Washington.—The farm ald program with respect to wheat now has entered its seccnd phase. It Farm Aid is facing its real test Faces Test at this time, just as the cotton program faced a real test when the farmers were asked to plow under their grow- ing crop, which has succeeded insofar as gaining the support of the cotton planters Is concerned, Secretary Wal- lace is asking the wheat growers to reduce their acreage for next year's crop, 15 per cent below their average in recent years. It is now distinctly up to them, therefore, if they want to go on through with the allotment plan for which there has been much agita- tion In congress during the last six or eight years, Contracts are being sent around for the farmers to sign and agree to go through with the plan to boost the price of wheat by controlling the production. Accompanying this development in our strictly nationalistic program, however, is another of International character. I refer to the agreements recently reached at London a step has been taken to deal with the wheat problem by concert of na- tions, It can have far more Influence than can our program at home If ft succeeds, but Wa gton observers seem to have their fingers crossed. un- til they see some movements abroad rity on the whereby Indicative of complete sin part of some of the nations that have signed the London agreement, The at London placed several significant elements Into writ- ten form. A general understanding was worked out—and signed-—that : The major wheat Im I porting countries of the worl the facts of the world wheat problem and agree on a program of action to seek to correct then The exporting nations agree to con- trol exports and to so as to help elimi conference wrting carryovers of wil Tha chaont réine anntries The wheat ring ( INLTIeSs agree pand pr countries to cease operly ta So we have ar reement among all of the nations on a art, and we have Our own program vy 1 international understandin promises will be own » 1 dent for upon whims cians and Jealou There are so many “ifs” In the In- after all, what them- ternational agreement which, hinge upon Many “Ifs the nations in Pact selves do. If an of the signatory na- tions perform and try to adjust pro- duction downward, such as the United States has started to do, and remove tariffs and quotas and other trade bar riers, then It 1s considered as possible that something may come of the con- ference understanding. But those whom I mentioned as having their fin- gers crossed are asking whether, for Instance, Austr 1, or the Argentine or Canada, will enforce production control. And, if they don’t, then what? Also, what about the situation if Italy, which now has a tariff of $1.07 (gold) on imported wheat, doesn’t cut off some of that amount? Statesmen may sit In a conference and fix things up In a big way, and later thelr governments have a way of forgetting just what the agreements were, or else find loopholes in them, I had a letter from one of my read ers in central Kansas, asking whether I thought the London agreement would have any effect on the wheat situation this year. My reply was that It would have none and could have none, and I might have added the further thought of my own that it probably never will have much effect, because it is unlike. ly there will be the necessary conces- sions by all concerned. If all of the participating nations entered into an International arrangement wholeheart. edly, wheat production and wheat prices could be stabilized. There re- mains, however, that ever recurring ig» * * 0» To get back to the domestic plan: Secretary Wallace's decision to cut the acreage 15 per cent next year brings up several questions, Fifteen per cent of what, for example? Let me quote George Farrell, of the agricultural aq. Justment administration, so there can be a definite statement: “In many western counties, where drought has prevalled during the last three years, three-year averages are not representative of farmers’ produc. tion. These counties have favored us. ing county average yields and individu. al farmers’ acreages as the basis for farm allotments, Other growers, how. ever, whore yields are higher than the average and who are able to attest their production, feel that the county average plan discriminates against them, farmers, “The combination plan that In each county, where the ecom- bination plan is used, the total pro- duction of farmers who submit authen- total production of the county as shown on the official figures In the de- partment of agricullure, for farmers who Jo not have proved less the proved production” . eo 0» result of this all their benefit pay- The net farmers can Benefit Payments claim actual production on their jindividual farms for the last three, four and five years, if they are able to supply records showing what that i done production was, This can be committees average yield and the aver: res of growers as the basis up vhich the 15 per reduction This arrangemer applies the 1034 crop. There may be