Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-28
Prosperity Of
US. Depends on
! Farm, Says Norris
Declares Abnormal Methods
Necessary for Exports, in
Support of Bill for
Trade Corporation.
BY E. c. Snyder.

Washington Correspondent, Omhha Zee
Washington, July 2.-(Special
Telegram .)-Scnator Norris, III a
communication to Washington
newspaper in defense OF his bill Or
ganizing governmental opera
ton to purchase farm products III
- the United States and sell them Ill
foreign countries. says that the iun-
damcntal cornerstone of the pros
pcrity of the country is agriculture
and il agriculture is not prosperous,
no other branch of industry and no
other group OF the American people
can be prosperous. Continuing,
Senator Norris says:
The world is confronted with an
extremely abnormal condition. The
farmers OF our country have produc-
ed a surplus which they are not able
to sell. In other parts of the world
there arc millions of people starving
for the products which we have in
vast abundance.
The problem is to get this surplus
from our farms into The homes of the
starving people of foreign lands.
They are not able to pay cash. They
must have time. They are willing to
mortgage everything they have tor
the food which our farmers have pro-
duccd.
Radical Method Necessary.
"The governmental corporation
which is provided fo- in this bill IS
intended to act as middle-man be-
tween the producers iii America and
the consumers in foreign countries.
II is no answer to say that we are
proposing a plan that is abnormal.
The facts are we are living in abnor-.
NAL times. The natural channels OF
business have failed and part OF the
world is starving while the other part
is bankrupt i'll the midst of all over
supply. -,
''It will not do to stand idly by
saw that this food must not be moved
until commercial agencies existing
under normal conditions shall trans
act the business. We have waited
long enough for these agencies to
work to become convinced that they
cannot meet the contingency. II we
wait longer, we will find the hungry
people in foreign lands starving,
While our farmers arc bankrupt.
Banks Will Fail.
at must be remembered, toe, that
when the farmer goes down, as he
must unless some market is found
for this surplus produce, he VIII
take with him large number OF the
country banks, scattered through
out the agricultural sections OF our
country. and when these banks tail
the danger will be that other insti-
tutions will likewise fail. Under
these conditions our government
ought to build up exporting ma
ehinerv that will be able to take
securities offered by those who want
out products and tide them over
until they are able to pay.
1T must be understood that IN
selling our goods to foreign coun-
tries we are not dealing with a lot
of thieves and tricksters. They are
rs anxious to get our toodstuts
as we are to dispose OF them. IL
these stricken countries are ever to
be put on their feet. it must be
through their toll and their labor.
They are as anxious to be put on
sound financial basis as we are to
sell them our products. They will
not fail to pay us unless the clvih-
zation of this age is about to go
Into chaos and destruction.
Depend on Foreign Market.
1--WE always have depended and
always will depend on forcign mar
tet for our surplus products. Un-
less we have this market we must
fail, so it is not the present alone
that we should have in mind, but
q future market. Those who are
to buy our agricultural products
understand as we'll as we do that
unless they pay, not only we but
they as we'll must, in the end, fail.
Another great difficulty that
makes a chasm between the pro-
ducers and the consumer is the tre-
mendously high cost of transporta-
ton. This measure provides, through |
the instrumentality of the Interstate |
Commerce commission, for reduced
rates for these products.
Thousands CT empty freight cars |
are nbstructng the railroad tracks |
of the country. Would it not be bet
ter. even for the railroads them
selves, if these empty cars were in
part utilized to transport these
products at reduced rates and thus
not only help the producer and the
consumer. but the railroads them
selves? We have reached a point
in our transportation system where
it has become apparent to all think
ing men that railroads can be
bankrupted by high rates as we'll as,
bv rates that are too low"