The Barnwell people-sentinel. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1925-current, July 23, 1936, Image 3
The Barnwell People-Sentinel, Barnwell, S. C~ Thursday, July 23. 1936
NEW DROUTH MAY RIVAL THAT OF ’34
Rainfall Far Short of Former Dry Periods; Dakotas Hardest Hit;
Federal Government Acts to Prevent Disaster.
o
By WILLIAM C. UTLEY
NCE Again the plains of the West are thirsting in a major
drouth that may surpass in destruction, desolation and de
spair even the record drouth of the spring of 1934. Rainfall
has been far less in some states this spring than in 1934, al
though this year there has been an absence of the sweltering heat,
which accompanied the earlier drouth.
Worst conditions have been in the western part of the Dakotas,
eastern Montana and Wyoming; in a somewhat smaller area where
the corners of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and. Oklahoma meet;
another area of about the same size in southeastern Missouri, and
over a vast region of the Southeast,^
including generous slices of Ala
bama, Tennessee, Georgia, the Caro-
linas, Kentucky, Virginia and Penn
sylvania. Over the remainder of the
states between the Alleghenies and
the Rockies, except for some areas
about the Great Lakes and in New
England, poor pasture conditions
exist.
The result has been to throw thou
sands of farm families or. the re
lief rolls; to cause more thousands
to move out of the drouth regions
into other states; to drive prices
of food higher and higher, with
dollar wheat once more returned to
Chicago and other markets, and to
spur the federal government to
swift opefation of remedial agen
cies.
Drouth Talk Displaces Politics
There is little talk of anything
else but the drouth in th_ stricken
plains; the speculation as to the
chances of rain overshadow even
the argumentative possibilities of
politics in one erf the most colorful
and interesting political campaigns
of the nation's history. The ba
rometer and the thermometers are
under even closer scrutiny than pri
mary returns and stray votes.
Prayers for rain by the farmers
of the Northwest have been largely
in vain, with clear, unclouded skies
still looking down over the parched
grazing lands. Crops are suffering
from the effects of the dust blown
upon them, while live stock are
hungry from lack of feed, which has
been likewise damaged by the silt.
Tk*r» km* hem tnmm hill* rmim in ikm
S*Mitkm**l, mtirnl kmmry rmimuarmi ihm
Imtl u*ek m Jmmm im Tmum* trmrm to to-
(«r« ikmt 2k prrutmt worm rfrotrwerf im '
lA# rfoarf wkwk frui/irrf ffoteai •' i
knmot worm turpi mm my •fans lA* kmmkt :
•I Htt >—rfj rrmmk momr Smm tminmto
Ik* Somikumti bmrfti*^ Uttlr from diaki
prmpnotiom durtmg Umy
The Dakotas probably have been
the hardest hit. The governors ot
both states, as well as Senator Nye '
of North Dakota, regarded their sit
uatton as serious enough to warrant
their making a personal visit upon
the President of the United Slates,
to make a plea for money to feed
live stock and bring relief to die- 1
tressed farming people. The gov- !
ernment has undertaken to render I
what assistance it can; cattle will
be moved out of the drouth lands
into better pasture, but there will
be no wholesale slaughter as there
was last year. During the month of
June some of the Dakota gra/mg
land in the worst areas received
Hopkins and the WPA revealed that
hundreds of family heads would
have to be transferred to the relief
rolls immediately. Their cattle had
been sold and in most cases they
had already piled up what Mr. Hop
kins called “mountains of-debt.”
Reporting about results of the dry
spring of 1934 and other drouth pe
riods, Hopkins said during the six
months before last December 15,
more than 32,000 persons had been
forced to leave their homes in the
“dust bowl” and migrate to Cali
fornia.
Third Drouth in Six Years
“Most of the Great Plains area
faces its third major drouth in six
years,” said Hopkins. Some of the
regions, particularly those in the
central and western Dakotas, have
eonsertation program. This does not r«-
fer to thm entire substitute AAA program,
but only to that part of it which actual
ly is soil conservation proper. This means
the work and the educational program
undertaken by the soil erosion service
of the Department of Agriculture.
Attempts are being made to re- 1 |
store vegetation on thousands of
acres of plowed fields, on the theory
that such vegetation will combat
erosion and conserve moisture. Nine
contour furrowing demonstration
stations have been set up in the
West. This furrowing consists of
the development of small terraces
with closed ends. These are sup
posed to conserve the rain.
In many regions the CCC is assist
ing the soil conservation service in
the undertaking. It is believed that
if the farmers can be taught to put
vegetation on part of their land and
to furrow correctly, the campaign
will be successful in eliminating
most drouth disasters.
To make possible the storage of
water for use in times of drouth, the
reclamation service of the Depart
ment of the Interior has under way
a series of dam and irrigation proj
ects in the western states. Some
lesser projects of this nature have
been on the WPA schedule.
