FARMERS REVOLT

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 134, 9 June 1933, Page 7

FARMERS REVOLT

IN DEFENCE OF LAND SITUATION IN AMERICA DEFIANCE OF CREDITORS

Tho "fevolt of the American farmers •has borno friiit. Two months of minor rebellion in farmyards and on Courthouse steps, first in tho Middle West and. then east as far as the Appalachians, and west as far as tho Koekies, have brought important concessions from those who- hold the mortgages that ara so heavy a burden on the farms. These concessions, in tho form of move 3enient policies towards foreclosure, amount virtually to a, moratorium, writes Harlan Moillcr in the "New ' jl'ork Times. '? This moratorium, however, will last for the most part only until Congress and the Stato Legislatures havo had a chance to improve the debtors' condition. It is only a breathing spell. The Solution of the real problem, which is to increase tho farmers' income so that they can meet their mortgage payments, •will depend upon tho law-makers. "Though wo have won," the farmers say, "wo haven't got anything." Yet the victory, temporary and fragmentary as it may seem, is psychologically important. It has proved to the farmer the effectiveness of taking mattors into his own hands. The revolt has revealed to the country that the farmer is in a stubborn, almost a desperate, mood whenever issues affecting jiis livelihood and the welfare of his family arise... This frame of mind will dominate the farmer's behaviour at nny crisis until his economic convalescence is assured. It was the farmers of lowa who ifirst impressed the nation with, their pugnacity. With a billion dollars in ■ mortgages weighing upon their backs, they organised to halt foreclosure sales ■with, violence whenever political pressure failed. Governor Herring issued a proclamation asking creditors to pursue a "wait-a-while" policy until the legislature could act. His example ■was followed by the Governors in other States. Eastern investors, after initial remonstrance, joined with Western in-j rvestors in .sagacious assent. > In States where the moratoria have not yet been effective, the revolt continues, especially in tho South-west. And in sporadic instances, even in lowa, •where some creditors have not joined in the moratorium' movement, farmers yontinue to act with a show of strength. PAVING THE WAY. They are confident that their initial success will serve as a precedent for further concessions on debts, interest payments, and taxes. They believe it is now unlikely that the next three, years will sco 'half a million farmers lose their land, as the last three have. Still,' frank pesismism prevails among their spokesmen .about tho likelihood (if >any real solutions this winter by .' Congress or the Legislatures. Many of them anticipate a resumption of the large-scale farm uprisings of December and January. ' Tho tactics which won the farmers the present, moratorium were strikingly simple, and not so violent at close range as they seemed to the East and South, ■where the story now prevails that Jowans Tvero on the .verge of lynehings. Thus far the violence has been limited ■to a few cuffs and slaps, a little pantomime, and intimidation of officials none too eager to use the compulsions of arrest/ force, or firearms against the men who elected them. '. ~* = •■•■• ' Indeed, the farmers have achieved a Jioteworthy restraint in their revolutionary technique. Even when they ■wave a coiled rope suggestively at a nervous lawyer, no clubs are swung, 710 one kicks viciously at anyone's shins. Slags wave- patriotically above the Courthouse and the City Hall facing it across the placid small-town square • —hoisted to show the absence of' animosity for the Government or its visible servants. ' ' Tho farmers with'the rope" wink at one another as they'see the lawyer's pallor and perspiration. A few enihusiasts slap at him. and tug at his •clothes, but ho survives unhurt. They have little or no intention of hanging him. Not this time, anyhow. Not if :i good scare, or a coat of tar and feathers, and a ride on a rail will baulk this foreclosure. They are rebellious and resentful, but not irresponsible. They are men of property; men who a 1 few years ago deemed themselves prosperous and anticipated an. easy old age, ■perhaps in California. TYPICAL EPISODE. An episode which occurred not long before the Eastern insurance companies decided to refrain temporarily from attempts.to foreclose might be "viewed as typical. A lawyer, a homo-town man; . attempted to help his; client, a New, York life insurance company, to salvage a few extra dollars from its mortgage investment of 33,000 dollars in John Johnson's big, fertile farm near :in lowa town. He bkl only 30,000 dollars at the foreclosure- sale at the ' Courthouse, as instructed by the New York office. , His bid, in'the>absenco of competition, established tho value of the farm :is insufficient to meet tho mortgage, which meant that John Johnson might as well say farewell to his farm and everything on it at once, for it was headed for receivership. It was perfectly legal, but the neighbours decided it was sharp practice. They marched the lawyer past his offices on Main Street. He was panic-stricken. The sheriff tried to interfere. Ho was brushed aside. Into the telegraph office the farmers pushed the harassed lawyer. "Telegraph New York," they told him. "Tell the insurance company to raiso tho bid to 33,000 dollars. Tell 'cm we'll hang you if they don't." It was no time for scepticism. Tho lawyer telegraphed as he was told. "HurryTeply. My neck at risk!" was his last line. In an hour the reply camo back: "Increase bid to 33,000 dollars." John Johnson got a year of .grace for redemption. He has not lost his cows and pigs; not yet. Such episodes, varied in details, occurred daily—except on tho Sabbath— in a dozen Middle Western States during December and January. Throngs of iiO to 1000 farmers intimidated sheriffs and county treasurers, manhandled district Judges, threatened mayors. The newspapers in the fftrm belt assembled .such incidents each day and printed them in one long story, like reports of skirmishes ,on a wide battle-front. THE JUDGES ACT. Publicly tho local authorities for some time continued to make the gestures of enforcing foreclosure actions; a few still do, but not many. It was Judges who first hinted to lawyers that it would simplify the situation if attorneys declined o handle foreclosure cases, and it was Judges who asked that the Stato temporarily remove foreclosures from th»;r jurisdiction. Now tho action of the judiciary is supplemented by those of the Governors and Legislatures. Behind the Governors' proclamations was the record of hundreds of forerlosiire sales-reduced to farce by mobs of farmers, under the noses of the sheriffs. These demonstrations were actually the power that put tho stamp of authority on the moratorium. For the sake of perspective, it must jbf; remembered that not evoiy. farmer

