Evening Star Newspaper, July 9, 1923, Page 10

Kansas Farmer Liked Harding’s - Talk, But Demands Showdown Freight Rate Cut to Make Wheat Profita- ble Called Dominantlssue, Though Pres- ident’s Prohibition BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. TOPEKA, Kan., July 9.—It's more than a quarter of a century since William Allen White asked “What's the matter with Kansas,” and an- swered his own question with the immortal epigram that “Kansas start- ed in to raise hell and suffered from an overproduction.” When President Ilarding reached Kansas a couple of weéeks ago a different cause for the state's troubles was assigned to him. e was told that “the matter with Kansas” is excessive railroad freight rates, He was assured that wheat is be- ing grown and harvested in this rural paradise at an actual loss. He was informed that the farmer's dollar is only 68 cents efficient. He was no- tified that, no matter at what rate the prosperity wave is rolling over the rest of the country, it has not struck the farming west. And when the President wanted to know the why and wherefore of this anomalous state of affairs, the song and the ‘horus and the entire refrain dinned incessantiy into his ears was “high ireight rates.” Nothing Else Matters. That's all that interests Kansas the other agricultural regions They listen intently, if itly, while minor_themes | are being strummed upon. But un-| L men disouss the causes of S0-cent at or 6-cent hogs—i. e., excessive ireights—Iit s impossible to enlist Kansans' real attention, to say noth- ing of firing their enthusiasms, A day or two after President Hard- ing addressed a great concourse of {ansas farmers at Hutchinson, cen- er of the wheat belt, a dirt farmer constituent, who sits in the state legislature, wrote Senator Arthur Capper the following letter: *Honorabel Arthur Capper, “Topeka, Kansas. “My dear friend: “There is a few things that needs correctin’ before the Presidentlal election, that is, for the western wheat-growers, The way the wheat prices is going will ruen the west- ern farmers. and if there isent any Releaf for them they will be ruened, nnd that will caus lots of dissates- taction iu the west. But I have aith in the President that he Is big enough to handle the situation, and beleave will to the satisfaction of the Peopel. “Respectfuly yours, etc.” Points Out Real Trouble. The spelling is the farmer's, al- though Capper blames it on an un- ruly typewriter. Had the Senator's correspondent composed an essay in Chesterfieldian English, he could not have more succinctly or more poig- nantly epitomized Kansas' tale of woe and the conditions into which Mr. Harding ran at Hutchinson. The farmers accorded the Presi- dent an unquestionably cordial re- ception. They did not cheer them- selves hoarse in acclaiming him, be- cause Mr. Harding is not a rabble- rouser. He had come among them with a prepared address on agri- cultural problems, attuned not only to the needs of rural Kansas, but to those of farmers everywhere. The President refrained from Roosevel- tian hip-hip-hurrah methods, in dulged in no soothing promises, and confined himself to an account of the administration’s past efforts to help the farmer out of his troubles. There was little in such a program to incite the Hutchinson audience into demonstrative plaudits, and none was forthcoming. What he did accom- plish was to fill the farmer with a renewed feeling of confidence that the President of the United States is alive to farm needs and imbued with a genuine desire to minister to them. That thought finds expression in the letter of Senator Capper’s constituent, coupled with another impression Mr. Harding left behind him—that he is “big enough to handle the situation.” Harding Must Meet Test, 1 Undoubtedly the Presldent will have to prove that he measures up to that expectation if the republican party is to bank on carrying Kansas in 1924. Harding and Coolidge swept the state in 1920 by 170,000 majority. But dirt-farmer Jonathan M. Davis, democrat, was elected governor in 1922 by 20,000. It is true that Davis landslided into the governorship mainly on the issue of the industrial relations court—recently struck in the solar plexus by the United States Supreme Court. But by general consent his victory was due In no small measure to stat wide discontent with the conditions upon which Kansas is exclusively de- pendent—prosperity, or the reverse, on millions of acres of wheatfields, corn lands and cattle ranches. Party politics has almost ceased to be in the agricultural west. There is an old guard nucleus in both the re- publican and democratic organizations that continue to observe blind al-| legiance to the anclent shibboleths | and worship the party standards of Testeryear. | But hardly any man or Wonian out here today wears with | any reliable definiteness the label of any party. | Vote by Pocket Nerve. People are thinking and voting ex- clusively in terms of thelr pocket nerve. That is the paramount tissue. The price of wheat, the price of hogs, the price of corn, the rate of interest, the freight to Kansas Ciy or Chi- cago stockyards—those are the things that count, and the only things. When statesmen or poli- ticians talk anything else, they're speaking something tantamount to a_ foreign