Like hundreds of Midwest towns, tiny (pop. 1,600) El Paso, Ill., which calls itself "capital city of the corn belt," was an all but deserted village last week. Few cars disturbed the quiet of its sunny streets; in the town's three taverns, business was slow. El Paso's calm was part of the rhythm of the U.S. heartland; it was planting time. Outside the town, Woodford County's farmers worked 14 hours a day to get their seed kernels into the ground.
A grey Ford whipped along the back-country gravel roads, stirring up a...
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