Evening star., 1932-12-19

| One Of the inheritances of the new
national administratio is the problem
of profits for the farmers of the, coun-
| try. Theories that were brought out in
the course of the presidential cam
paign are expected to receive attention
| and the public continues its eXamlna =
tion of possible forms of legislation and
| the bearing Of world conditions on
American agriculture. Future of the
Federal Farm Board is involved.
The seriousness of the situation is
emphasized by the Topeka Daily Capt.
tai, with the statement: Continuance
for another year of present prices must
| drive the majority of grain growers off
the farm, with the loss Of their land
and homes unless through good for
tune in live stock prices and other re-
sources net losses on their principal
crops are recouped. Crop farming spells
bankruptcy on these terms. A little
more of agricultural decline and it Will
not be question of system Of doles
for labor, but for farmers"
IF the permanent pauperization of
the American farmer is to be avoided, "
declares the Houston Chronicle. this
and Immediately ensuing Congresses
will have to take some drastic steps.
Since 1929 the Federal land banks and
joint stock land banks have more than
doubled the number of their fore
closures. Tax delmquencies are rapidly
increasing in the rural districts, eSpe-
cially in the Middle West. Taxes on all
farm property in 1880 amounted to
S777. .000, 900, or 90 per cent of that
years total cash income for agriculture.
| The farmers earning power has been
incredibly curtailed since 1919 In that
year, Immediately following the end of
amounted to $4,000, 900 OO0 In 1882
it had shrunk to $5,000,00o 900, de-
crease in a decade of an amount SINH
lar in size to the total war debt owed
this country by European nations. There
has been a gradual and significant low
| ering of the farm income since that
peak period of 1919. a development
which has been matched by the con-
slant increase in the number and value
Of farm mortgages. During the pros
porous years of 1924-29 industry ignored
the fact that the buying power of so
! large a group was steadily being under
| mined. Now the leaders of industry
| have come to realize that the farmer
must be made secure in his holdings,
must be given a fair income. before he
ment to bring America back to economic
normality."
"A committee of the United States
Chamber of Commerce" says the Santa
Monica Outlook, suggests that some
plan be adopted which will establish a
domestic price level for basic farm prod
ucts high enough above the world level
| to re-establish an equitable price. The
difficulty about creating an artl1clal
level # prices for farm products is that
| it will stimulate production and create
such a surplus as to break down the
| system adopted. 1t does not appear
how crops may be limited, except by
the present operation of the drastic eco
nomic laws which make crop production
improbable and disastrous to the
farmer. If it were possible to limit the
production of basic crops to the con-
sumption in our home market. the price
level could be readily adjusted. but any
artificial means which does not reach
this fundamental difficulty will be as
futile and as costly as the Farm Beard
experiment adopted few years ago.
facts must have q keen sympathy with
the desperate condition Of the American
farmer. but 1t does not seem to us that
any pr; tical remedy has as yet been
propose 1t will be interesting to note
what f. her suggestions the National
Chambc" Of Commerce Committee will
make. 1t Is easy to theorize. but to
produce q practical plan Is very dif-
ferent matter"
| 4 ~
Asserting that conditions can be
remedied only - indigestion v