The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1929-05-10
Rasmussen S Plan For Farm Re-
lief May be Accepted by Congress

any demands, he can only beg for a
handout, he realizes that relief is not
going to be handed out to him if this
will hurt industry and big business,
for that reason he can not expect
farm machinery to come down in
price. Otherwise, that would be some
relief. Neither can he expect mil
lions of dollars will be taken out of
the national treasury and handed to
him as gift, we might as we'll for
get about that and get to work on
some form of relief which will not
hurt industry and not drain the treas
uTy.
| am going to suggest to you a plan
not altogether my own-which looks
to me as being the most practical
farm relief plan l have heard of vet.
The plan is not worked out in de-
tails, which l think can be done bet
ter by someone smarter than |. 1t is
only concerning the wheat farmer, but
there is no reason why it could not be
applied to other farm commodities as
well. Before l explain the plan l
will have to point out the defects with
SNN1D SNAAN OO4ASI plol1lS.
With the improved farm machinery
and present low price of wheat the
small half-section wheat farmer is a
thing of the past. A 1000 acre unit
is said to be the most economical
farm to operate at present time. In a
few years time, with machinery still
more improved, three, four, five
thousand acres will be the most prac-
tlcal unit, it is rapidly drifting in that
direction. That is all right in a way
things should be produced as econ
omical and cheap as possible, but,
here is where the big question comes
In: What are you going to do with
the small farmer who is going to be
squeezed out? The big farmer with
money, who can buy his machinery in
car load lots and pay cash, who can
afford to keep his men and machine
ny all summer summerfallowing get
ting the biggest amount of work out
of his machinery in the shortest length
OF time, he is making money right
now with the present low price of
wheat where the small one is drop
ping out fast.
If wheat prices are raised in some
artificial way so the small farmer can
make his living the big farmer will
get enormously rich and grab more
and more land if it can be obtained.
More land will be cultivated and more
wheat will be raised by fewer people.
The worlds pile of overproduction will
be bigger and bigger each year, the
world price will be lower and lower
and if the McNary-Haugen bill was in
effect the government would have to
dig up more and more millions each
year.
What you propose: 1870 of all
wheat produced should be bought by
the government at a fixed fair price,
the $3.50 should be thrown on the
world market and sold for what it
would bring, will help the small far
mer little but will help the big far
mer enormously. He will grow big
ger and swallow up the little one, who
has no place to go.
The local price of wheat here at
present time is "a cents. Suppose a
fixed price was set on the 1870, let
us say $3.50 at the local elevator. The
$3.50 was sold at so cents per bushel
That would mean that the average
price per bushel would be $1.25, which
would not be much of lift to the
small farmer but would mean some
thing worth while to the one who is
now making money selling it at 81
cents.
AS long as we have more people il
the towns and industrial centers thar
we know what to do with, it is not
going to better the conditions driving
millions of farmers off the land eacf