Evening star., 1924-04-04
SPECIALIST BACKS
FARM AID MEASURE
Growers Would Furnish Own
Funds, c. J. Brand Says,
Explaining Bill.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE

Administration officials are at skies
and sevens over the McNary- -Haughen
bill which provides machinery for the
purchase of the export wheat crop
The critics are numerous, the attack
on the bill extending all the way from
cries of unsoundness to the state
ment that it will take an army great
er than the prohibition force to police
its operation.
Charles ]. Brand. consulting spe-
: cialist at the Department of Agricul-
ture, who probably is more familiar
with the proposals than any one else
IN Washington, today consented to ex-
plain some of the provisions of the
measure.
Measure Is Defended
IF people will only read the bill and
examine it carefully" he said, they
will not find in it on reflection the
imaginary dangers they think they
see. For instance. it has be&n said
the bill would put the grain eX-
changes and traders out of business.
1t will not. The United States Ngri-
cultural Export Corporation will act
through existing trade bodies and or
ganizationS. The corporation is to be
actuarial and not trade body itself.
One thing it may do, | admit. 1t may
reduce the amount of fluctuation in
the exchanges will always be in
iuenced by domestic factors and
rumorS.
Have No Legal Tender.
What is proposed in the McNary-
Haugen bill is nothing more nor less
than what the agricultural cooper
atives now are diong. We simply
would buy the exportable surplus of
wheat from the farmer, not out of
government funds, but out of funds
provided by the farmer himself and
when the time for settlement comes
would get his patronage dividend,
as the farm co-operativ call it, in
the form of participation certifi-
Gates which is a. better name for
what has been suggested than scrip.
IT Is a mistake to attribute to these
participation certificates any legal
tender value. They will be CONNER
cial paper pure and simple
Shows How Plan Works.
II have heard statements that the
farmers wouldn't accept these certifi-
Gates. But let us take an actual il
1uStration of how the bill would work
Suppose a farmer has 1000 bushels Of
wheat to sell. The domestic price is
S1.OO. The ratio price of wheat to
other commodities would call for a
price of $50 a bushel if things were
normal. But instead of paying the
farmer that amount in cash or $4,000
he would be paid for illustration,
about s2,700. The remaining $500
would be withheld and in its place he
would be given a participation GER
tificate.'
Now how would we determine the
value of that certificate al the end of
the season? We are producing about
$50, 100000 bushels of wheat, of which
150,000,000 bushels would be the
estimated amount needed for export
based on previous years figures.
Would Sell mt Loss.
But in the export market we would
have to sell at a loss say at dollar
bushel. This would mean a total
loss of about 75,000,0 600. Add to that
an approximate cost of s15,000,000 as
the expense of the corporation, though
] believe it would be lower than that,
and you have a total cost of 100000. 900
But if out of a total production OF
750,000.000 bushels you withhold Is
scents a bushel from the farmer for
the equalization fund you will have
on hand about $112.500,000. Subtract
ing the s9O,000,0OO of expense, 1t
leaves s22,500,000, and dividing that
sum by the number of participation
certificates gives the value of each,
which would be cents a bushel as
the final value of each certificate.
That would mean for 1000 bushels a