New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-22
Presidents Measure Re.
turned to Committee
To Be Redrafted
Houston Attacked
In All.Day Debate
expert" Meddlins with
Farmers Is Warmly De-
nounced by Reed
fFro,n Tho Tnoune Buresul

[From Tho rnpune Buresul
Washington, May zl.-David r.
Houston, Secretary Of Agriculture
Herbert c. Hoover, food dictator" and
food experts in general were de-
nounced in the Senate to-day during
consideration Of the Gore food control
bill. At the end of a warm, all-day de-
bate by an overwhelming vote tns
measure was sent back to committee to
be redrafted.
Senator Gore, chairman Of the AZ.
ricultural Committee, himself askeo
this action. in order that the Senate
might first pass a bill 20 stimulate
food production, which he VIII repors
from the committee tomorrow, ana
which, he declared, would meet little
opposition. He insisted it was neees'
sary to get the food production o''
through speedily, before all the pians'
ing is finished, as otherwise it would
do little good this year.
Opposition Outspoken
Opposition to the conferring OF sx'
,raordinary powers on Mr.. Hoover was
outspoken, and il became evident tn"s
there will be plenty of opposition u
such grant on the Democratic SIDE
OF the chamber.
ct is most dangerous for half in'
formed men to interfere with the busi-
ness Of completely informed men, SAID
Senator Reed, of Missouri, who began
the attack on granting extraordinary
movers TO the food administrator
There never was an occasion when "
was attempted to delegate such powers
to hsff-inYorrhed men that thsy. .die'>es
make a mess Of it. You must deal with
aggregate knowledge If you want to sd-
vance. II you interfere with the ap-
plication Of that aggregate kncwlsdges
if you give the power 70 an individual,
to single man, to interfere with the
exercise Of this aggregate knowledge.
you will once more make a mess Of II
unless that man shall possess the un-
limited prcscience and wisdom Of Al.
mighty God"
Senator Reed said there was no as.
surance in the world that the present
shortage in the wheat supply spelled
ultimate starvation.
There is no more reason to urge
that famine conditions would arise bex
cause the supply Of wheat is lew and
the price high than there is in assum.
ing that there is a coal shortage be-
cause the price Of that commodity has
advanced in almost parallel ratio to
the advance in the cost Of wheat" he
declared. Speculation has something
TO do with il, suppose, but spseula.
tion canno. justify the present prices.
Secretary Houston Attacked
There's not farmer from the
Canadian line to the Rio Grande who
does not know more about the business
of his own farm than does the Seere-
tary Of Agriculture. 1t is the function
of the Secretary Of Agriculture and his
experts and specialists to aid, not to
control, the producers. II you'd turn
the average agricultural expert loose
on a farm of 160 acres anywhere In
this Union he woulc have to resort to
the advice Of his neighbors to know
how to plant his first crop.
"The thing that is Of dominant i'm
portance TO the United States now 10 to
create. create, and then again create.
IL is for the farmer to plant, plant and
continue to plant The need is to speed
up. 10 stimulate production. and in
stimulating production and speeding up
there is no occasion for shackling busi-
ness with regulatory legislation and
centralized control and dictation OF the
methods and agencies and the distribu-
ton Of the supplies resultant from that
production"
Blames Executive Delay
Senator Underwood. Of Alabama,
charged that executive delay was re.
sDOnSlDlc Tor one OF tne cnfef Etn-
drances of enhanced production-th
delay in selecting a site for the gov
ernment owned nitrate plant for which
an appropriation has lain idle in the
Treasury for many months.
"Some great interest has lain like
lion across the path, interfering with
the creation Of this needed auxiliary 10
agriculture. so that the meagre supply
of the nitrous necessities of fertilizer
might be enhanced" he said.
81 am glad to hear the Senator tell
Us that it is not the Senate which in
this instance Of halting and holding
back the progress Of the country has
been the Stacker" interposed Senator
Smith, of Georgia.
THE thing that produces cheap fsod
is rich land" said Senator Underwood,
"and the demand for fertilizer mate
rials is just az important to be en-.
swered as that for the componsnts Of
munition manufacture or any Of the
other needs OF war"
Biscuits as Well % Bullets"
"The Secretary Of Agriculture does
not believe that the manufacture Of
this nitrogenous matter will pay said
Senator Ellison Smith. Of South Caro-
lima. "Hc even advanced the ridicu-
lous argument that the supply which
we want to obtain from Chile cannot
he acOutr~H kar~usa