than the ordered in the affect the 1935 crop. On the ba 1 theoretically com. plete sign-up of the farmers and a there would be even if the county decides to county cent » calculated, only to more or redaction less cont f 1034 which will sis of 15 per cent reduction, wheat would not be planted for harvest next summe On the same theoretical tion, the sduetio in average pro whent would = 4.000 000 bi is, where the a at Frye + OF to receive The Dep INI tuN) year may ve it go, Indeed, President ts have not of his loyal have Roosevelt to more regular about his appointments, t is not certain that the petition, one of these round rob affairs, ever was gent to the White House, nor i8 it cer. will go to the President if it has not been given to him yet. Nevertheless, it is significant It shows the feeling. & - » about the matter Is that Democrats, men whose word has been Dem- ocratic law for years, Worried are growing nervous over the potentiali- ties In the Roosevelt course. Deep down in their souls, they fear that Mr. Roosevelt is engaged In building op a “Roosevelt party” as distingulshed from the Democratic party. They point out that he has played ball with the Norris-LaFollette- Johnson wing of the Republicans, that he has named such men as Secretary Woodln, to the treasury, after Mr, Woodin has spent years In the Republican fold, and tain It ever he truth gome old line Old Liners the Interior, after Mr. Ickes had at. tained absolutely no prominence at all in any partisan way except as a Progressive Republican, and that he has disregarded party recommenda- tions in dozens of cases only to pick men and women who might just as easily be called Republicans as Demo- crats, *» - » The depression conditions hit the ice cream business last year, but the consumption of butter and evaporated milk moved higher according to final figures for 1032 that have just been compiled by the Department of Agri. culture. It was quite natural, the ex. perts told me, that there shonld have been a falling off of ice cream, be cause a good many thousands of peo- ple just did not have the money to buy it. If they had money, they bought the sual amount of butter and evaporated milk, along with the regu. lar supply of milk, but ice cream was in the luxury class. At least, that is the e:olanation given for the decline in the manufacture of ice cream from 208,230,000 gallons in 1031 to 100, 138,000 gallons in 1032. ©. 1533, Western Newspaper Union, By ELMO SCOTT WATSON wary ; y WAS just 155 yours th that a Nan on Ohio river story { which not onl became a classic In border history, but fastened upon sman the title of an Mazeppa® and was the Inspiration wr a famon Weture upon which two artists of world renown collaborated The froontiersmar Eutler, "Simon Butler, or was Simon Kenton, or Simon a8 he wag also known, The picture was » Mazeppa Americain™ and the two artists were Francois Millet, the Frenchman famed for his “The Angelus” and “The Sower.,” and Karl Bodmer, the Swiss. who was one of the earliest and greatest painters of the American Indian. In the of 1778 Col. John Bowman. commander of the fort at Harrodsburg, Ky.. sent Jean summer ery and George Clark (not THE George Rogers Clark) on a spying expedition to the Shawnee Indian town of Chillicothe beyond the Ohio river. A short time before this, Kenton and Montgomery accompanied a party led by Daniel Boone on a similar spying expedition to Paint ereek-town in Ohio, recaptured four horses which the Indians had taken from the Kentucky set. tiers and brought them back safely to Logan's Station. So when the three men started out to scout for Bowman, they took along a quantity of salt Such a chance did present itself and on the night of September 9, 1778, they fled from Chilli. waters so whipped up by a storm that they could not force the horses to plunge In and swim for Despite the certainty of pursuit by the Indi nang, they resolved to wait there until the river should subside instead of selecting the three best borses and making their escape while there was still time, as Kenton himself later admitted they should have done. The result was that on the morning of September 13 a party of Shawnees “Jumped” them as they were preparing to round up the horses and proceed down the Ohio to Corn Island, where there was a garrison of Ken. tuckians, Kenton was the first to fall into the hands of the enemy. Montgomery, coming to his sid, fired at the Indians but missed and fled for his life with some of the savages in hot pur guit. In the meantime Clark dashed down to the river, plunged in and, clinging to a plece of driftwood, managed to reach the Kentucky shore, The Indians who had been chasing Montgom- * ¥ soon returned bringing with them Kentor they di . “You The Shawnees were it ind they took turns ce with it, ex ning as steal Indian hoss, huh?” in ugly mood, for Daniel Boone had recently es aped from them and returned to ugh in time to help beat off an Indian attack n that fort, But now they had a captive who as aimost as great a foeman hey had no intention of allowing him to CECA They knew him for a brave man and they wer resolved that he shonld show “how a brave man can die” which me that he wa the torture stake Booneshor as Boone and & doomed to However, they would wait until they had re turned to Chillicothe, where all the members © the tribe could enjoy his death agonies. In the meantime they would inflict upon him a long series of beatings, kickings and other eruelties, always making sure that none of the Injuries should prove fatal. 