is on the verge of foreclosure; only half < of the Middle Westen? farms are mort- ' gaged. But wholesale foreclosures bring a drop in land" values as a whole. Hence • unencumbered farmers have joined hands with the debtors in organising ' the Modern Seventy-Sixers, the United Farmer, the County Councils of Defence, and County Agricultural Credit ' Councils for joint and direct action. j Before resorting to violence, the farmers usually attempt conciliation. When foreclosure appears imminent, tho Agricultural Credit Council opens negotia- ' tions between mortgagor and mortgagee, and offers to arbitrate. The coun- j oil, composed of bankers, business men, lawyers, and farmers, tries to reach an amicable arrangement whereby the ■ farmer may remain on his farm. If these negotiations fail, a Council ; of Defence, composed of farmers, takes ' tho field. Even this militant' unit has i stated its object in remarkably .re- ; strained language: "To. refuse, in a gentlemanly way, to aid in driving the farmer-owner off the farm which lie has : improved." When a Council of Defence mobilises several hundred farmers to "refuse to ■ aid," it is faced with either -of two problems. At a foreclosure sale of cattio or farm equipment or household goods, the council's purpose is to force the sale to bo held, and to keep the bidding for each article below a fixed figure— so low that tho neighbours are able to ; buy everything at a nominal price and ; "lend it back" 'to the distressed , family. At the foreclosure auction of a farm, however, the council's purpose : is to prevent tho sale from being ac- i complished. Until a foreclosure said 1 has been effected'the liquidation can- i not proceed. Whether the objective is to force tho : sale or to prevent.it, tho defence bat- 1 talion is among the early arrivals. Tho j farmers circulatp quietly about the auc- < tion scene, forming little groups and i circles around strangers who appear likely to do some bidding. The out- ; siders are warned in low, cairn voices ■ to refrain from bidding at an auction ' snle of chattels, or to keep tlurir bids below very nominal sums.