Drought and Heat in U.S.A.
The earlier estimates of desolation wrought by drought and heat in the United States were vastly below the reality. Shade temperatures of 110° and 112° have been recorded day by day in some regions, and the death-roll from heat alone has gone above 3,000. The drought has brought ruin on a stupendous scale over a vast area between the south-east and the north-west. In State after State the Federal Government is- called upon to grapple with a complete destruction of the crops, while the grasshopper and other plagues are playing their part. The political argument of the year, that relief should be the responsibility of the separate States, has thus been swept away by Nature herself. There is one economic mitigation of an appalling visitation : America has .a heavy " carry-over " of grain from the two last harvests. Politically, as in 1934, the results of natural calamity cannot fail to be important. The farming States may be confirmed in their resolve to bring about the re- election of Mr. Roosevelt, but of course the transition from physics to politics is always precarious. Meanwhile, Big Business is mobilising its financial resources for the assault upon the President. The Republican campaign fund has already reached an enormous total.
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