Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-21

IS there an administration farm
bill?" What are the basic ideas
underlying Secretary Jardines
proposal. How would his plan
operate in practice? What Is back
Of it? What lies ahead of it?
These questions have arisen rs a
result of Secretary Jardine's article.
"Stabilizing Farm Prices" in the
current issue of The Farm Journal.
Any one who will read 1t with ordinary
care will have no difficulty in grasp
ing the main features Of the plan.
Details OF the proposal and the argu.
ments supporting it are omitted.
doubtless for the sake of brevity.
A definite agricultural program Is
being formulated. This is plain to
those in the best position to know.
But it appears safe to assume that
there is no administration bill"-cut.
dried and polished-lying in a pigeon
hole. ready to be handed to Congress
with the administration stamp" on 1t.
Some of the main features OF Mr..
Jardines plan for handling crop sur.
pluses were included in an outline of a
bill a few months ago. and passed
around for comment and criticism.
which 1t got both pro and con, thus
serving it's purpose. But the outline
was informal and tentative and not
intended as finished measure emf
bodying the whole program. 1t did
suggest a farm board. a revolving
fund and commodity stabilize ton
corporations owned by farmers. These
suggestions are included in the Sec.
retary's Farm Journal article.
That legislation cannot accomplish
all that ought to be done to improve
the economic status Of agriculture Is
clearly fundamental in Mr.. Jardine's
public utterances both before and
after he was called to- the cabinet.
1t is equally clear that he does not
consider any one measure sufficient
to cover all that can and should be
done by legislation. More than one
legislative measure will probably be
necessary to embody his program.
Even then, there is. in his opinion.
ample room for State legislation
affecting agriculture, notably in the
fields of farm taxation and local
banking.
These proposals. however, are gen.
eral and have to do with longtime
policy which must be comprehensive
enough to include agriculture as a
whole and sufficiently elastic to make
room for definite pieces of legislation
and other means of dealing with spe.
cific problems as they arise. Such a
policy. like 1.-The farm problem" itself,
must grow out of the past and into
the future.
In the meantime. farm relief" in
the next Congress is holding the.
public interest. The administration
is expected to propose specific legisla.
ton, and no doubt will do so. There.
fore the type Of legislation suggested
by Secretary Jardine in his Farm
Journal article deserves first considera.
ton for the present.
Careful reading Of this article re-
veals four principles as the basis of
his proposal for minimizing price
fluctuations in agriculture resulting
from recurring SURPRISES and short
ages. These are:
First. Organization Of farmers along
commodity lines. The ultimate object
is to help farmers attain greater
bargaining power through cooperative
business organization built from the
bottom up" In years Of surplus crops.
farmers are at the mercy Of the gods
Of the market place." Individually,
they have next to nothing to say
about the price Of their products.
Collectively, they could have a great
deal to say IL they would forget any
petty quarrel between local leaders
and organizat ions. and federate their