language, for which, at present, therc is no understanding. President Harding dwelt persua- sively, at Hutchinson, upon the boons which the war finance corporation has conferred upon the farmers; re- counted the $400,000,000 of rural credits it had extended; held out the of more credits. The farm- d to this recital with mixed More credits mean new gs, more interest to be paid, & still deeper plunge into the abyss of indebtedness. To & community already up to its ears in debt, unable in thousands of cases to meet Interest payments or mortgages falling due, threatened right and left by bank creditors with foreclosures, talk of relief in mere terms of more credits is not the most soothing panacea in the world. It doesn’t seem to get the farmer any- where. There's no promise of relief from the monster oppression—high freight rates—in federal financial aid. It falls to raise the farmer's hope that his wheat, which is 40 or 50 cents a bushel less in price than & year ago, and his hogs, which are 3 cents a pound below 1922 figures, will soon be “back to normalcy.” Wants Price Slump Ended. The farmer doesn't discern in the pledge of more credits any prospect that farm-property values are going to stop plunging down the toboggan. With the steady decline in prices for produce, the land value of farms has Produce e e O s hap For Better Vision The Right Glasses and Eye Comfort Consult Kinsman Optical Co., 705 14th St. N.W. Established in 1900 Stand Makes Hit. shot downward, with no sign of any arrest in the descent. The wheat raisers know that every bushel of breadstuffs they're now raising rep- resents an actual per-bushel out-of- pocket loss. That is what farmer Chester O'Nell, whose combined har- vester-thresher President Harding plloted at Hutchinson, told him in terms and figures so terse and un- answerable that they constituted an impressive rural eulogy. The farmer Is convinced that he is doomed to till his soil at a loss, for the dual reasons that agricultural labor is costly and freight rates excessive—accent always on _the freights. When you ask him how he knows that the carriers are charg- ing more to haul his grain and hoss to market than they are entitled to ask, the farmer trots out an array of 'stunning figuges. In the very week the Presideht visited Kansa: the Kansas City Southern Railwa which derives the bulk of Its Incomw the rural traffic, advertised broadcast in the newspapers that it is spending $3,974. for improve- ments and new equipment. Then the advertisement adds: Big Equipment Order. “Not only the Kansas City South- ern, but all the railroads of the | United States, realizing the necessity for the greatest improvement a expansion possible of the country’s transportation facilities, expended in 923 the sum of $440.000,000. The rallroads have authorized expendi- tures for equipment and other facili- ;;ez?‘ of appoximately $1,100,000,000 in These stupendous figures flaunted in the western farmer's face embitter him beyond words. He is morally certain “that $1,100,000,000 which the railroads are going to spend on new equilpment this year is coming very largely—if not "exclusively—out of the farmers’ pockets. It is fresh evi- dence to him of an unjust disparity between what he gets for his labor and his produce and what he has to pay for everything he buys. Until that disparity Is wiped out he will know no content. Until the “spread” between what the producer of farm products can obtain at market and the price the| consumer has to pay is ironed out the farmer will nurse the grievance that somewhere, somehow, he is the victim of an unfair and an unsquare | deal. It is the government's business, the farmer argues, to find where the in- justice and the inequality lie, and eradicate them. He is prepared, as | Senator Capper's constituent writes to believe that President Harding is “big enough to handle the situation,” but the President will have to beat good intentions and fair pledges into deeds. If he does not or cannot, the presidential candidate of the G. O. P. in 1924 is going to hear from the farmer in unmistakable tones. That is the situation Mr. Harding found in Kansas. It is the situation he left behind him. They are hanging no medals in . * THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON Kansas on the authors of the Ford- ney-McCumber tariff. Somebody ha: figured out the new tariff “co every farmer in Kansas $6¢ aplec It is assailed as an castern-made tar- iff, which is still about as bad & name as you can call anything in Kansas, short of criminal libel. It is pilloried as an industrial tariff, con- celyed with relatively little regard to the farming country. It has made no votes for the republican party in Kansas, and, unless it works un- contemplated miracles between now and November, 1924, Is certaln to lose G. O. P. candidates substantial support at election time. The 1992 elections, with the rise of the farm-labor specter in states like Minnesota, Jowa, North Dakota and Montana, are admitted by republican leaders to be unmistakable storm sig- nals, Eleotion to the United States | Senate of men like Shipstead, Frazler, | Brookhart -and Wheeler—so-called republicans and so-called democrats ! in some cases—means but one thing. It denotes that the rural times are out of joint and indicates