Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-08-13
ASK CHANGE IN WHEAT ACT TO HELP FARMERS Claim Producers Are Defrauded and Consumers Get Little
 Benefit. ACCESS ASKED TO
 AN OPEN MARKET Alleged Grain for Which They Re- ceived Reduced Price is Sold To the Consumer on No.
 Basis.

Washington, Aug. 12.-Demands that changes be made in government wheat standards under the price guarantee act "so as not to penalize every grower of wheat" were made in statement prepared by Chair man Gronna and representatives of farm organizations and approved to- day by the senate agriculture com- mittee.
 Chairman Gronna announced that a committee would be named to present the demands to Julius H. Barnes, president of the United States grain corporation and representa- tives of the department of agricul- ture, in the hope of having modified various government regulations by which it was charged "the producers are defrauded and the consumers re- ceive no benefits"
 In the statement, designed to give the farmers side of the high cost of living question, the senate committee said it believed grave injustice was being done the farmer and might Continue to accumulate and serious ly injure not only agriculture, but the entire nation as we'll"
 "While entirely sympathetic with the hardships which present price cause the people of the city," said the statement, farmers are no less concerned with their own economic situation.
 Against Barnes Policy.
 "The powerful machinery of the government is now being set in mo- tion to bring to justice those who are guilty. But it must be remem- bered that this drive is coming at . time when the great staple products of the farm are going to market and that in selling the wheat crop, for instance, the farmer is selling his en- tire seasons labor. This is an ex- perience with which the farmer is very familiar and he instinctivelv connects it with the interests which in the party have pyramided their profits upon his production at the beginning of the season of market ing. " u
 "Julius H. Barnes, of the United States Grain corporation, openly states his policy to resell wheat, cur tail our foreign shipments and use the resale of wheat to help control the domestic market price against further advances The result of such policy together with the manipula- tion of system of grades and stand ards has been to reduce materially the farmers income and to deny him access to free market where he can secure actual cost of production.
 "We believe city people should know that the average annual labor income of the farmer, including that of his wife and children as shown by the last federal census was only $318.22. They should know that ow- l ing to manipulation in administering the grades and standards together with the damage done by hot wealth CT to the maturing crops, the winter wheat producers are receiving as low as $1.15 per bushel for their wheat-not the $2.O5 which Mir. Barnes gives as theoretical aver- age-and that this years crop may average not over $1.50 per bushel net.
 Much Wheat Ruined. "In the production of wheat. as in other crops, labor enters in the last dHalySlS aS the CnleI Item OI COSC anu city people should realize that the effort that is being made by authority of the government to restrict or still further reduce the price at the farm must inevitably lead to denying the farmer living wages.
 "We at this time shall insist on a charge in the wheat standards so as not to penalize every grower of wheat. Hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat have been shriveled r by extreme heat this season which under the present grading and dis count rules may not average the pro- ducers $1.50 per bushel. Authorita- tive investigators have found such wheat to be of the highest milling value and it is unthinkab1e that farmers should sustain loss of from 50 to 75 cents per bushel by treason of the arbitrary standards that have been established.
 This wheat in large measure will go into the production of the best patent Hours and be sold to the consuming public at prices based on number one wheat. The producers are thereby defraude dand the con- sumers receive no benefit"