8o as they started north for Chillicothe there began for Kenton that “adven- ture which for its momentous succession of per. ils, transitions and halrbreadth escapes has no! its parallel in all the adventurous annals of western border history, It would be impossible to condense all the per. ils of those two months within the brief scope of this article, so only the highlights ean be given. The first one was his famous “Mazeppa ride” which came the next morning after his capture. Among their recovered horses, the In. dians found a wild, unbroken three-year-old and on this animal they fastened their prisoner, ty- ing his hands behind him and his feet under the horse's belly, Around his neck they tied a halter with its ends fastened to the horse's neck and tail. When this was done they released the horse and gave it a sharp blow to start it on its way. As they did so, one of them exclaimed, “You like Indian horse, huh? You ride one now.” At once the horse began to rear and pitch to rid itself of its burden, then started to run through the woods. Bushes and brambles tore at Kenton's feet and legs and lowhanging branches of the trees raked his face and body. But his greatest danger lay In his being shaken loose from the horse, for then he would be strangled by the halter around his neck before his captors could stop the fear-maddened ani mal. However, he managed to hang on gome. how and after a while the three-year-old censed its efforts to throw him off and quietly followed the others, During the next two days Kenton was again and again tied on the colt but by this time it had become more accustomed to him and after a few plunges it quieted down and carried him along quietly with the rest of the party, Upon his arrival at Chillicothe, the cruel pre liminaries to his torture at the stake began, He was forced to run the gauntlet, the first of nine he was to run before at last he was tied to the stake, Then the Shawnees decided to take him to thelr principal village, Wappatomika, for the CROADER came ! i ized by Simon Girty, the wi I Simon Batler” (Kenton had taken when he fled from Virginia early comrade in n nd Girty succeeded nees to freeing war pm from an unsuccessfdl raid in Virgin that his torture proceed. Even Girts prevail against them, but he did suc ing the date for the torture postponed gathering of all the tribes at Sandusky, On the way to Sandusky the fa chief, Logan, befriended Kenton and ome sufferings, but near Randusks gain forced to run the gauntlet, his ninth ti , Chen when preparations were going forward for burning him at the stake, again fate intervened. As the torch was applied to the wood piled up around him, a heavy rain started to fall and put it out. It was two days before the wood was dry enough to try again. In the meantime Peter Druillard, a British agent from Detroit. arrived and ransomed Kenton so that he could be taken to Detroit for questioning by Gen. Henry Ham- ilton, the British commander there. Kenton was hield a prisoner at Detroit until June, 1779, when he escaped and safely made the perilous journey back to Kentucky. As for the story of how Simon Kenton, the frontiereman, became the subject for a famous picture by two celebrated artists, it came about when Karl Bodmer, a Swiss artist, accompanied Maximilian, prince of Neuweid, to America to il- lustrate the book his royal patron was to write on “Travels in the Interior of North America, 18321834." After Bodmer's return to Europe he lived for awhile at Fontainebleau in France, where he was a neighbor of Jean Francois Millet. He told Mil, et some of the classic stories of the American border, especially that of Kenton's Mazeppa ride, and Millet began to make drawings of Indians in crayon and charcoal. Eventually he and Bodmer collaborated In a series of lithographs, Bodmer doing the landscapes and horses and Millet doing the human figures, both Indians and white men. These were published in 1852 and one of them was “Simon Butler, or, Mazeppa Americain.” And this was another curious manifestation of the fate which intervened repeatedly in the life of Simon Kenton—that his last “portrait” should be painted more than a decade after his death and who, noted for being the delineator of quiet, pastoral French scenes, would be about the last man on earth one would expect to portray an in. cident In the tumuituous life of an American {frouticraman! (© by Western Newrpaper Union) & T-
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