Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-02-28
|SP|LLMAN MAKES
SAVAGE ATTACK
Accuses ID. +. Houston, Secretary of
Agriculture, of Working Against
Instead of for the Interests
of the Farmers

4& or the OIIlce Oh farm management,
~. S. Department of Agriculture, at
the semi-annual conference of the
National Board of Farm Organiza-
tons at Washington, ID. c., February
lib, 1919:
After 10 years of patient study,
the office of Farm Management felt
that by the summer of 1917 it had
worked out satisfactory methods for
determining the cost of producing
practically all kinds of farm products.
y In these studies vast quantities of
data had been collected, and several
bulletins on the cost of producing
various products had been published
What was mainly needed to enable
the experts of the office to state cur
rent costs of most products was
knowledge of current wages and
prices of materials.
1t happened that just at this time
the President directed the Federal
Trade Commission to undertake GER
tain studies of food production and
distribution with a view to determin-
ing costs at various stages and of as
certaining whether unfair practices
prevailed in the trades based on food
n products. The Federal Trade Com
mission took up with the Bureau of
Vi Markets of the Department of Agri-
q culture the matter of ascertaining
Arrangements were made for the Of
flee of Farm Management to have
charge of this work in cooperation
with the Bureau of Markets.
AS chief of the Office of Farm
Management, i requested letters of
authorization for the purpose Of
sending 10 experts from that office
q to the field to collect the data neces-
sary for determining current costs.
q This was early in October, 1917.
q Since the money available for this
would lapse on July l, 1918, it was
j planned to finish the work by that
time.
4 Secretary Houston refused to
grant these letters, and called me to
his office for consultation. This is
the conference referred to by the Sec
rotary of Agriculture in his letter to
the senate of November Z, 1918, in
which he says: Il indicated to him
(Spillman) my desire that careful
consideration be given the whole
matter and that a system of inquiry
and Interpretation be devised which
would be regarded by competent stu
dents of farm economics as sound
and which would furnish results rea-
sonably reliable and creditable to the
department"
Every word of that statement is
deliberate falsehood- Secretary
Houston made no such suggestion to
me at that or any other time. What
he did say at this particular inter-
view was substantially as follows:
He first rebuked me in the stern
est manner for having gone before
the Garfield committee at the time
the price of wheat was fixed the first
time, and reminded me that ! had
done so without his permission. He
stated that it was we'll understood
amongst those who were in position
tn Rnnm OF ~ hn fiynA for
wheat was about $3.50, but that my
testimony had resulted in the unrea-
sonable price of $500 He made 1t
very clear to me that | had been
guilty of an objectionable offense in
this matter. | had, in fact, prepared
report to be submitted to the price
liking committee with Mr.. Houston S
consent, but when it came time to
present this report Mr.. Houston was
conveniently out of town and | could
not learn where he was. / therefore
presented the report in person, and
without his permission. The price |
urged upon the committee was $2.30,
Tor at that time a farmer could get
S2.2S for his wheat by feeding it to
hogs, and l argued that any price
below $3.50 would induce many
farmers to feed their wheat, result
which actually occurred.
The secretary further stated at
his interview that he had made a
thorough investigation of the whole
pbject of cost of production on the
hrm and that there is nothing to
He described his thorough in
estigation as follows: He had visit
ed cousin of his on farm in North
Carolina and had asked him the cost
OF producing cotton. We'll" replied
the cousin, last year had the same
acreage of cotton as this; used the
same amount of labor and fertilizer;
4. .xs