These projects are of ambitious
scope and wide range. At the top
Wbat 1934 Drouth Did to Owe# Ri«h Grating Lands.
had low crop yields since 1930. In
practically all of the areas, the
severe drouth of 1934 intensified the
distressing rural economic condi
tions which have been accumulating
over a period of years.
•'The extent of wind erosion and
crop damages has varied widely in
different sections of the stricken
area; a few sections, favored with
normal rainfall over a long period,
have escaped soil and crop ravages
altogether. This is true of sections
of the Red River valley in North
Dakota, part of southeastern bo.:;
Dakota and to some extent south
eastern Nebraska.**
Im mtker regtmm*. mwk as thm
Tetm* plmini, k* said, mtmd ermtt
dmmmaed ms murk •• Si per real
State of tkm land t« dmm«
I
ta
wi km*
ttf fi|#
r* d 9*»
ii wdl
32
about
•ru he*
an inch
is norrr
if;
ill
where
il.
Cost Is 1239.99
From April 1 to June 24 during
the “big dry” of 1936. North Dakota
had only 2 09 inches of rainfall;
during even the record drouth of
1934 these three months saw 3 83
kmdlr tkml il n doubtful wkrih-t
eter be mble to mppurt crop* in the fu
ture Hopkm* declared tkml MI9* k of ike
crop land uv tmndy lomos mremt should be
comi*rted into permanent grass land.
Drastic reductions in the herds
of cattle in some of the states have
resulted from reduction of pasture
land by three-fourths. In the Da
kotas, Minnesota. Montana and
Wyoming, officials estimated that
Masks like these were not uncommon in the Southwest during the
dust storms which followed the long dry spell of 1935.
inches of rain. South Dakota fared
some better, getting 4.31 inches, as
compared to 4.54 in 1934. In Mon
tana 3.17 inches of rain fell, as com
pared with 4.15 in 1934. Texas’ rain
fall during the spring months was
only 7 per cent of normal.
By July l this year's drouth, it was
estimated, had cost a damage of 250 mil
lion dollars. In the Northwest alone, 100,-
000 farm families were forced to seek
subsistence aid from the government.
In Washington a drouth emer
gency committee was set up under
J. W. Tapp, to make arrangements
for the purchase and processing of
a million head of cattle, which
would perish if the drouth
ued, although it was predicted that
there would be some rain within a
few days.
A survey of conditions in the
drouth area, compiled by Harry L.
100,000 families would have to be
added to the relief rolls. It was
planned to carry the work relief pro
gram until December 1 and as far
beyond that date as the weather
would permit, at an average wage
of $44 a month. ^ Compensation for
use of farmers’ teams would bring
the average to about $60 a month.
Three Government Programs.
Officials of the federal govern
ment say to the farmers that the
Great Plains can be prevented from
becoming a desert if proper precau
tions are taken. Science has not yet
devised a way to make it rain, but
the government now has under way
a program of three divisions to pro
vide for the storage of what mois
ture exists and to prevent soil ero
sion.
First of the throe divisions is the soi/
1910-B is available for sizes 2, 4,
6, and 8. Size d requires 1 1-2
yards of 35 inch material plus
7-8 yard for the panties. Send fif
teen cents in coins.
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., 367 W. Ad
ams St., Chicago, 111.
® Bell Syndicate.—WXU Service.
Tall Fellow
The tallest man in history, ac
cording to the record of all au
thenticated cases, lives today in
Bushire, Iran. Although only 20
years of age and still growing,
this Persian giant is ten feet six
inches in height and weighs 450
pounds. Incidentally, he is so
weak that he cannot walk or hold
up his head for more than a few
minutes at a time. — Collier’s
The clever cutting of this use
ful pinafore is shown in the small
diagram beside the little girl.
You will see at ,once that this
frock requires no seaming and of
course the feature which so
greatly intrigues children is the
butterfly which forms the pocket.
Notice how simple it is to put
on, merely slipped over the head
and tied at each Side. Mothers
find it a great help because it
can be used as an apron over a
frock, which must be kept clean,
or worn instead of a frock. The
panties to match are an asset—
they have the comfortable
French yoke top and stay snug I
but never bind. This attractive
design made in cotton, percale,
gingham, calico, or lawn would
be effective with contrasting bind-1
mg and colorful embroidery on
the butterfly pocket.
Barbara Bell Pattern No.
of the list are such enormous an<^
expensive ones ss the giant Fort
Peck and Grand Coulee dams, and
at the bottom are numerous small >
streams which have been dammed
ot comparatively lower costa. aL j
though their roots have been at-J
tacked from time to time in many i
cases as wasteful “boondoggling.** j
Officials believe that eventually
water from the reservoirs behind 1
the large dams will make possible ■
the use of much land that is now
unproductive, and that the smaller
dams will help in relieving the situ- 1
stion generally.
Resettlement Program.
