Land of Cotton?

To W. S. Craig, president of the State Bank and Trust Co. at Tallulah, La., came last week a farmer. Last year this farmer had raised 500 bales of cotton. This year he hoped that he might make ten bales. That same morning another farmer had talked to Mr. Craig, had said that not a single bale of cotton would grow on his land this year. His 1926 production had been 300 bales. "Dixie" may still be the "land of cotton," but that portion of "Dixie" hit by the Mississippi flood has become the land of the cotton-less. The people of the flood area in Louisiana are as luckless as would be the officeworkers of Manhattan should an earthquake topple the skyscrapers into lower Broadway.

So, at least, ran the continuation of the flood district articles written by L. C. Speers, alert staff correspondent of The New York Times (TIME, July 18). Last week's articles, dealing with conditions in Louisiana, emphasized three points: the destitution of the people; the failure of the emergency loan-relief system to function; and a growing resentment toward the inactivity of the Federal Government. Destitution. It is about 17 miles from Delta Point, La., to Tallulah, La. In this territory Mr. Speers counted 234 houses still in water up to their roofs. A large portion of the flooded area is still half-lake, half-swamp; one can leave Tallulah only by train, by boat or by swimming. Even in places where the waters have more nearly sub sided, people find a foot of mud and slime in their houses, or sit on their porches and look out upon water-logged fields where nothing will grow. Where cotton has been planted, the farmers are faced with a new menace -- a pestilence of worms which cut through the young plants as though with sharp saws. Said C. P. Seab, agricultural demonstration agent for the parish of Concordia: "In all America there are no people more penniless, un happy and with so little hope as these. "And Sheriff E. P. Campbell of Concordia said that 90% of the people in Texas and Catahoula had "not a cent in the world." Mayor Hall Allen of Tallulah said: "I don't know what" is in store for us. Ninety-eight per cent of the victims are tenant farmers and 95% are absolutely destitute." Loans. One of the arguments most used by opponents of special Congressional session for the flood district was the theory that hastily established credit organizations would take care of the flood victims' troubles. It appears the universal opinion, however, that these organizations have totally failed to function. Banks are already overloaded with farm "paper" that has become worthless; even the most liberal system of lending money considers some security essential and the farmers have no security to offer. Mr. Craig (quoted above) said that the farm credit corporations were "absolutely worthless." Mr. J. M. Barham, bank president at Avoyelles, La., said: "The banks would like to help but they cannot for they are already drained to the limit. They are all loaded down with farm paper. ... It is a fearful predicament for these unhappy people. . . . Unless something is done they will be face to face with starvation."

Federal Aid. The most striking difference between Mr. Speers' articles of one week ago and those of last week was the growing evidence of protest against the Federal Government. The argument is not so much that Congress should meet and quickly solve the problem of flood control. The people of Louisiana do expect that the next session of Congress will concern itself with the problem of preventing future floods, but they are most interested in having something done to alleviate the results of the flood that has just ruined them. What they most resent is the attitude, apparently prevailing at Washington, that the flood of 1927, while a terribly regrettable incident, is really over and that there is not much use crying over spilled water. In Louisiana, the flood is still a very live issue; nor is there any tendency to refer to it in the past tense.

Crevasses. One instance of Federal inactivity particularly resented by the flood district is the fact that nothing has been done to repair the great crevasses which the river opened in the levee system. There are five such major crevasses in Louisiana; nothing has been done about repairing them, and it is feared that so much time has been lost already that the openings cannot be closed in time for the next spring rise of the Mississippi. With much of the land below the level of the river, it is obvious that even a small rise in the waters would cause another catastrophe. It is reported that Federal authorities wish to have one-fourth of the levee repair work (cost estimated at $50,000,000) paid for by the people of the flood region, but how these people are going to pull $12,500,000 out of empty pockets remains to be seen.

When Winter Comes. But an even more disturbing question arises when the flood victims wonder what will happen to them when the Red Cross funds run out and winter comes down on the impoverished country. Said Mr. Barham: (above mentioned) : "I think it is the duty of the Government to do something. . . . Don't you think it rather childish, to put it mildly, to expect the Red Cross with $15,000,000 to handle the whole problem, the damage bill alone of which will exceed $500,000,000? ... I don't know whether Mr. Coolidge is interested in these flood victims or not. . . . I don't recall reading where he has said a word about them since he went to Rapid City. . . . Mr. Hoover has done and is doing all he can but he is a lone eagle as far as the Government at Washington is concerned." And Mr. Seab (above mentioned), in almost the same words, said: "I know . . . that Mr. Hoover has and will continue to do everything he can . . . and the same is true of the Red Cross. But there it stops. . . ."