the de- termination of farmers to turn to new parties, new men and new meas- ures to rehabilitate conditions. Farm Grouch Non-Partisan. Farm ‘“prosperity” today Is ma- terially less than it Was & year ago. If it continues to grow worse and is visibly worse in 1924 the republican party, being in power at Washing- ton, will bear the brunt of farm dis- content. No kindlier fate would over- take the democratic party If it hap- pened to be enthroned. The farmer's grouch is u wholly non-partisan at- fair. Kansas and the southwest have been much interested in all the other topics touched upon by President Harding. There is little sentiment in favor of railroad consolidation on Interstate Commerce Commission lines. It smacks too much of mo- {nopoiy-creating and centralizing of power to appeal to the ruralist. Quite particularly, rall consolidation does not smell like reduced freight rates— as hereinbefore affirmed and assev- erated, the Alpha and Omega of the {farm probl as visualized among jthe grass roots. Mr. Harding’s narration of federal economies made a hit with the farm- That suggests possibility of tax ductions, and they are strong for ch. Then the President's espousal o_f the co-operative marketing prin- ciple attracts favorable notice. The farmers are thinking and talking & lot about co-operative marketing. They believe the job is already well begun. Co-Operation Growing. Probably much more than a billion dollars’ worth of business was done by farmer co-operative assoclations last year in the United States, and this big country of ours is just com- mencing to get under way co-opera- tively. The 1920 census reported |sales of $721, through farmers' (Continued 1 Column_2.) “The King of Lubricants” REXOLINE MOTOR OILS Keep Your Engine In Best Condition | SHERWOOD BROTHERS, Inc. ' Phone Lincoln 7558 FURNITURE POLISHES WOOD STAINS WALL TINTS INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR PAINTS SCREEN PAINT right floors, Phone Main 1703 Home Interiors of Inviting Freshness fJudicious employment of the furniture will enable you to transform your home, giving to the interior an effect rest- ful, fresh, inviting. IWe quote Specially Low Prices on dependable paint supplies of every character, and will be pleased to fill your needs. HUGH REILLY CO. PAINTS, OILS, GLASS kinds of beautifiers on , walls, woodwork and 1334 New York Ave. SCIN TROUBLES QUICKLY YIELD TO RESINOL 1f you are suffering from eczema, ringworm or similar itching, burning, un- sightly skin affection, bathe the irritated spots with Resinol Soap and warm ‘water, then gently apply Resinol Ointment. You will doubtless be astonished to feel how instantly the itching is cases thesick skin quickly becomes clear and healthy again, at very littl ins. In most e cost. relieved and healing Resinol Soap and Resinol Ointment also help to clear away blotches, redness, rougl ing health to skin and scalp. products .in your home todey. them. hness and dandruff, restor- Place the Resinol Your druggist sells You'll Enjoy —if you arrange to receive The Star — Daily and Sunday while you are away. It will keep you in touch with what’s going on at home. The address can be changed as often as desired. Daily and Sunday Daily Sunday One month, 70c 50c 20c One week, 20c 15c Sc all the More Rates by Mail—Postage Paid Maryland and Virginia Your Vacation All Other States Dally and Sunday Dally Sanday One month, 8c 60c 25c ‘One week, 25c 20c 10c Toodw Open. 9:15 AM. Close 6 P.M. Men’s White Linen Handkerchiefs 35¢; 3 for $1 Most every man prefers— that is, for everyday serv- ice—a good, plain, white linen handkerchief; and that is just what these are; with wide or narrow hems, as you prefer. Handkerchief Section, First floor. Being Comfortably Yet Well Corseted —is certainly a thing to be de- sired by every woman, especially during hot summer weather and vacation days. These Sports Girdles, $2 and up —answer the question as to “how” one may be thoroughly comfortable and yet have the sup- port necessary. They are soft, flexible, of all-elastic or elastic and brocade combined, and also of fine poplin. Double Garter Brassieres $2 and $2.50 —are also very popular for all sports wear, and they are of satin-dot pop- lin or broches, with four hose sup- porters. Corset Section, Third fioor. When a Blouse is Forsythe Tailored —one may be certain that it is not only a smart blouse from Fashion’s point of view, but that its tailoring is unquestionable. And there are Forsythe Tailored Dimity Blouses with V neck and Peter Pan collars and long sleeves with smart turn-back cuffs. $3 and $4. And Lovely White Broadcloth Blouses, perfectly tailored, for sports wear. And Smart La Jerz Silk Blouses to wear with tailored suits or skirts. $5.75 and $6.75. Blouse Section, Third floor. - Moire Taffeta Is fashioning charming dance frocks —and especially to youth are these soft, shimmering, colorful irocks becoming—one may choose here from delicate opal-orchid, coral pink, yellow, cool sea-green, sunset and blue. Silk Section, Second floor. D. 0, MONDAY, JULY 9, 1923. m & Lopthvop | CLOSED SATURDAYS A Value of Unusual Interest— Knitted Sports Suits, $16.50 An exceptionally low price for these smart, new, two-piece knitted suits—the sort of suit that every well dressed woman is including in