Reagan Tours Drought-Baked Corn Belt: ‘Not a Pretty Sight’ : Calls Farm Losses Worst Disaster Since Dust Bowl

DU QUOIN, Ill. — President Reagan toured the southern Illinois corn belt today to get a firsthand look at damage to crops hit by America’s worst drought in 50 years.

“The situation on the ground, I’m sorry to say, is as bad as I expected,” Reagan told Illinois agriculture officials and farmers during a briefing on the drought at the State Fairgrounds in Du Quoin, 350 miles south of Chicago.

The President spoke after a brief helicopter tour of the area’s parched corn and soybean fields and a 10-minute stop to inspect a farm owned by Herman Krone, who has operated his 2,700-acre spread outside Du Quoin for 43 years.

‘Not a Pretty Sight’

“What I saw was not a pretty sight--stunted corn, sparse bean fields, withered sprouts starved for water, struggling to push their way up.

“From California to Georgia and right here in Illinois, farmers face the worst natural disaster since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s,” said Reagan, standing in his shirt-sleeves under a tree on a knoll overlooking miles of shortened corn stalks.

The months-long drought is being felt in 37 of America’s 50 states. The U.S. Agriculture Department’s latest projections put average corn crop losses at 26% this year and the soybean losses at 15%.

But in southern Illinois, most farmers expect to write off their entire corn crops and only harvest about two-thirds of the soybean crops. Farmers say the 1988 drought is the worst since one that struck during the Great Depression.

Financial Relief

While the true extent of drought losses will not be known for several weeks, Reagan is supporting a move in Congress to approve financial relief and other emergency support measures for the nation’s drought-hit farmers.

Drought-relief legislation was introduced in both the House and the Senate on Tuesday. But, with a general election in November, legislators immediately proposed dozens of amendments for th1701409312bill appeared unlikely.

In his remarks, Reagan urged Congress to act quickly on the legislation.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater earlier told reporters traveling in the presidential entourage that “we are concerned about the Christmas tree aspect of the bill in the sense that people are trying to add a lot of amendments.”

He said those efforts would probably prolong the process.

“Nevertheless, we continue to support the basic legislation and we’ll try to get as clean a bill as possible,” Fitzwater said.