President Pledges Help for Drought-Stricken Farmers

Winding up a two-day political swing, President Reagan took time out from his fund-raising activities Thursday to meet with this area’s drought-stricken farmers and to watch an Operation Haylift government cargo plane unload hay flown in from the Midwest to replace parched crops.

The President said that the drought, the worst in recorded South Carolina history, is “reaching tragic proportions,” and that his Administration “stands ready to help.”

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said that Operation Haylift is a stop-gap measure to tide over farmers until a train carrying 20,000 tons of hay arrives in the Southeast early next week.

In Washington, meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Richard E. Lyng announced steps to assist Southeastern farmers and gave them a series of toll-free telephone numbers to call for information about government programs.

Designates Coordinator

At least nine separate agencies of the Agriculture Department are prepared to offer emergency assistance under existing programs, including expediting federal loans. Lyng designated an assistant secretary to coordinate the federal relief effort.

He said it is too early to estimate how much federal money will go to drought-stricken areas in the next several months, but that “I don’t have any trouble thinking it could easily reach $1 billion.”

Norton Strommen, the Agriculture Department’s chief meteorologist, said no relief is in sight over the next five days from the drought that began in January in some parts of the Southeast. With losses already estimated as high as $1.5 billion, much of the parched land of Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas is producing shriveled crops and dusty pastures.

In the last few days, Operation Haylift has ferried hay to South Carolina and Georgia, two of the states hit hardest by the sustained record-high temperatures and lack of rain. Each C-141 cargo plane carries 800 bales of hay, or about 24 tons.

Midwest Hot Line

A “hay hot line” has been established in Illinois to allow Midwest farmers with surplus crops to donate hay to farmers in the drought area.

Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson and South Carolina Rep. Carroll A. Campbell Jr. (R-S.C.) appealed to the White House for assistance in transporting the hay and Reagan directed the Air Force to provide the planes.

But in Washington, two Democratic senators complained that the White House had refused to provide a plane to carry in 30 tons of hay that they had obtained for the area. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) had found the hay in response to a request by Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.).

Hollings said he called Andrew Card, the White House’s acting director of intergovernmental affairs, about securing a plane and was told to “get a truck.”

“These aren’t Democratic cows or Republican cows, but hungry cows, and they want hay, not politics,” Hollings said.

Firm Donates Jet Use

Kerry said that Federal Express has agreed to donate use of a 727 to fly the hay to South Carolina Sunday.

At a fund-raising luncheon here for local GOP candidates, including Rep. Campbell, who is running for governor, Reagan called the volunteer aid efforts evidence that “Americans are together again, helping each other like we used to.”

He said he was struck by “the dignity” in the faces of the farmers he met and their “determination to stick it out until better days.”

Although Reagan’s comments reflected his overall optimism about the country, he did acknowledge that not all sectors of the economy have benefitted from the nation’s economic recovery. He singled out farming and industries that are vulnerable to foreign imports as those that “have lagged behind.”