The Nation: Growing Unrest on the Farm

THERE is a recession in the Midwest farm belt, a region Republicans have often taken for granted as "Nixon country." Among farmers the recession is sowing seeds of unrest that Democrats hope to harvest next year in the form of votes. Thus it was far from coincidental that President Nixon last week made three announcements to demonstrate his concern about agriculture's current agonies: he 1) accepted the resignation of his pleasant but unaggressive Secretary of Agriculture Clifford Hardin; 2) replaced him with a combative former Eisenhower agriculture aide, Earl Butz; and 3) dropped his unpopular plan to abolish the Department of...