The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 5, 1918, Page 4

See Need of the Baer Seed Bill Now Farmers’ Needs Are Called to the Attention of President Wilson and Congress by a Delegation From Kansas—A Halfway Measure Washington Bureau, Nenpartisan Leader ,INCE more the Baer seed loan bill, which was draft- ed for the purpose of enabling farmers in the West to plant more wheat to help win the war, has made an important gain in congress. The senate committee on agri- culture has adopted as an amendment to the so-called food production bill the follow- ing: “Provided, that $2,500,000 is hereby made available to be used by the secretary of agri- culture, if in his judgment the publi¢c interest requires it, to purchase seed wheat and to supply the same on credit to farmers in the great plains area west of the 98th meridian. In no case shall any such advance to any one farmer exceed $300, and in all cases the repayment of such ad- vances shall be guaranteed by a state or national bank or secured by bonds of the United States com- monly known as Liberty bonds, or other obligations of the United States, or in part by both such guar- anty and security. “And it shall be the duty of the secretary of agriculture to make collection for all such ad- vances on or before Novembher, 1919, and to report such collections in detail to the congress on the first Monday in December thereafter. Provided, that the secretary of agriculture may use such obligations of the United States as collateral to .borrow money for supplying seed to farmers for cash in pursuance of law. And the secretary-is further empowered to prescribe proper rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions hereof; provided further, that when the secretary purchases such seed from any one other than the producer thereof, he shall not pay such dealer or intermediary a net profit of more than 10 cents per bushel above cost of such seed to said dealer or intermediary.” PRESIDENT WILSON SEES THE NEED A % This amendment was agreed upon by the com- mittee after a delegation from Kansas, headed by, former President Waters of the state agricultural college, and J. C. Mohler, secretary of the state board of agriculture, had visited 'the committee and had interviewed President Wilson on the sub- ject. . Senator Thompson of XKansas introduced them to the senate committee, while the entire Kansas delegation in congress went with them to the White House. Later, Senator Thompson went again to talk the matter over with the president, and found Mr. Wilson anxious that the principle -of the bill—loans to farmers for the purchase of seed wheat for the 1919 crop—should be accepted by the senate and house. The Baer bill, as it passed the house last spring by an overwhelming majority, called for loans to farmers for the purchase of seed wheat, rye, oats and corn, not more than $450 to any one man, the loans to be secured by - first liens against the crop to be raised from this seed. Reactionary senators prevented the direct consideration of this bill in the senate while there was yet time to help increase the spring wheat acreage for 1918. But now, at . the demand of the Kansas agricultural authorities, the senate is willing to make a loan of $300 for seed wheat upon absolute guaranty from a bank or upon security of government bonds. Farmers who have neither bonds nor bankers to secure the loans will be unable to get the loans for seed. And more than that, the secretary of agri- culture may use his discretion as to whether any loans shall be made, even upon perfect security. .The amendment was offered by Senator Curtis of XKansas in this form: / 3 “ “That if the secretary of agri- culture shall find special need for adsistance to any farmer in secur- Checking corn in Kansas. ing grain for seed he may loan or advance to any such farmer a sum of not to exceed $450 upon such terms and conditions for its repayment as he may prescribe. All advances and loans shall, as far as practicable, be made through the agency of state and national banks, and shall be a lien upon the crops produced from the seeds purchased or sup- plied under the provisions of this act.” This Curtis amendment calls for the same amount of loan, and the same lien upon the crop as security, as does the Baer bill, and it agrees with the Baer bill also in that it does not limit the loans to any special section of the country, nor to wheat alone. LEARNED FROM THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE It was in support of the Curtis amendment, so similar to the Baer bill, that the Kansas spokesmen were heard by the senate committee on agriculture. E. E. Frizzell, member of the Kansas state board of agriculture and state labor administrator, said . that Kansas has been planting about one-fourth of the winter wheat in the United States. “This year we are harvesting about two-thirds