Evening star., 1930-12-10
BOARD Of CONTROL
HELD FARM HOPE
Hyde Tells Conference Or
ganization Would Supervise
Crops and Marketing.
Continued From First Page.)

as Africa and Manchuria can afford
] to pay for cotton"
The logical remedy for overproduc-
tion, the Secretary insisted, was volun-
/ tary curtailment.
Pointing out that the farmers are
still largely unorganized and that their
| present condition places each farmer
in destructive competition with ali
others, he said they must achieve unity.
Ihey must have a means through
which they can speak with one voice.
| BY organization the farmers can Unfte
and cease the ruthless competition of
every farmer with every other"
Defends Farm Board.
The Secretary of Agriculture depart
ed from his prepared address to make
IA vigorous defense of the Federal Farm
Board
"A large school of thought holds that
| the Federal Farm Board is a failure"
| ne said. Il understand the Board of
Trade Of Dallas, Tex, has raised $780,
600 to prove 1t is failure.
II this is true, the board Is 500, 600
worth OF success. Even as only an ex-
othcio member of the Farm Board, I
am yainly, inordinately proud of the
| enemies we have made"
secretary Hyde said the efforts of the
Farm Board in the stabilization of
wheat in itself. justified the boards
existence. At a time, he continued,
when all the commodity markets of
america were on a down hill trend
featured by bear drives. the Farm
Board went into the wheat market and
stopped panic selling.
Their efforts held up the price, not
only Of wheat but resulted in the
sterilization Of the price Of corn and all
other grains and cotton. The securities
market, he added, took on a new tone.
II the Farm Board never does any,
thing else, that one thing has iustified
its existence"
The Secretary was positive in his
diagnosis of the ailment of agriculture.
"Overproduction and the need for ad-
1usting production to demand both in
queltty and quantity" he asserted,
overshadow all other farm ailments"
he pointed out that many other indus
tries were suffering from the same
disease.
Cites Cause Of Depression.
The gradual return of money to its
pre-war value rather than over produc-
ton was given as the primary cause
Of present depressed conditions by Prof,
q. T. Warren of Cornell University.
The physical quantity of all kinds |
OF products in the United States in |
creased 81 per cent in the is years be- |
fore the World War" Prof. Warren |
said, and approximately this rate of |
increase has been going on for many |
years.
The acres of cotton in the United
states increased very rapidly since the /
war. owing to the fact that cotton has |
been relatively high in price, but the |
acreage OF food and feed crops de-
creased 1 per cent from 1919 to 1929. |
In the last 10 years wheat has |
averaged 14.2 bushels per acre in the |
United States. In the previous 10 years, |
the average yield was 14.6 bushels per |
acre. Corn yields per acre have in
creased slightly and oat yields have de-
clined slightly.
For 1880 the Department of Agri- |
culture estimates that the yield per |
acre Of the II principal crops is 5 per |
cent less than the 10-year average. |
Prices Of food crops have declined from |
an index of 159 in August, 1929, to an |
index of 120 in October of this year"
Discussing the wheat situation, Prof. |
Warren said that the purchasing power |
Of wheat Is lower than it has been since |
1897, with the single exception of the |
year 1920, when the purchasing power |
Of wheat in New York City-that is, its |
price compared with other commodi- |
tieS-was 49,
I'm all previous cases" he said. "the |
low wheat price was preceded by and |
followed by the normal price. In the |
next 10 years wheat will probably have |
It's normal relationship to commodity /
prices Wheat is stable in comparison |
with the prices of other commodities |
and promises to remain so.
Russia Short of Machinery.
THE relatively small amount of wheat |
that is coming out of Russia at the |
present time has generally been taken |
TO indicate that there was a flood of |
wheat for sale or that the Russians /
were trying to make war on the other |
countries. The real indication is that |
after many years of war and turmoil |
Russia is extremely short of machinery |
and that 1t rained in Russia this year.h |
Prof. Warren said that If wholesale
prices of all commodities remained |
stable, wages would rise at about the !
same rate that the output per worker |
increased.
I'm the 35 years before the war" he
said, the production per worker In |
creased about 90 per cent and the pur- |,
CHASING power Of wages increased 81 |
per cent"
Prof. Warren expressed the opinion
tnat the low production of gold and the |
nign demand for it would result In |
iurther declines in the general price