Evening star., 1924-03-06
CHAPTER XII.
Agriculture and $50. .ooo. 600 for Ro,a

Ox1A1 LEN al.
Agriculture and $4,000. 900 for Roads.
The Department of Agriculture of
the United States was organized in
1883. Seven men since then have oc-
cupied the position of Secretary of
agriculture. OF these, three have
come from Iowa, two from Missouri.
one from Nebraska and one from
Wlsconsin-all western men. The
present Secretary, Mr. Wallace, like
his immediate predecessor, is from
Iowa. He is the owner of q large
farm journal.
Mr.. Secretary, many people in the
United States believe you are spend
ing too much money In your depart
ment for the results obtained" 1 said
by way of opening.
Mr. wallace Is a short, chubby man
or nfty-seven. He has strong, keen,
brown eyes and a deep bass voice
well let's see about that" de-
oiared the Secretary. "The Depart
mately $144.o0O,000 in the fiscai year
1922 and only s126.5OO.OoO In i92a
There is cut of $17.500,0o0 Now
remember that considerably more
than half of this expenditure is
really not for Agricultural purposes
which happens to be handled by our
department. With that eliminated.
our expenditures were $47.300.OO0 in
1928. That is one and a half per
cent Of the total federal government
expenditures tor 1923. That seems
like small amount to give to aid
the most important single Industry
in America"
Yes. il seems relatively small. But
Is the department really helping the
farmer? Is not the farmer in the
United States worse off now than
asked.
Yes, that.is probably true" replied
the Secretary. but that again is due
to conditions over which this depart
ment had no control. 1t is due to the
war"
Farmer Gets Less.
''Is it not true that the farmer has
been getting less and less for the
products which he sells, while the
prices paid for those same articles by
the ultimate consumer in the city
are getting higher and higher?" ]
asked.
yes, unfortunately that seems to
be correct" he said. 'It is a most
difficult problem to solve. We are
now making a thorough investigation
of that whole matter. SO far there
does not seem to be any satisfactory
answer"
of this department and see for our
selves just what is being done. The
Department of Agriculture has to do
with the agricultural activities of
thu whole nation. In 1920 there
property valued at approximately IS
billions of dollars.
The department estimates, are
based on the crop value of the
are corn. wheat, oats. barley, rye.
buckwheat, flaxseed, potatoes, sweet
potatoes, hay and cotton. Here are
the department figures for the last
three years for the total money re-
ceived by the farmers, as of October
l each year:
1926. .2s9. 900, 900
1925, I'll 600, 900
1923-s6,947 100000
it's products would add approximately
$500. 100000 more to the above
figure for 1923. But the index figures
of the Department of Labor show
that the cost of living has been going
up during the past year, OF course
these figures are gross profits. Out
of them must be taken taxes, interest
and expenses in order to really know
farm conditions.
The Toll of Wheat.
Low prices of farm products
and high freight rates are respon-
sible for bad agricultural conditions,
In the opinion of 7s per cent of the
farmers. according to the 1923 report
Of the Secretary Of Agriculture.
Low prices for wheat have sent
whole states into bankruptcy. The
Department of Agriculture has is.
situation to the President. 1t is a
most tragic and appalling report.
The detailed figures are given. They
are almost unbelievable. Let us
examine a very few.
of the United States the Depart
ment Of Agriculture figures show
that 1908 per cent of the farmers
lost their farms and 1928 per cent
farms or property through leniency
of creditors. That is to say. one
wheat farmer In every four lost out
This is the average record for fifteen
states.
Some states are much worse than
the average. Take Colorado. Four
farmers in every ten lost out. In
South Dakota the same. In North
Dakota, f1ve out Of every ten. In
Montana, six out of every ten.
Now let US reverse the picture. In
September. 1913. in the city of
Washington the Department of Agri-
culture made an investigation as to
just where the money went which
was paid to the grocer for bread.
The wheat producers-the men who
toiled and sweat and risked all to
bring forth the harvest-received
21.41 cents out of every dollars
worth of bread sold. The miller got
7.76 cents for his services in grind
ing 1t into flour; the railroad got
sos cents. The baker. for working
on the -four for twentyfour hours,
got 1925 cents. The grocer, for keep
ing it on his shelf for less than a
day. without any capital outlay in
volved, got 20.55 cents, and the farm