Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-01-26

a bushel ior wheat. +. Chairman Liederbach of the
Nonpartisan League executive committee demands
$500 per bushel. Numerous farm organizations
\ have sent in requests tow Washington for a guaran-
.teed price which will yield the farmer a reasonable
profit. HI. H.. Aakers Of Grand Forks, in a letter ad-
vocating price fixing, names no particular price, but
holds out for a price which will give the farmer a
profit. He expresses regret. also, that Hans George
sen, president of the North. Dakota Farm Bureau
Federation, is opposed to a government guarantee.
Mr.. Georgesen@ is a practical. farmer. He has
tarmed successfully on a, large scale, for many years.
Farming is and has been. his sole occupation. It
does not follow necessarily from those, facts that Mr..
Georgesen's ideas on farm, economics are sound. He
may easily be mistaken, but it is not at ali likely
that he is actuated by any desire. other than a desire
to promote the best interests of the farmer. He
feels as keenly as anyone can the need for the crea-
ton of better conditions affecting the farmers bust
ness, but as a practical man, presumably under
istanding his business and having made a success Of
1t. he does not believe that price fixing will yield
the results desired. The chances are that on this
subject his views are as sound as those Of Mr.. Aaker,
a professional man living and working in a city.
When the demand is made for a price which
will yield the farmer a profit, just what is meant?
The Herald has in mind the case of a Grand Forks
farmer whose 1920 wheat crop cost him about $1.75
a bushel. and another man on a similar farm, close
by, whose crop in the same year cost him over $500
a bushel. The same weather conditions prevailed
on both farms, and in neither case was there loss
from fire, flood, hail. or any other similar accidental
conditions. @
The one farmer was able to operate his acres
more economically than the other, and his acres
yielded him more bushels. That resulted in the
difference in cost. Under similar conditions, what
should be the price guaranteed by the government?
Should the cost be estimated on the first farmers
crop, or on that of the second? In one case, the
second farmer would still suffer a very material loss.
In the other the first farmer would reap a maenifi-
cent profit.
Mr.. Aakcr refers to the fact that the guarantee
BY the government during the war years was carried
out successfully and profitably. Why? Simply be-
cause the American guaranteed price was lower
than the price at which wheat could be sold in the
European market: That condition does not exist to-
day. 1t was not created by our governments guar
%antee; it was created by war conditions abroad
which do not exist TODAY, and which created an alb
normal demand tor Wheat at any price at which it
could be obtained. That condition will not be re-
peated. nor can our government by any act OF it's
own create conditions which will result in a similar
foreign demand regardless of prices or at an abnor-
lnally high price. However, Mr.. Aaker saws very
frankly that the question of profit and loss to the
government should not be given any consideration.
Proceeding on that basis. we find that the demand
amounts to this: That the government should buy
the surplus wheat Of the United States at the guar
anteed price and should sell it abroad at a loss, for
IN no other way can a guarantee be made good. Our
normal production OF wheat amounts to about 9OO,-
:ooO,oOO bushels per year. Our normal consumption
is about SOC, ooo, 900 bushels. The government must
therefore be ready to purchase the. 100000 900
bushels or more OF wheat, and if the price is fixed at
$500 a busl,el and the world price warrants a price
OF only $1.00 a bushel in the United States. there
would be a direct loss to the government OF $500, OOO-
OOO. That. loss must be made up in taxation, The
government has no sources Of revenue other than
the taxing possibilities which it possesses. 1t may
take from the public whatever money it needs with
which to operate it's business. In the case suppos.
cd, an additional $500, 600. 900 would be required.
1t has been suggested that even such a loss or
investment wh'chevcr term may be preferred, would
not be Objectionable because at the cost Of only
$500, 900, 900 to the government, and ultimately to
the taxpayers, the farmers would be receiving
5000, ooo, 900 more for their product. Who would
pay the other $500, 600, 000? The farmers cannot re-
ce1ve it unless somebody pays it.
Obviously the other $600,o00,000 would be con-
tributed by the American consumers who buy
wheat or wheat products. There is nobody else to
pay 1t. The same consumers would pay the $780,
900, 600 IN taxes. The whole sum would be a tax
on the American public of an amount equal to that
by which the fixed price exceeded the ordinary nor
NAL market price. -
If this is good business and good statesmanship.
why not improve it still further: Why adopt the
cumbersome device of dealing with SO uncertain a
thing as a wheat crop when at one stroke the same
OBJECT could be attained without any delay whatev-
er: Instead Of assessing the public by a slow and
laborious process some 5000. 900, 900 in order to get
} the farmers out OF debt, why not make a direct ab-
preparation. of that amount and pay it directly to
the farmers, pro-rating it among them according to
their acreage? The fact that in order to do this it
! would be necessary to levy another billion dollars
worth OF taxes is not valid if the main contention is
correct that the price ought to be guaranteed, be-
'cause no matter how the thing may be disguised,
! no matter by what hocus pocus the thing may be
Juggled, the cost comes back to the taxpaying pub
lie which is identical with the consuming public. In
dollars and cents, it makes no. difference whether
/ the people are to be assessed as taxpayers or as pur-
chasers of a commodity. One advantage of the d-
rect appropriation would be its rapidity of action.
We should get the effect Immediately without wait
ing for the harvest Of another crop. sn
S has already been remarked, the wheat crop
is not the only crop in which farmers are interested.
) Farmers grow corn, tobocco, cotton, apples, oranges
and a multitude If other +h;nAe Tba ,.ad,...oe