Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-12
EFFECT OF pR1cE GUARANTEE.

=, 1t congress within; the ext#We should enact
a law guaranteeing to the farmer a minimum price
for his wheat, and fixing the price high enough to
make the guarantee of material benefit. the ,immedi-
ate; effect would be to involve the whole country in
"a scramble for guarantees on every imaginable kind
of product and congress would be able to. transact
no other business until the entire field were covered
With guarantees.
At the present time the government does not
guarantee earnings of any kind. The government
permits the railroads to earn up to a certain figure,
if they can do SO under the rates and general condi-
tons whictpare re prescribed by the government. The
roadshaye nnotyyet been able to reach this permitted.
maximum, and the government is not, making up
any part Of the Shortage. :
If the ship subsidy bill passes the government
will 60 out of the shipping business, which is now
it $4,000 900 a year and in lieu of that ex-
|penditure it will invest from $4,000 900 to $50, 00O,-
900 a year in subsidies which looks like not such a
bad bargain.
But in its relation to both rail and shipping en-
%terprises, it is to be remembered that while the gov
eminent permits certain earnings if the business
can be made to yield them, it also supervises the
activities of those concerns, requires them to per-
form certain specified services, and prohibits them
from making more than certain specified profits. If
the government guarantees the price of wheat it
will be starting out on an entirely new line. The
fact that a thing has not been done is, of course, not
a reason why it should not be done, but those who
say that the government should guarantee wheat
prices because 1t is also guaranteeing other things
have not a fact to stand On, The government does
not now guarantee earnings.
To suppose that if the government guarantees the
price of wheat it will be permitted to stop thefe is
to suppose an aabsurdity. The corn growers-more
numerous than the wheat growers-will demand
their bit, and get it. The live stock men will de-
mand their guarantee. The fruit growers all over
the country will need attention. So will the grow
ers of cotton and tobacco; and then the people who
buy these products; and use them as the raw material
of their own industries will demand like treatment
at the hands Of The government. Is there any reason
why they. should not have it? Eli $5x#
Another effect of the wheat guarantee--taking
that as a single example, would be the production Of
more wheat, and still more wheat. Applying the
guarantee generally, as is often proposed, to certain
great basic cropssS we should have an artici6ial
stimulus given to the production Of one staple crop
lin each great crop area, wheat in the northwest,
corn a little farther south cotton in the south, and
tobacco in the uplands Of the border states. a
premium would be placed on the raising OF one crop
rather than on diversi6cation, the need for which IS
50 generally recognized, b.
The greater the production of each, guaranteed
lcrop, the greater wouldibe the burden 81 the GOV
~ernnent to maintain the guaranteed price, ana no
fmatter what the processlt The cost would Be shifted
Ito the general public.