Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-03

standard Of living and prices much
above the world level. He buys In an
American market and at American
prices. When he comes to sell some
OF his principal crops of which he pro-
duces an eXportable surplus he finds
that the world price rather than the
American price prevails. Take wheat,
for instance. He produces $780, 100000
bushels of wheat as an average, $780,
000, 900 of which is exported. Liver
pool fixes the price on the portion he
exports, which in turn determines the
price on that portion sold In the do
nestle market. There Is d tariff of 40
cents per bushel on wheat, but it is
not effective SO long as we export.
Wants American Price.
The Western farmer Is asking that
the tariff be made truly effective by
the enactment of legislation that will
aggregate the exportable SURPRISES
and SO allow the natural level of
American prices to operate on the
products he sells as it now operates
on the things he buys. All the expert
corporation bills thus far presented
have as their purpose the correction
of this inequality. The Norris-Sinclatr
bill proposed an out and out purchase
and sale of such commodities by the
Government, with the gain or loss to
be borne by all the people through the
Treasury. The McNary- Haugen bill
proposed a plan whereby the. pro-
ducers of each crop alone would share
the gain or loss, but was rejected be-
cause the ration price" feature Of the
bill was deemed to be too close an ap-
proach to price fixing.
Several forms of the proposal are
now being presented for consideration.
the most promising OF which combines
the ideas of tariff, export bounty and
excise tax It Is called the Noyes
plan. Former Gov. Lowden has
a plan for the handling of surpluses
by cooperative organizations assisted
by Federal Farm Board functioning
along the lines of the Federal Reserve
Board Secretary Jardine likewise be
lieves that the most effective machiu-
cry for handling SURPRISES lies in the
co-operatives, but the actual plan has
not yet been finally perfected.
The vital thing to remember is
that the problem of farm SURPRISES
has registered strongly in Washington
and something constructive may be
expected in the way of legislation.
Index Comparisons.
LAS showing the basis in facts for
the claim that the farmer fares badly
by being forced to take world prices
when he sells certain of his leading
crops while on the other hand he buys
according to American price stand
ards, the following index comparisons
are submitted showing what the
farmer receives on his more important
crops at the farm in contrast with
what he pays on certain things he
buys, 1913 being regarded as the base"
In 1924 the indexes on major farm
products, Mr.. ketcham said, We're as
follows: Wheat, 1879; corn. AS; hogs,
100; cattle, 90. In the same year the
indexes on the principal things the
farmer buys We're given as follows:
Clothes and clothing. 1903; building
material, 1871: housefurnishings 1928,
and metals, l34.5.
The agricultural and uon-agri-
cultural indexes for 1924 showing in
creases since the basic Year 1913, com
bintng all kinds of products in each
class, are given by Mr.. ketcham as
follows: Agricultural, 1874; non-agri-
cultural, 1915.
Three other factors said Mr..
Ketcham, contributed largely to the
unequal situation the farmer faces
labor costs In general, farm labor
costs and increased freight rates.
Using 1913 as a base. increased costs
which must be met by the farmer are
clearly shown by indexes covering
1924. The indexes are as follows:
Union labor, 22S.1; farm labor, 159;
freight rates, 1T2.5.