Evening star., 1926-03-25

| There are now before Congress more
| tina n so bills for the relief OF agricui'
| t,re. The relief is not needed alone
| for farmers benefit. but in the In
teres, of all consumers. present and
! future.
| These mea sures may be roughly
ella ssified In four groups:
| /. A bill to estsb blish a Federal Farm
Boa I'd of IL men. each representing
section of the country known as
Federal Land Bank district. These
men will be appointed by the President
Of the United States from nomins tions
| to be made by Federal Farm Coun-
| oil representins certain farm organi-
| cations.
The functions Of the Farm Board
| vouId be to market the surplus OF
staple crops IN the world market
after fixing the price on the sa me Tor
the home market. As the exported sur
| plus must be sold at Worid market
price. II will suffer loss unoef tne
home price which loss wonid ne
charged back to the producer. Inc
nome market demand usually amounts
70 eish, or ten times the exportable
| surplus. and it IL for the purpose
Of controlling the price at home tnat
the surplus is to be forced into export,
all competing imports TO be oaffeo
by tariffs. For working capital sn ap'
propriatio of $3.50 600 900 Is asked
| TO be repaid some day.
.. Another group of the oi'Is pro
noses subsidy to be paid on all farm
| exports so as to stimulate export =
and thereby lessen home supplies ane
enha nee home prices.
| 2. The third group ito which the
farmer Secretary Of Agriculture, MIR.
f. r.. Meredith. adheres, proposes to
| AK minimum prices on farm com
mOdtties.
| a Representative Haugen, who al
the last session was joint author OF
the McNary.Haugen bill--to have the
Government buy the grain and other
products and market them-nOw sup-
ports proposition which would
merely enable the Department OF
Agriculture to gather market data
and cooperate with information use
This would require 1925, 900 year.
| Prolonged hea rings from hundreds
of farm Representatives have been
held. with the view to gathering in
| IOTInNtiOI Oit tuC ICdi oItudt ANO
student of economics, at all acauaint.
ed with farm conditions. denies that
the agricultural situation is serious.
Tho disa greement rises when mea ms
| Of correction are discussed. Conserva.
| tive economists fear artificial stimuia
ton in any form Of subsidies which
would make sure profit on crops. on
| the ground that that would merely IN
vite new farmers from other occupa.
| tiOns to add to the competition Of
| present producers and in the end no.
body would be benefited.
| EXSecretary Meredith said in the
/ hearings:
my suggestion Is that we use this
law Of incentive to give us a bsla need
| production--in other words, to inter
| pret to the farmers, in language
| easily understood, the situation SO far
as supply and demand Is concerned.
| The most effective way Of doing this
! 10 to tell them what the minimum
| prices will be on several different
| crops for the next years production.
They can understan nd very easily II
| the price on wheat one year has been
$1.15 what it means If you tell them
the price is to he $1.25 the ensuing
wear. or. on the contrary. II is to be
only AZ cents. They viii govern
| themselves accordingly"
Opponents Of the Meredith reason