In a third division of the program, ,
the resettlement administration, un
der Professor Tugwell. haa under
wrfy a SIO.OuO 000 schedule of pur-
isse of submarginal lands to con
vert them into pasture in combat-
mg drouths. Under this plan, it is '
proposed to buy l,282.52i acres of
the submarginal land at $2 an acre;
it has already made rome little
progress. The program is divided
into two parts, one of which in- 1
volves six projects in the Plains i
states, embracing 415.009 acres.
The other part includes the pur
chase of 867,522 acres of Indian
grazing land on the Rio Grande
watershed of New Mexico.
The conception of the resettlement pro
gram includes the mot ing of b50 families
to belter land at a cost of fJJOO.OOO—
that's S~>.0?h a family. It also comprises
$2,645,000 for the purchase of land, and
$.100,000 for antierosion work and the
deivlopment of plains land.
There was a fourth division of the
federal government's battle against
the drouth menace, the $75,000,000
shelter-belt program, but this pro
gram has been dropped, due largely
to opposition which labeled it im
practical. Approximately $3,000,-
000 had already been spent.
The idea was to#plant a belt of
trees 100 miles wide and more than
1,000 miles long, stretching from
the Canadian border across the
Great Plains to Texas. Its pro
ponents contended that such a shel
ter belt would break the erosion-
causing winds and conserve some of
the moisture. The weather - bureau
says that it would have no effect on
rainfall itself. However, congress
refused to appropriate the funds
needed for the project, and Comp
troller General McCarl, recently re
tired, ruled that the President could
not use $15,000,000 of drouth relief
funds for the purpose. McCarl did,
under protest, permit the use of a
smaller sum.
Some shelter-belt strips, along a
1,300 mile line, have been planted.
Such a strip consists of a narrow
row of trees up to a half mile long
C Western Newspaper Union.
CHARLIE MAKES HIS BID'
f MURRY UP. # ^
TRY *0*5 WON'T
lire rr * v* reef
HIM WAITING ! YOU
KNOW HE WANTS
. . TO TALK ABOUT
V TWAT RAISE 3
ASKED Fo« I
%
V •
r AW-YlU.
HER To ourr
PAINTING HER
PACE/ VOU'RE
GOING TO A
pVX’L;
X •NOT A WAR,
r
■HELEN.! WISH ,
YOU'D TOP THAT
EVERLASTING I
humming ! il
QUIT THI*
SlUV GAME, I
ANYHOW/
THAT* THE STUFF/
THROW DOWN YouK
CARDS —THAT
always Breaks
UP THE
.GAME / j AU
WE'LL GO N
the study
while Ytxj OPUS
Fire something
■.TD EAT/
Winds Cause Uniform Climate
Winds, when not opposed by
mountain barriers, tend to cause
uniformity of climate, over exten
sive areas. They largely deter
mine rainfall, therefore controlling
distribution of life.
A&OVT THAT
RAISE, CHARLIE —
I’M AFRAID YOU'RE
NOT READY FOR.
IT YET—I DON'T
Believe sou realize
HOW CROSS AND
IRRITABLE YOU'VE
BECOME /
' SAV-YOU'D BE
IRRITABLE,TOO, IF
YOU HAD MV
HEADACHES AND
indigestion /
, Starting *r> .
CRITICIZE, IS HE?
DON’T STAND FOR
IT-TELL THIS
TIGHT-FISTED SLAVE
DRIVER WHERE To
GET OFF /
-Sounds like .
COFFEE-NERVES/
t HAD 'EM, UNTIL
MY DOCTOR MADE
ME SWITCH TO
PoSTUM—WHY DON'T
YOU TRY POSTUM,
AND SEE ME LATER
ABOUT THAT
RAISE?
WELL, MAYBE
l WILL / I CAN'T
FEEL ANY
WORSE/
'CURSES/
i'll have to
SCRAM/ PoSTUM
ALWAYS DRJV/ES
ME OUT/
Op COURSE, children should
never drink coffee. And many
grown-ups, too, find that the caf-
fein in coffee disagrees with them.
If you are bothered by headaches
or indigestion or can’t sleep
soundly., .try Postum for 30days.
( Postum contains no caffein. It is
simply whole wheat and bran,
roasted and slightly sweetened.
Try Postum. You may miss coffee
at first, but after 30 days you’ll
love Postum for its own rich, satisfying flavor. It is
easy to make, delicious, economical, and may prove s
real help. A product of General Foods.
FREE — Let us send you your fint week’s supply of
Postum/ree/ Simply mall coupon. O e. r. cone.
Qknkbal Poods, Bottle Creek. Mich. w. n. •_
Send me, without obligetioo. e week's supply of 1
City_ .. . „, — . State
Fit* In oomplmtaly, print name and add rams.
iplrtaly,
If you live in Canada, address: General Poods, Ltd^
Cobourg, Out. (Offer expires July 1, 1937.)