of the normal acreage,” he said. “Last year we har- vested only about one-third; two-thirds of the state * last year failed on wheat; one-third of our state this year is a failure. Thirty-five counties in Kansas have practically no wheat; not sufficient to seed the counties today. There are counties in Kansas that plant 317,000 acres to wheat. Some of those are an entire failure. We have had two failures. A group of counties in eastern Kansas has had three failures. JSo it is now necessary that we should provide the tenant farmer, and the owners of the farms that are mortgaged, with seed; some of the farmers who. have to pay interest on their mortgages and their taxes are unable to furnish the seed; and many of those farms can not be planted without assistance of some sort. “By providing the necessary seed, you can be assured that 3,000,000 additional acres will be planted to wheat. That would represent 45,000,000 bushels of wheat—sufficient to feed an army of A dirt sterm at Oakley, Kn., May 26, 1912. In the western part of this great agricultural state, the wind sometimes cufs queer capers. Planting any crop requires considerable outlay of money. Con- gress is just coming to realize that where farmers have suffered from a poor yield they must have cheap loans to keep going. 2,000,000 men for almost one ear.” q Throughout his argument Mr. Frizzell went over almost identically the same set ‘of facts, applied to Kansas, as Congressman Baer “brought to the attention of the house with regard to the spring wheat area five months ago. Senator Gronna asked whether Frizzell had estimated the total appropriation that would be necessary to cover the loans. Frizzell answered that Kan- sas alone would need $3,000,- 000. NOT AS FREE AS NORTH DAKOTA “I understand that North Dakota is planning to finance itself,” he said, referring to the work of the Nonpartisan legis- lature of that state in arranging the county loan system last winter. -“But I understand that Okla- homa, Texas and Nebraska must have relief; and the western third of Kansas, and five -counties in the eastern third, which are great wheat-growing counties, have needed this relief for three years.” It was brought out in discussion that the Kansas constitution stands in the way of state aid to the farmers, except after a referendum vote, which can not now be taken before seeding time. * Doctor Waters, who is chairman of the state council of defense, told the committee that careful investigation and four different conferences in Kansas had convinced him and the other men who had taken the matter up, that without outside assistance only about half the normal acreage of winter wheat will be sown this fall by the farmers of western Kansas, who have gone through two successive crop failures. They simply have not the funds with which to buy the seed. If, however, the government would advance the money for the purchase of the seed, giving them the chance to pay for it from the néxt crop, the full acreage would be sown. i “Inasmuch as the government would have a first lien on the entire crop,” said Doctor Waters, “a yield of five bushels to the acre would protect the govern- ment fully against loss. In the last 12 years the yield of the region in Kansas for which the assistance is sought has fallen below five bushels only three times, and never in two seasons in succession, until the seasons of 1917 and 1918. The ground never was in better condition for seeding than now, and there is every probability that a maximum yield, which may run as high as 25 bushels an acre, will be secured from the next year’s crop. “The adoption of the amendment would insure the sowing of every acre of available winter wheat land in the United States.” He presented also a telegram from F. M. Gault, president of the Oklahoma state board of agricul- ture, indorsing the action of the Kansas authorities in demanding federal loans to wheat farmers. It was after this showing, and after President Wilson had expressed his sympathy with the plan, that the senate committee adopted the substitute amendment which restricts the loans to $300 and the area to that west of the 98th meridian, or roughly to a line passing through Hastings, Neb., Hutchmson, Kan., and Guthrie, Okla. So, grudgingly, does the senate com- mittee admit the soundness of the legislation proposed by Congressman Baer and the Nonpartisan league— and so late! Knowledge Is Power Reactionaries sit back contentedly, saying that the people with the most brains always have ruled and always will. The farmers are accepting the challenge. For instance, a Nebraskan writes: : “I am sending you $1.50 for two books. I am among some.crooks and am not as well posted as I would like to be and I think these books would help me a lot. Then, if anybody asks me any questions, I can answer / piie 5 'pmsroua e G S s e b kG 2 B AN T e s S LR N