her vacation wardrobe. For traveling, the knit- ted suit has no peer—as it refuses to crease. These are in the fashionable side tie model—but in different color combinations and designs. Smart all white, or bright two-tone shades for sports wear—and for traveling there are the practical buff and brown, blue and gray, and black and white color combina- tions; one of the smart models is sketched. Sportgwear Section, Third floor. Pleated Silk Skirts with Bodice Tops, $12.50 Another smart version of the very fashionable pleated silk skirt is the skirt with bodice top to match; beautifully knife pleated, as this sum- mer’s silk skirt must be, of crepe de chine, soft flat crepe or Roshanara crepe; in white, tan, brown, gray, navy and black. Skirt Section, Third floor. Added to the Special Sale of V oiles 1,000 yards Beautiful Voiles just %2 price, 50c yard Another importation from England brings 1000 yards of beau- tiful new summer voiles—voiles that inspire the most charming of summer frocks—they are of white and the lovely pastel blues. green, orchid and yellow, with smart overplaids of ratine, or a mercerized white plaid on colors; all of them 36 inches wide, and special, 50c yd. Special, 38c yard. Printed Voiles, in conventional, oriental, figured and flowered designs. Special, 75c yard. Imported Voiles, in small, medium and large checks and plaids. Sea- son’s best colors. Cotton Dress Goods Section, Second floor Special, 68c yard. Sheer Plaid Voiles, in the loveliest of sum- mer colorings. Special, $1.50 yard. French Chii- ion Voiles, in lovely colors~with ratine overplaids. ; For Cool, Summer Underthings 1,500 yards White Lingerie Crepe 35¢c, 40c, 50c¢ yard After all, there is nothing like snowy white, cool Crepe for making summer underthings. One may choose here from the fine crepe effects, as well as the lovely silky plisse crepe; and another reason for its popularity is that is requires no ironing—just a tubbing and it’s ready for use again. ~ White Goods Section, Second fioor. You'll Enjoy a Cozy Couch Hammock —this summer, and enjoy it more than you ever realized you would, after you have had one on the porch or lawn. Here you may select yours from the best makes—hammocks that are well built, both from the point of view of comfort and the service they’ll give. Among others— Couch Hammock, Special, $9.75— well built, of khaki denim, with tufted mattress and ad- justable windshield. Couch Hammock, $25— 0t heavy duck, in brown or gray, with tufted box mattress that may be used on either side ; comfortable, adjustable héad and back rests; pockets for your magazines. Chair Couch Hammocks, $28.50 and $3850—C0mp]cte with tufted mattress, adjust- able back and stand. Hammock Section, Fourth floor. Beach Chairs, $12.75—Have hardw ood maple frames; seat, back and canopy of fancy duck; reclining. Couch Hammock, $3L50-— A particularly good-looking Hammock, of gray and green; striped canvas, with comfortable, reclining back rest; soft top box mattress. Couch Ham.mock, $35—In gray and brown duck, with tufted mattress; also padded mattress back; reclining and adjustable head rest. At Left, $37.50— Green stripes with white figures. At Right. $19.75— Dark Green Duck with printed floral design. Member Better- Business Bureau Lovely White Silk Petticoats $5 Satin, radium or crepe de chine, shadowproof—some of them double to the hip; trimmings of lace, em- broidery, scalloping or hemstitching add a touch of daintiness. Petticont Section, Third fivor. Convenient Correspondence Pad Special, 45¢ Letters home need not be few or far between if one carries one of thesc convenient pads of paper and en- velopes in one’s traveling casc. . They contain 48 sheets of paper and 24 en velopes, and fold up compactly so that they take little room Self-filling Fountain Pens Special, 95¢ Styles for men and women. Some trimmed with gold filled bands, somc with clips, others with rings. Statlonery Seetion. First floor Two Distinctive New Pumps $12.50 Two new versions of the fashionable sandal pump ap- pear in these new models— The gray suede has an unusual cut-out design, with strap and trimming of gray kid; the Spanish heel is covered in suede, soles hand turned; $12.50 pair. While for semi-dress wear is the smart pump of patent leather: the rounded toe is new, and it smartly cut out on the sides; with covered military heel ; $12.50 pair. Women's Shoe Section, Third flaor Special Offer DELINEATOR —for further information call at the Pattern Section, Second floor. A new story, by Brand Whitlock, that wgll l.ve particwarly interesting to Washingtonians, starts in the July number. Pattern Section, Second floor. This Full Size Wardrobe Trunk Special, $35 An exceptionally good value that should be doubly interesting just now—with vacations the upper- most thought in most minds. This trunk is particularly well built, with heavy hardware that will stand hard wear; the inte- rior is lined in cretonne, there is a laundry bag, shoe bag, full set of hangers, an electric iron car- rier—and four good sized draw- ers with a special locking device. A Roomy Suit Case $12.50 —comes in 24, 26, 28 inch sizes; of black enamel with brown. leather trimmings; fitted with extra tray, two heavy straps and solid leather ring handle. ‘Traveling Goods Sertion, First foor.