The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1930. DROUGHT IN AMERICA.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1930, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1930. DROUGHT IN AMERICA.

The' serious effect of the heat wave that has'been experienced throughout the United States during the summer months is made distressingly evident in the ca'ble messages. Twelve of the & cates, those in tire middle west, art stricken by a drought of very serious proportions, and apparently only three States, which depend exclusive ly upon irrigation for the supply of their water during the summer, arc comparatively immune from distress consequent upon the absence of rainfall. That the position is indeed alarming may be judged from the relief measures which President Hoover is preparing to put in hand. The drought has already continued so long that in some, parts of the continent crops have been totally ruined, and every day that the dry spell contin ues adds millions of dollars to the loss that the agricultural community must hear. An estimate, cabled was that crop losses had reached one thousand million dolla,i>s, and this is borne out, to some extent at least, by the higher prices ruling on the grain exchanges both in America and Canada. An additional peril in parts ot the United States at time of drought is the menace of the forest fires, which inevitably result from a prolonged rspell of dry weather. The measures taken for fire control on the United States are probably more com plete than anywhere else save in the forest areas in Canada, yet in a crisis the toll of life and property taken by these outbreaks ip heavy. It is both the good fortune and the misfortune of the United States, says an exchange, that, speaking broadly, nothing ever happens there by halves, tfn climatic changes and visitations and in social manifestations alike

large-scale effects are. produced, A

period of prosperity such a*s has been experienced in recent years is a revelation to the rest of the world of tlio spells that money can bind; a drought such as is at present being experienced m equally interesting as an example of the devastation to which a wealthy continent may be prone. The economic losses that occurred owing to rapid, and apparently inexplicable, fluctuations on the American Stock Exchange a few months ago were exceedingly heavy, and made little distinction between the plutocrat and the small shareholder, and the drought is expected to have similarly derti mental effect 'upon, the financial resources of the country. But the United -States possesses vast wealth and tremendous powers of recuperation. More than one economic storm of national proportions has been successfully weathered, and disasters of a localised nature, such as the Mississippi Hoods, which have created a nine days’ wonder, have been followed by enormously costly, rehabilitation measures that appear to have made- no serious drain upon the .resources of the United States exchequer. The drought, it is stated, is rapidly approaching the proportions of a national disaster, its result will certainly be to necessitate a very large expenditure upon relief works. The resilient capabilities of the United States, howevei, do not seem to have been by any means exhausted by past visitations. Though there is a marked fiote of caution to be observed ill recent financial estimates, it may be assumed that the capacity of the country to offset losses in one direction with gains in another will once more retrieve a temporarily disturbing situation.