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Show NA I PRE W PEA RpON Washington, D. C. GENERAL PERSHING General Pershing's solemn warning warn-ing that unless aid is given the British Brit-ish fleet to resist Hitler, the United States faces certain attack, was not a reply to the appeasement broadcast broad-cast of Colonel Lindbergh. When the A. E. F. commander decided, after a study of confidential military reports, re-ports, to come out of retirement and speak to the nation, he did not know that the flyer also planned to talk. Also, Pershing wrote his speech w'thout any knowledge of what Lindbergh Lind-bergh would say. However, Pershing Persh-ing did tune in on the latter's broadcast, broad-cast, nut It was only for a few minutes. The General of the Armies became be-came so incensed at Lindbergh's views that he turned off the radio and snapped, "That's outrageous. I'm saying nothing about that young man in my talk tonight, but I shall make it my business to do so on another occasion." TENANT FARMERS Despite all the good intentions of Henry Wallace regarding the sharecropper share-cropper and tenant farmer, the inside in-side fact is that both have been increasing in-creasing in numbers and decreasing decreas-ing in security, year by year. For anybody who wants to write another an-other "Grapes of Wrath," there is more abundant material than ever. It is not being shouted from the housetops, but between 1930 and 1935, the number of farm tenants increased at the rate of 40,000 a year to reach the staggering total of 2,8(15,000. The 1940 census, when the figures are out, is expected to show a still higher figure. Privately agriculture department officials admit that they are just about licked, and have almost abandoned aban-doned their drive to reduce tenantry. ten-antry. There are three reasons for the increase in tenant farming: 1. Increased mechanization. Best index of this is the mounting sale of tractors. Technological unemployment, unem-ployment, which long ago hit the factory, has now come to the farm. 2. Reduced acreage. To prevent price-depressing surpluses, AAA contracts with farmers to plant less. This means fewer tenants are needed need-ed to plant, tend and harvest the crops. Meantime, the rested land next year gives higher yield, necessitates neces-sitates further reduction of acreage. acre-age. 3. In spite of AAA efforts, however, how-ever, tenants and sharecroppers are not getting proportional benefits of AAA payments. The money goes to the landlords, many of whom are insurance companies and absentee owners. AAA officials, headed by Cully Cobb, have insisted they can't make an issue of this or they will lose landlords' compliance. Sharecropper Security. Economists in the department are now making a drive for security for tenants. This represents a radical shift of direction. For until recently, recent-ly, the drive was to convert tenants to owners, with government aid. Instead, realizing that many tenants ten-ants are incapable of owning and operating a farm, AAA planners are not trying to decrease the number of tenants but to increase their income in-come and security. It is pointed out that tenantry in England is much higher than in the United States (80 per cent against 42) but that the English farm tenants have a degree of protection unknown here. First step in this direction is to formalize and legalize the relation between farmer and tenant by bringing in a simple, uniform lease to bind the relation between them. Over 80 per cent of all tenants and sharecroppers have only verbal ver-bal agreements with their landlords. Conferences in the agriculture department de-partment are preparing for such a drive. Preliminary . material has been drawn up, under Economist Dover P. Trent. The country will soon hear about the "flexible farm lease." Approximately a million tenant families (5,000,000 persons) move every year. Benefit payments, poured out by the billions, never touch them. They are the big unsolved un-solved problem of the New Deal's agricultural reform. MERRT-GO-KOUND Rep. Joe Martin, new G. O. P. national chairman, has added to his staff Dave Ingalls, campaign manager man-ager of Sen. Bob Taft. The famed Indiana Two Per Cent club is virtually broke and practically practical-ly defunct. Harshest blow was the new Hatch act. This is costing the club hundreds of "dues" paying members. G. O. P. TROUBLES The campaign organizing difficulties difficul-ties of the faction-scarred Democrats Demo-crats have been widely advertised. Little has been said about it. But the Republicans are having their troubles too. Real reason for that gathering of party chiefs at Colorado Springs last week was to clear away a batch of inside snags which have caused the Republican machine, after more than a month of activity, to be less than one-third organized |