Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-02
rinnhot and tile Falmers.


Co.. Clifford Pin ,hct Of Pennsylvania
appears in Missouri III the roll oil the
farmers friend. 1t is time. he insists IN
an address before the Missouri Farmers
Association. that Congress and the exec
utive brarch OF the Government ola
what the farmers wish them to 40, not
what the city people wish the Govern
ment to do for the farmers. The Fed
eral Farm Board. the Pennsylvania
Governor says. is costly lemon ana
unwanted by the farmers.
The Governor Of Pennsylvania, realiz-
ing that the farmers are dissatlsned
with prices for wheat cotton snd other
products in Missouri is catering to the
resentment felt by the tillers OF the soil,
resentment due to the conditions
which prevail not aiCne i'll this country
but throughout the world. II MT.
Pinchot were candidate for the Re-
publican nomination for President next
year it might almost be said that he
was catering to the farm vote OF the
great Western States. But. OF course
the PENNSYLVANIA Governor has no such
ambitions for himself. He is thinking
entirely of the American farmers in this
matter. And. like many other critics
of the situation in which the farmer
finds himself. Gov. Pinchot LAYS much
of the blame for the farmers low prices
and the high prices which the con-
sumers pay for food on the backs Of
the middlemen.
Probably the greatest step which has
ever been taken in this country--or
e,scwhere-to make it possible for the
farmer to obtain asking prices for his
crops and to eliminate the high costs
of foodstuffs due to middlemen, was
the enactment OF the Federal farm
marketing law. creating the Federal
Farm Board. The board was set up
for the purpose of assisting the farmers
to organize into great cooperative asso-
Citations, capable Of marketing in large
part the crops produced by the farmers.
Many of these co-operatives have been
materially aided by the Farm Board.
IT. must be obvious to the Governor
of Pennsylvania, II he gives the matter
full consideration. that the individual
farmer cannot. as a general proposition,
market his crops personally to the
consumer Of foodstuffs. There must
be some agency to aid him get his
crops first to the central markets
and then to the consumers Yet he
denounces the Federal Farm Board, set
I'D to help the farmers help themselves
in this matter, and offers no substitute
other than a me-e denunciation OF the
niddlemcn who act for private gain.
The Governor and the middlemen are
one. however, in Their attacks on the
Farm Board, II there Is one group of
men which d;slikes the Farm Board
even more than Mr.. pinchot dislikes it,
it is the middlemen, the grain trade and
the like.
The Farm Board undertook as an
emergency measure to peg the mar
kct and to stabilize prices Of wheat
and cotton by purchasing millions OF
bushels and thousands Of bales. Such
tactics, however, with no curtailmcnt
OF production on the part of the farm
crs was bound to give only temporary
relief and in the end to build up q
Government-owncd surplus OF these
commodities which would react unfav-
orabiy Oh the prices OF farm products.
Because these emergency measures un-
dcrtakcn by the board have proved q
failure, 1t has become A habit to de-
nounce the Federal Farm Board. Mr..
Pinchots costly lemon comment is
the latest of these attacks. AS a mat
ter of fact. however, the Farm Board
has been at work building up the CO.
operative organ ia tions in q manner
which Is bearing valu bic fruit for the
farmers. After all, this Is the great
job for which the board was created.
A tearing down of the board would be
resented by thousands of the farmers.