Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-05
INSTITUTE IS TOLD
ILLS OF FARMING
ThreefoId Anarchy Held
Cause of Agricultural
Unrest in Country.
BY THOMAS r.. HENRY.
StaH Cnrrnennndnnf of The Star

CHARLOTTESVILLE, va, August B.,
American agriculture is in the grip of
three-fold anarchy, Prof. James =
Boyle of Cornell University told the
E Institute of Public Affairs, meeting to-
day at the University of Virginia.
Disorderly development. diSorderly
production and diSorderly marketing of
perishable products, DR.. Boyle, said, are
largely responsible for the present
economic plight of the farmer. Cor
poration farming, cheap credit. protec-
tive tariffs, Government bountieS and
price-control schemes he characterized
rs wrong roads toward stable agri-
culture.
Anarchy in development" he said,
IS Illustrated by the fact that in 1920,
45,000,000 acres of new land was put
in cultivation without any economic
excuse. and during the next five years
100000 acres of this went out of
cultivation. attended by numerous farm
bankruptcies; 1t now is generally
recognized, he pointed out, that the
need Is less land in farms, fewer farm
erS and less competition, with reforest-
ing of the poorer land now under cult
walton.
Crops Over Planted.
Anarchy in production" he said. is
evidenced by the overplanting of crops
beyond the needs of the market, eSpec-
Tally tree crops, such as peaches and
vineyards. where the farmer cannot
correct his mistake after one years
failure. He urged concerted action to
formulate production policies.
Anarchy in marketing" Prof Boyle
said. is least important of the three,
although the most in the public eye.
1t is serious. he stressed, only in respect
to perishable crops and does not affect
such commodities as wheat and cotton.
Farming, he said. never can success
fully be placed on factory basis with
scientific experts. scientific methods.
machinery and mass production, be-
cause of the great difference in soils,
topography and other factors on a
single small farm. 1t will remain, he
said. 'small-scale business"
Cheap credit he pointed out. helps
those farmers able to use it wisely, but
ruins about as many more who bor-
row reckleSSly. The Federal farm loan
act, according to DR.. Boyle, helped
some. but when it brought cheap land
credit it had a powerful influence In
boosting land prices.
Criticizes Tariff.
The protective tariff he characterized
as obviously mere quickSand for the
foundation of any permanent agricul-
tural investments"
The present method of building up
tariff schedules on the so-called differ
ence in cost of production at home and
abroad" he continued, brings a few
more high cost producers into the field,
and this, in turn, raises the average
cost of production once more above the
foreign competition level and so justiieS
another increase in the tariff. Just as
the initiation of an irredeemable paper
currency breeds new initiation so one
tariff increase calls for another. If
we put tariff of SIS a bushel on wheat,
we would actually increase the number
of farmers who grow wheat at loss"
Even more fallacious, he said, is rely
ing on Government bounties and sub
sides. as advocated by several farm
organizations. THE export bounty
plan" he continued. has the added
objection that it legally constitutes
dumping and would come into collision
with the anti-dumping laws of prac-
tically all foreign countries. In view
eXportable surplus of 100000 tons of
food. using an export bounty would be
playing with economic dynamite"
Government schemes of price control
of farm products as tried out in Great
Britain, Cuba. India and Egypt. Prof.
Boyle said. always have left the farmers
worse off than it found them. 1t is i'm
pOSSlDlS lOE IIe Government 10 COlJTOl
prices he said, until it can control
production.
Playing With Surface"
Farm relief that merely changes the
marketing system is only playing with
the surface of things" he continued.
THE problem is how to make better
farmer out of the average farmer. The
germs of success or failure lie in him
rather than in outside factors or lnsti-
buttons Important shifts in production
have been forced on farmers in the