Show AW J DROUTH MAY RIVAL THAT OF 34 j cafall fall far short of former dry periods dakotas hardest hit federal government acts aas to prevent disaster r by WILLIAM C UTLEY alc tlc NCE again the plains of the west are thirsting in a major POM 1 I drouth that may surpass in destruction desolation and de to even the record drouth of the spring of 1934 rainfall r oam 0 abl has been far less in some states this spring than in 1934 h this year there has been an absence of the sweltering heat fl bolk m accompanied the earlier drouth ise sea vorst conditions have been in the western part of the dakotas imay n montana and wyoming in a somewhat smaller area where ITS gc eners of kansas colorado new mexico and oklahoma meet area of about the same size in southeastern Alis missouri and 1 ln I net vast region of the southeast ling generous slices of alati ts tennessee georgia the caro libit Xen kentucky tucky virginia and pennine aia over the remainder of the 3 PEI P between the alleghenies and Voc kies except for some areas lt the great lakes and in new ind lind nd poor pasture conditions ld alti 4 it 04 result has been to throw thou nl of farm families on the re bolls Eol ls to cause more thousands ave out of the drouth regions other states to drive prices qu iod higher and higher with C wheat once more returned to i igo 9 0 and other markets and to 18 e ithe 11 the federal government to 1 operation of remedial agen aply pita bouth talk displaces politics ere re is little talk of anything isbit the drouth in the st I 1 acken foro the speculation as to the gaces of rain overshadow even argumentative possibilities of I 1 bics tics in one of the most colorful br Mr interesting political campaigns che ahe nations history the ba laiter bieter and the thermometers are ar air even closer scrutiny than J returns and stray votes layers ayers for rain by the farmers 0 O de e northwest have been largely ism itin with clear unclouded skies looking down over the p parched arched biting lands crops are suffering ii i the effects of the dust blown A at them while live stock are agry ary from lack of feed which has 1 l likewise damaged by the silt le ere has been some little rain in the ae west we s indeed heavy rainstorms brainstorms rain storms the week k in june in texas were so se guthat 26 persons were drowned in which resulted dozens of Ss pj were swept away along the banks gig 25 ig sandy creek near san antonio antona 0 southwest benefited little from slight api citation Wi tation during may 11 ie 11 dakotas probably have been cardest lar hardest dest hit the governors of estates instates I states as well as senator nye orth dakota regarded their s sit it jn as serious enough to warrant making a personal visit upon resident president of the united states lake ake a plea for money to feed stock and bring relief to dis sed ed farming people the gov ent has undertaken to render assistance it can cattle will oved loved out of the drouth lands better pasture but there will estimated had cost a damage of mil lion dollars in the northwest alone farm families were forced to seek subsistence aid from the government in washington a drouth emergency 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 cont aed 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 hopkins and the revealed that hundreds of family heads would have to be transferred to the relief ia A what 1934 1931 drouth did to rolls immediately their cattle had been sold and an d in most cases they had already piled up what mr hopkins called mountains of debt reporting about results of the dry spring of 1934 and other drouth periods hopkins said during the six months before last december 15 more than persons had been forced to leave their homes in the dust bowl and migrate to california third drouth in six years most of the great plains area faces its third major drouth in six six years said hopkins some of the regions particularly those in the central and western Dah dakotas otas have had low crop yields since 1930 in practically all of the areas the severe drouth of 1934 intensified the distressing rural economic condi X A 21 2 1 11 1 4 A n U A 4 iad A 0 W tal RE masks asks like these were not uncommon in the southwest during the th storms which followed the long dry spell of 1935 no 0 wholesale slaughter as there 1 last year during the month of e some of the dakota grazing in the worst areas received about an inch of rainfall where inches is normal I 1 cost Is rom april I 1 to june 24 during big ig dry of 1936 north dakota only inches of rainfall i ing even the record drouth of i these three months saw es of rain south dakota fared ie e better getting inches as pared to in 1934 in mona inches of rain fell as com ed with in 1934 texas rain ll IT during the spring months was JY y 7 per cent of normal py july I 1 this years drouth it was eions 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 so dakota and to some extent south eastern nebraska in other regions such as the north texas plains he said wind erosion has damaged as much as 95 per cent of the land some of the land is damaged so badly that it is is doubtful whether it wilt will ever be able to a support crops in the future declared that much ol of the crop land in sandy loam areas should be converted 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 dakotas minnesota montana and wyoming officials estimated that families would have to be added to the relief rolls it was planned to carry the work relief program until december I 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 pro programs rams officials of the federal government say to the farmers that the great plains can be prevented from becoming a desert if proper precautions 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 provide for the sto storage rage of what moisture exists and to prevent soil erosion first of the three divisions division s is the soil conservation program this does not re W fc 1 1 1 f ia i a W y Z a A ay p J Y t ca 1 al A l ala f i C fc fess v ff ih amt once rich grazing lands fer to the entire substitute AAA program but only to that part of it which actually 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 restore s 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 supposed to conserve the rain to make possible the storage of water for use in times of drouth the reclamation service of the department of the interior has under way a series of dam ind and irrigation projects in the western states some lesser projects of this nature have been on the schedule resettlement program Fr in a third division of the program the resettlement administration under professor tugwell has under way a schedule of purchase of lands to convert them into pasture in combating drout droutha hs under this plan it is proposed to buy acres of the land at 2 an acre it has already made some little progress the program is divided into two parts one of which involves six projects in the plains states embracing acres the other part includes the purchase of acres of indi indian a n grazing land on the rio grande watershed of new mexico the conception concepti an of the resettlement program includes the moving of families to better land at a cost of a family it also comprises for the purchase of land and for work and the de development v elop ment of plains land there was a fourth division of the federal governments battle against the drouth menace the shelter belt program but this program has been dropped due largely to opposition which labeled it impractical approximately had already been spent the idea was to plant a belt ol oj trees miles wide and more than 1000 miles long stretching from the canadian border across the great plains to texas its proponents contended that such a shelter belt would break the erosion causing winds and conserve some ol oj the moisture the weather bureau says that it would have no effect on oil rainfall itself atin union |