Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-20
FARM BOARD POLICY
PROTESTS GROWING
Kansas Wheat Crop Return
Is Seen Not Sufficient
for Taxes.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

IN washington UOQdy Two SuDJSCbS ell
gage attention beyond all others. One
Is the European situation. Fully equal
to the European crisis in the amount Of
commotion attending 1t is the pressure
from Kansas, Oklahoma and nearby
States on the Federal Farm Board to
refrain from selling any Of the more
than 200 100000 bushels Of wheat 1t ac-
quired in It's process Of stabilizing the
market during the past two years.
The boards policy announced on July
I is that it will sell "a cumulative maxi
mum of 100000 bushels per month.
The sales will be conducted in such a
fashion as not to depreSs prices. 1t Is
not the intention to make any immedi-
ate sales even OF these limited amounts
at the present range Of prices"
Against this policy there is concen-
trated a growing outcry from Kansas
and Oklahoma where the crop has just
been harvested and where the farmers
are receiving the lowest prices ever re-
corded in America or elsewhere.
Change Seen Price Aid.
The theory underlying the protest to
the Farm Board from Kansas is that
the farmers Of that and nearby States
would have chance to get better
price II the Farm Board would revoke
Its recently announced policy and say to
the world that 1t would hold all its
wheat off the market for at least one
year or, as some propose, two years.
About the vehemence of the demand
from Kansas there need be no doubt.
The Wichita Eagle. forceful and
widely circulated newspaper in the very
heart of the Southwestern wheat belt,
deals with the situation in column after
column of editorials and news discus
sion. The Eagle points out that Kansas
has 200.000,000 bushels, that the Farm
Board has about the same actually
more, and that any sale Of any guam
tity by the Farm Board takes just that
much market away from the Kansas
farmer. The Eagle wildly pictures the
economic plight of Kansas in terms Of
taxes The Sedgwick County crop. one
OF the best in years. won't pay third
OF the taxes" In the State as a whole
the wheat crop at present price of 33
cents will pay lust about half the total
tax bill. Wheat is far and away the
leading source of new wealth in
Kansas. :"
The Kansas City Journal Post is
printing a series of full-page advertise
ments urging It's readers to act now!
Send letter or telegram to one or all
OF Herbert Hoover. President of the
United States: Arthur NJ. Hyde, Secre-
tary Of Agriculture; James c. Stone,
chairman Of the Federal Farm Board
=. E. The wheat farmer deserves the
same consideration accorded foreign ma
Policy Is Firm.
The immediate question, seething at
Washington. is whether the Farm Board
will take account of the demand, change
It's policy. and hold its wheat off the
market for an announced term of one
year or two years One would infer
afnnncYNlNnrn OH
Board that they are unlikely to change.
Iheir policy was arrived at after care
full canvass Of all possible courses. The
personnel of the board are strong men.
At the same time, persons who think
the board would be wise to change are
numerous, end some. such as Vice Presi-
dent Curtis and Senator Capper. carry
good deal Of weight. One would hesi-
tate to assert positively that the board
Will not change its policy. The flood of
appeals from the Southwest continues
to grow toward what the board would
call cumulative maximum" Some of
the efforts 10 move them are bitter,
some patient.
One point made is that the board
could change now and would still have
taken long step. The point is that if
the board had not announced its inten-
ton TO sell there would have been. in
"a tAiC ucI1dI1Q, a OL1er-
ent put equally insistent demand that
the board buy more wheat Just as it
bouSSt more to keep the price high dur
ing the last two crop years. Whatever
happens now. the board has achieved
the psychological effect of bringing to
an end, presumably for all time. the ex-
pertinent Of Government purchase for
price-raising or -stabilizing pur-
poses.
Farmers Received Premium.
incidentally the board feels that
wheat farmers should and will remember
that the board Is not to be Judged by
its present step alone, but by its whole
two years of history. 1t is asserted and
seems easily proved that every farmer
who sold wheat during nearly two years
preceding June l received, as a result
OF the Farm Boards buying, about
70 cents buShel more than he would
otherwise have received It was this
buying for the purpose of maintaining
high price level that resulted in the
ooards present possession of over
200 100000 bushels
The board feels also that some of
their critics are unfair. Criticisms ex-
pressed with brevity of headlines and
slogans cause farmers to think the Farm
Boards present policy is the one and
only cause OF the present low price.
Obviously. the major causes are quite
different. Some wheat experts think
that II the Farm Board should Weld
to demands and change its policy. the