Evening star., 1921-09-11
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.
NY program for legislation de.

A NY program for legislation de-
~ signed to beget q permanent.
~ stable prosperity for the farmers
must be in accord with iegis-
lstive program for general industrial
prosperity This is the corner stone on
which the joint commission Of agricui-
aral inquiry will build its report to Con-
Efess. The first section of this report
G1ll be ready for Congress when 1t re-
assemblies, and the other section is ex-
pected to be ready by December 1.
The findings of this commission. which
has been giving intensive study to the
general industrial situation since July l.
are principally and primarily designed.
contrary to general expectation. to pro-
, mote a general, gradual. dependable I'M
provement in the whole industrial and
economic situation, rather than in class
LEGISLATION for the farmers.
Little Liquidation Needed.
The most important fact that this in
visitation has developed is that outside
of legislation which will remove the OBJ
stacles that now stand in the way OF
successful farm organization. and that
VIII dliTIIidlNciy Give tAAS AoA AAANAe ~o
same credit facilities that industry gem
orally has, there isn't much that legis-
lation can do.
The commission will emphasize that it
must be kept in mind that the country
is prosperous or unprosperous as
whole. While you can temporarily leg
islate improved conditions for one class
or another in relation to the whole, you
can't have agricultural prosperity un-
less you have general prosperity. In
order to make the farmer prosperous. In
addition to doing those things that will
afford the farmer adequate facilities for
doing his business, for which the gov
ernment can properly furnish the ma
chinery (such as credits)-you make the
farmer prosperous by doing things that
make the country as a whole prosper.
Way Open to Prosperity.
That means that the joint commission
finds that something has to be done
about the railroads, as something has
already been done to facilitate exports;
something has to be done on tariff. to
reduce government expenditures. to es-
tablish confidence on the part OF in
dustry and agriculture. both. The COM
mission finds that the situation has now
developed so that industry and agricul-
ture can go forward with some conf
dence that the conditions will not be
changed by any wild fluctuatfon in
prices.
So, to be more definite. the commits
sion will recommend:
F'irst-The passage Of a bill some-
thing like the volstead-Capper bill,
attir,natively authorizing farmers CO.
operative unions.
Second-It will recommend legisia-
tion that will set up machinery for
furnishing the farmers credit for six
months to three years or more SO as
to ill the gap between the longtime
credit furnished by the national and
state banks and the farm loan organi-
cations, including the farm loan asso-
citation. and the short-time credit now
furnished by the national and state
Lanks.
The volstead-Capper bill is already
i'll the works. Representative Sidney
Y. Anderson of Minnesota, chairman
of the Joint commission for agricul-
tural inquiry, is drafting a bill to
cover the credit features which he
will press for action when Congress
reassembles.
Seeking q Sane Balance.
There will also be other minor
recommendations in the form of
proposed agricultural program. the
whole question being considered from
the standpoint of industry as a whole,
to get a sane balance as between agri-
culture and industry and the relative
Importance in any future scheme OF
agricultural development of wool,
cattle or wheat raising.
This is very important at this time.
for it is pretty clear to the members
of the joint commission and to other
specialists who have been studying
conditions that the people Of the United
states will never again eat as much
meat per capita as they have during the
last three years.
The limits of range, the tremen-
dous losses of the cattle men suffered
during the last eighteen months or
two years. the relatively small per
capita of cattle on the farms now
all point to a meat shortage. On
the average meat prices are apt to be
so high that meat consumption will
be relatively smaller than 1t has been
heretofore 1--WE are being trans
formed from a meat-eating nation to
a nation Of bread eaters" Chairman
Anderson says his investigations
show.
Kept to Major Lines.
The resolution under which the
Joint commission has been conducting
its inquiry is very broad. SO that
1t could make a study of almost any
thing under the sun. On account Of
the time limit the commission has
to confine it's inquiry to the major
lines on which it seemed possible to
reach some conclusions, az follows:
% The present condition Of the
farmers and the factors that caused
this condition.
CD Adequacy of the credit machin-
cry of the country from the stand
point Of agricultural production and
marketing.
(3) Adequacy of transportation
facilities, reasonableness Of transpor-
tation rates, from the viewpoint Of
lowering agricultural prices.
The nf diafpih,rf{oV,