Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-05
lEGGE WOULD NOT
CHANGE FARM ACT.
Radio Forum Speaker Is
Against "Tinkering" With
Present Marketing Law.

Declaring the administrations farm
relief program was being marked by
''substantial progress" Chairman Alex
ander Iegge of the Federal Farm Board,
in an address last night in the Ma
tionAl Radio Forum, arranged by The
Washington Star and broadcast over
the coast-to-coast network Of Column
bia Broadcasting system, warned against
''tinkering' with the agricultural mar
keting act at this time.
Experience to date only tends to
confirm our belief that the principles
Of the law are sound" said Mr.. Legge,
and their application viii lead to
the permanent betterment Of agri-
culture. We do not contend that the
Law is perfect but we are OF the optn-
ion that more experience is needed before
anv serious thought is given to amend
ments, several Of which have been
sTinkering with the law at this time"
he warned, would probably check the
progress that is being made and benefit
the opposition to cooperative action
instead of the farmer, the individual
we are trying to help"
Reviews Boards Activities.
The Farm Board chairman reviewed
the activities of his organization for
relief of the American farmer, and
urged that on account OF the surplus
Of wheat and shortage OF the corn
crop that live stock feeders start now
feeding wheat, not by itself, but as
THE proposed equalization fee and
det,entlIre. he declared, would not get
the desired results" in dispoSing OF the
huge surplus Of wheat. Explaining
that this surplus was being built up
ali over the world, Mr.. Legge warned
FtYrftav s@aanArA tn the wheat
exporter Of this country, we must face
the probability of Russia soon coming
back into the world market" And
Russia, he reminded Americans, before
the war was the largest exporting ma
ton in the world"
The remedy for the situation In
which he said the world market does
not offer the American grower pront-
able price" was curtailment OF pro-
duction. Accordingly we are recon-
mending to farmers gradual slowing
down of production he said. with the
object of eventually balancing our pro-
auction with domestic consumption. =
Thus the growers, he added, will get
more for producing less"
Mr.. Legge's speech follows:
"'Why should farmers OF this coun-
try reduce their wheat acreageT Is
question I have been requested TO an
'The answer is simply this: 1t VIII
means more money in their pockets.
such a result not only Is desirable
from the standpoint of the grower on
the farm, but from that Of the man IN
town who has something to sell to MIN.
Present Position Outlined.
''The reasons wheat acreage reduc-
ton will help the farmer financially
cannot be given in as few words Is my
answer TO the inquiry Of the enect OF
such action. They make Q rather long
story. but one that 10 easy TO under
AT the outset let us look at the
present position Of the American wheat
grower. He is producing quantity
sufficiently in excess OF domestic con.
sumption to result In the world market
practically liking the price Ior ms en-
tia consumption In this country each
year has decreased approximately seven
tenths of bushel. That means . mar
yet for well over 80 900 900 bushels has
been lost annually. Nevertheless, our
growers have gone on increasing their
production. Compared 70 the pre-war
period. wheat acreage In the United
States has jumped 100000 acres.
I'm recent years several OF the for
eign countries have been giving more
attention to supplying the world bread
basket. The effect OF such action BY
them on the wheat problem in this
country, with our growers going blindly
ahead producing more, apparently with
out thought or fear Of consequences,
has been q constantly increasing Amer
lean surplus for the past hve years.
On July /, 1926, the carry-over was
little less than 10000 900 bushels. Each
July / thereafter showed substantial
growth In the carry-over, until on that
date this year It had reached the huge
total Of 275,O00, 900 bushels
1.-THE first thing to be found out IN
determining whether our wheat pro-
duction should be curtailed Is whether
the world market offers our growers
hope of Q profitable return In the Tue
ture, one that will enable them to main
tain for themselves and their families
the American standard Of living. The
answer, as we see 1t, Is distinctly in
the negative. It waS arrived at after
the most careful analysis and conSid-
Grafton of all the available facts that
the Department Of Agriculture and the
Farm Board could collect relative to
production and consumption OF wheat
In the United States and the world.
This information, with charts pre-
pared TO illustrate the most important
developments. has been published and
supplied to growers throughout the
wheat sections. World production has
Continued on twelfth Page.)