The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-02-11
FARM RELIEF BILL
HAS PREFERENCE
McNARY-HAUGEN BILL WOULD
SET UP A FEDERAL FARM
BOARD COMPOSED OF q
TWELVE MEN.
By w. L. CARSS
Congressman, Eighth District

Congressman, Eighth District
Farm relief legislation has been
given the right of way in the house
by grant of a special rule for its con-
sideration, February 8. The senate
on February 3 voted to proceed i'm
mediately with this legislation.
The senate and house measures are
known as the McNary Haugen farm
relief proposals. They modify the
McNary-Haugen farm relief bills
which were rejected at the last ses-
sion of congress. The legislation
would set up a federal farm board of
twelve men appointed by the presi-
dent for six-year terms, one from
each federal land bank district, in adj
dition to the secretary of agriculture,
an ex-officio member. The purpose
of this board is to promote the orderly
marketing of agricultural products
and the disposal of surplus products
through the cooperative marketing
associations. Cotton, wheat, corn,
swine and rice are the basic commod-
tiles specifically treated under the
surplus control feature of the bill, al
though there are loan provisions
aimed to assist producers of other
farm commodities in organizing for
orderly marketing.
This measure has been overWhelm-
ingly endorsed by the farm and CO.
operative organizations all over the
country, the committee report states.
ut contains no subsidy, no price
fixing, and no government buying or
selling. It's fundamental principle
is the collection of the cost of stab
lllzlng each commodity from the COM
modify itself through the equaliza-
ton fee.
"The equalization fee is simply the
contribution each unit (bushel, bale
or pound) makes to a common fund
for the commodity, called the stab
ilization fund. This fund for wheat,
for example, makes it possible for
an agency to be set up and controlled
by wheat growers, in cooperation with
the board, to say how much of the
surplus Of wheat shall be removed
from the domestic market at any time
Within the limits dictated by bust
ness sense, it enables wheat farmers
to adjust the supply of wheat to the
needs of the domestic market at an
American price. 1t would mean the
same with rice.
There are differences in operation,
but the same principle applies to
each of the five commodities. Not
wlthstanding the tremendous up-and-
down movements in corn prices, we
produce on the average little if any
more corn than we need here. Varia-
ton in corn yields keeps the farmer
in the corn belt in an endless seesaw
between corn and hogs. To help
check this is one of the purposes of
the measure.
"a revolving fund of $25O,OOO, 900
is authorized. This is needed because
when the board starts to operate with
cotton, for example, there will be no
money in the cotton sterilization |
fund, because the equalization fees |
are yet to be collected. The board |
simply loans from the revolving
fund to the sterilization fund such |
amounts as are called for, and then,
when the equalization fees are col |
lected, the revolving fund is replen-
ished by repayment of the loan with
interest.
'The board is also authorized to
make loans to cooperative associa-
lions handling agricultural products
whether or not included within the
list of basic agricultural commodities,
for the purpose of assisting them in
controlling the surplus of their COM
modify, or for the purpose of assist
ing them in the purchase and con-
struction of the facilities to be used
in the storage of processing of the
Experts of the department of COM
merce have submitted report based
on a prolonged study, setting forth
the advantages of Great Lakes to
the Atlantic waterway via the st.
Lawrence river. 1t says that farm
ers of the United States middlewest
would be enabled to get wheat from
Chicago or Duluth to Liverpool, where
the international price is made, at
cost of at least 61sc per bushel lower
than they now pay if the proposed
St. Lawrence ship canal becomes a
reality. The report states that while
wheat would be the chief commodity
moved that way large tonnages of
rude and refined copper, agricultural
md automotive machinery, meat, and
steel products generally would