Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-04
NEE TING PLANNED
OF DIRT FARMERS
Emergency Conference De.
tails Are Submitted to
President.
By FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Plans were submitted to President
Hoover today for an emergency con-
ference of dirt farmers ut the National
Capital, for the purpose Of enlighten-
ing the House, the Senate and the adj
ministration as to actual conditions In
agriculture and formulating "a farm
ers' program" Of farm relief. Chair
man Haugen Of the House agricultural
committee, Chairman McNary OF the
Senate committee and other congress
sioral leaders have been acquainted
with the scheme and given It their 40.
prevail. was also brought to the at.
tention Of Secretary Hyde, with q view
to enlisting the Department OF Agri.
cultures approval. The American
Farm Bureau Federation, the National
Grange and the Farmers Union have
likewise been asked to support the
project.
The originator Of the dirt farmers
conference idea Is e. Clemens Horst OF
San Francisco, a millionaire Pacific
Coast business man-farmer. Mr.. Horst
arrived in Washington at the end of
March, at the invitation of Chairman
McNary and on March 20 addressed
the Senate agricultural committee for
the better part Of two hours. He made
Q deep impression on everybody who
heard him. He turned out to be not
only a big-scale agriculturist. who
operates 1000 or 5000 acres of "diversi.
fed farm lands In California, Oregon
and British Columbia. but an expert
enced factor in the agricultural import
and export trade.
Criticizes Present Plans.
Mr.. Horst declares that mot one
OF the plans now undergoing consider
alton at Washington Is worth q cent"
He asserts they will not only fail to
remedy. but will actually aggravate, the
surplus problem which is at the root
of American agricultural distress.
Nothing but prohihitive tariffs on for
eign produce will or can, the Pacific
Coast authority contends. put the
American farmer In control Of his
home market. Once there Is such con-
troll, Horst argues, the surplus problem
will automatically solve itself, because
there win be no surplus"
Mr.. Horst says he Is in possession OF
assurances from congressional leaders
that the basic cause OF controversy at
Washington over farm relief, and of the
failure to grant IL, is that farmers can
not agree on O plan. The reason is,"
the Californian said to this writer, that
there are two kinds Of farmers. There
are farmers who farm the farms, and
farmers who farm the farmers. want
to assemble in Washington, before 1t Is
too late, representative group Of farm
ers who farm farms. There need not
be many. Twenty-Five or thirty at the
outside would suffice. They should not
be hand picked.
Selection Of Delegates.
would be satisfied II the Department
OF Agriculture selected two or three deie-
gates; II the two agricultural committees
Of Congress selected two or three apiece.
and II the three principal farm orgafii-
cations selected delegations 10 represent
each Of them. Through other agencies
representative OF all sections and Of all
crops, 1t would be easy to complete the
makeup OF q conference which would
be really and truly typical Of the farm
ing community. AS far as know there
has never been such an attempt to
crystalline genuine farming sentiment.
There has been too much working at
cross-purposes, here In Washington and
elsewhere. / am confident that such
q conference could. behind locked
doors, without. publicity and without
oficial direction or interference, arrive
at sound, sensible, hrass-tacks con.
illusions. It would certainly evolve
program that could be described a.
consensus of farm opinion. Then the
House. the Senate and the administra-
ton would have something to 60 by.
II would be sort Of agricultural COM
stitutionai convention, and Its delib-
eratiors would be stamped with au-
thority."
Mr.. Horst Is positive that no farm
relief scheme which doesn't make high
tariffs on foreign produce item No. !
Is worthy Of consideration. I'VE now
import" he claims. about $4,000, 900
acres Of farm produce, as against the
legitimate 100000 acres of farm
produce which we export. We are,
therefore, buying abroad, roundly, 3d..
5000 acres more than we sell abroad.
despite the fact that we have bur-
densome surplus OF domestic produc-
ton in countless crops. There Is no
rhyme or reason or economics In that
kind of q situation. There is just as
little In schemes for farm boards and
revolving credits and equalization
fees and cooperative marketing or
any of the other current .panaceas,
past or prospective Any plan that Is
going to make production Of any crop
more attractive than 1t was before Is
simply planting the seeds Of more over
production. In other words, II Is nour-
ishing the disease we're trying to cure"
Copyright, 1927