Evening star., 1921-06-19

IS the principal INDUSTRY III
this country, and that unless
agriculture is on a stable eco
nomic footing there can be no general
prosperity and industrial activity,
the administration and legislative
branches of the federal government
have organized special committees to
investigate agricultural conditions.
l. Secretary Henry c. Wallace has
just organized in the Department of
Agriculture a committee on economics
to consider the biggest problems in
agriculture. principally transportation.
rural credits and finance, tariff and for
eign market Investigations.
9. Congress has organized a spe-
cial joint committee to study the same
problems.
The committee on economics of the
Department Of Agriculture is COM
posed Of: Chairman, Assistant Secre
tary E. d. Ball; DR.. H. c. Taylor, chief
of the Office of farm management and
farm economics; DR.. w. A. Taylor.
,, chief of the bureau of plant industry;
4
reau of animal industry. and l. NJ
Estabrook, assistant chief of the bu
reau Of markets.
Tie joint congressional committee
is composed of Senators Capper Of
Kansas: Lenroot. Wisconsin: McNary.
Oregon; Harrison. Mississippi. and
Robinson. Arizona. with Representa-
tives Anderson. Minnesota; Mills. New
York; Funk. Illinois; Ten Eyck, New
York. and Sumner. Texas.
The Wallace committee on economies
is to correlate and bring together the
information within the department bear
ing on the agricultural situation. to point
out what action might be taken to al
leviate the situation, to consider in what
way the department might redirect its
activities or reorganize its forces. and to
formulate, so far as practicable. long
time program that would bring about
well balanced agriculture This commit
tee would always keep in mind the inti-
mate relationship and interdependsnce of
agriculture and other industries.
This existence of this committee will
make it possible for the Department of
Agriculture to counsel better with the
special congressional committee, bringing
| to a focus all the Information within the
department bearing upon the problem the
congressional committee is considering.
This economic committee will also con-
suit agricultural leaders, those spe-
cialists in colleges. and the men who
| are devoting their lives to a study of
the bigger problems Of agriculture.
| =. Plight Of the Farmers.
The present trouble with regard to
| agriculture is due principally to the
ldisproportionate fall in prices. Prior
| to the war and during the war there
was a certain we'll established rela-
ton between the prices the farmer
got for his crops and the prices he
paid. The conditions were fairly
uniform and stable. But-the farm
ers planted their crops when every
thing was at peak prices, and they
have been marketing the crops a.
debated prices
| The congressional committee must
take into consideration that the farm
population is 51.400.000, while the city
population is $4,000. 600. SO that nearly
| half the people are consumers as well
as producers. Since 1910 the proper
ton Of city people has been swing
ing up. while the proportion of rural
inhabitants has been falling OF pro-
portionately. The city population is
now 51.4 per cent, while the rural
population is 4S.6. So that the farm
ers buying power depends on the
| relation the prices he gets for his
crops bear to what he has to pay for
what he must buy. He is nearlyrone-
half of the consuming public.
The drop in 1920-21 on farm produce
was 6S per cent. as compared with
191s-2o. Translated into dollars. this
was $1,4O0, 100000 On live stock and
$7.1O0. 100000 on other crops-a total
of $s.500.O0o,000 in price valuations
for farm products. That $500, 900. 900
is one-third Of the total crop and
live stock production for 1920. 1t is
one-third of the total national debt
1t wiped out the. net income of agri-
culture. 1t reduced prices below the
cost of production for practically all
crops. 1t carried prices for some
crops below the pre-war average. Yet
the retail prices the farmers pay have
continued with very slight declines.
Here is an illustration. A leather
manufacturer in Des Moines in a let
ter to Secretary Wallace points out
that for years the farmers have been
Dean of Latin American