small grains DO
not store we'll on farms. They
have 10 be elevated TO prevent
heating and spelling.
Ordinarily this prospect would
have set the farmers jumping up
and down. This time it doesn't.
This wheat has government
loan value. If IL spoils in stor-
age Uncle Sam is the goat.
Even in Tulsa, with a great
oil industry where hundreds of
millions are expected 10 be
spent, first in erection OF air.
plane plants and then in plane
production, there is not much
enthusiasm over prospects.
Perhaps that is because this
gentle rain Of checks" has not
really begun Maybe il viii
change outlook when it gets
going good. But. also maybe
not.
Mr.. 1ckes' threats Of gaSleSs
Sundays and heatless homes
don't raise many hopes. With
most all production painfully
pinched in by proration. because
there is so much petroleum,
these simple people can't under
stand why il should be pinched
in more on the ground OF
scarcity.
Even in my old home town,
Wichita. Kansas, which already
has both an airplane and an oil
industry, l am told II have not
been there), that the feeling for
the future is mot pretty good
The distortions due 10 sud-
denly spending a large share Of
the annual income, several times
the national revenue. and big
bite of the national wealth in
few industrial areas not only
treats the larger and unfavor-
able part of the country like
step-child with smallpox at
the family dinner table. but it
also has 10 pay or assume the
coSt-and that means billions
out and precious little in.
THIS complaint has been pretty
Il inarticulate. Until the pres
ent trip l had not realized the
depth of feeling and injustice
and the sound logic on which It
is based.
Prices for what these people
buy are going up painfully and
threatening 10 soar. Prices and
markets for what they sell are
not going up and the prospect is
sour.
They are being pinched at
every turn.
This is no good background
for fighting a war in which few
of them believe. The necessity
for equaliZing territorially both
the tinsel benefits and the very
terrible burdens that are ahead
of us are very real if We are 10
have a country united in a feel
ing Of justice.
II is time for Mr.. Roosevelt
20 speak word for the West
and back it up by action.
Part of this cant be cured,
but some Of it can. Decentralize
production DecentraliZe the
awful and unnecessary concen-
tration of government offices in
Washington.
Watch carefully the greatest
curse of World War congeS-
ton of transportation. Give
the West a break.
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