Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-26

National discussion of the cotton
crop problem reveals no remedy for
conditions which Is likely to win general
support. The Farm Board suggestion
to destroy one-third Of the growing
crop has been rejected for various
some comments as future policy, while
attempts to enforce any policy are
held to be legally impossible
Having failed to procure anything
like uniform reduction of acreage,
how could the Farm Board expect tC
bring about a uniform destruction Of
crops?" asks the Atlanta Journal Sug-
costing that "the only possible method
of crop control in these United States is
the passage of twentieth amendment,
giving the Department of Agriculture
absolute control over all agriculture. y
the Fort Worth Star Telegram satirical-
change the present democratic form
of government, 1t would be better to
construct a lease treaty with italy for
the use of Mussolini for a couple OF
presidential terms"
1.-THE only thing to do" thinks the
Savannah Morning News, ''is to har-
vest the crop as cheaply as possible.
put it into bonded warehouses, where
such disposition is possible, and de-
termine now and finally that next
years acreage will be cut one-half, the
rest Of the place being planted to FOOD
and feed crops for man and lot more
live stock than usual on Southern
farms" The News refers to the TACT
that much Of the crop is mortgaged, :
and asks chow a third of the collateral
crop is to be released, when the loans
extend out to millions interested in the
banking institutions"
AS to laws requiring acreage reduction
in the interest of "soil conservation,
the Chattanooga News states: whether
it will work is, of course, serious
question. VIII juries OF cotton iarm-
ers find their neighborS guilty OF mis-
demeanor, and fine them for planting
cotton?" The News, however, con-
cludes that 1.-THE very passage OF the
law would sharply call attention to the
MAGNITUDE Of the cotton-planting crop.
and might, in this way, have a very
general and beneficial effect" The
News believes that ''the South'S real
task Is to shift the energy and atten-
ton of cotton farmers, both owners
and tenants, from cotton TO other
types of livelihood
"Such a weller of impossible schemes
was never before let loose in so short
a time" declares the Charleston Is. CD
Evening Post, advising that there is
no way in which any law for control
of cotton planting throughout the area
of cultivation can be made enforceable.
There are just two things that
Congress should do to deal with the
cotton situation. 1t should abolish
the Farm Board utterly, and 1t should
nut the store of cotton that board has
purchased in the hands of receiver
under rigid instructions to dispose Of
it in equal annual portions over period
of. say. five years. The law of supply
and demand would do the rest, not
without hardship, perhaps, but ef1ec-
lively. All else is sound and fury.
Denying that there Is any way OF
forcing acreage reduction" the Lin
coin State Journal contends that Jun
less all growers enter into the reduction
program, the few who do viii take
undue punishment without benefit to
any one" The TeXarkana Gazette
argues: Whenever acreage reduction
is proposed, most farmers plant more
cotton. with the hope that other farm
ers will plant less. The same thing
would happen should serious effort
be made to destroy third OF the
asserts; "TThere is inequality in the
r1lan. For example, some cotton. with
q staple of five-eighths of an inch, and
growing on stalks from 10 to IA inches
high, is of small value. But by this
plan of distribution 1t would. row for
row, count with the best ineh-and-a-
quarter staple"
Considering the wider field Of foreign
commerce. the Roanoke World-News
Offers the ARKANSAS: The South raises
more cotton than the United States can
consume. It does tlAt every year. A
considerable part of tn crop must be
exported. And then We place. q wall
about the apuntry thata r,eeyentS buyers
pf our cotton from payinM as In goods,