CHAPTER XX 



STATE AID 



THE preceding chapter discussed certain attempts at self-help 

 by organized farmers, and pointed out both the failures and suc- 

 cesses of these efforts. State aid is that form of aid, direct or 

 indirect, which is given the farmer by the government. There are 

 two sources of state aid, that coming from the State government 

 and its local divisions, and that from the Federal government. 

 The real aim of all state aid is to make the farmer independent 

 of state aid, able to take care of himself, able to walk alone with- 

 out leaning on his government. State aid takes many and various 

 forms: some, direct financial aid; some merely regulatory, such as 

 the pure food laws; some, purely educational. Only the more 

 prominent forms of state aid can be discussed here. 



Direct State Aid. This is a form of state aid which has been 

 discredited in many times and places, and yet which just as con- 

 stantly reappears in one form or another as though it were some- 

 thing new. Space is lacking to give a detailed history of each 

 State's experiences in this field. The record of one State must 

 serve as typical for the other States. Hence the State of Kansas 

 is selected, being the geographic center of the country. Kansas 

 experimented repeatedly with subsidies for the promotion of 

 certain crops, and for the development of industries for the further 

 utilization of crops. The following cases illustrate this practice : 



Silk. To encourage the planting of mulberry trees and the 

 growing of silk- worms the State of Kansas enacted a law in 1887. 1 

 Ten years later the attempt was abandoned as a failure. 



Sugar Beets. To encourage the growing of sugar beets in 

 Kansas, a law was passed in 1887 providing for a bounty of two 

 cents a pound for all beet sugar made in the State from beets 

 grown in the State. 2 This gave the industry quite a spurt. In 

 1891 the bounty claimed and paid was over $50,000. In 1891 the 

 rate of the bounty was cut to f of a cent a pound. This " infant 

 industry" was not yet able to walk alone. In a few years the 

 bounty was entirely removed. A further decline in the industry 

 followed, and in 1897 the last piece of beet sugar machinery was 

 sold and sent into Nebraska where the business was still on its 



1 Laws of 1887, chapter 231. 



2 Laws of 1887, chapter 231. 



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