The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-30
BY RODNEY BUTCHER
NEA Service Writer

and the contention of It's enemies
that the ertire farm board pro-
gram has worked only harm.
The senate agriculture commit
tee. which will investigate the
board, will try to give light on
that point.
Some definite claims Of impor-
tant achievement are made, not
only by the board, but also by
such large farmer organizations
as the American Farm Bureau
Federation and the National
Grange.
Those two organizations, how
ever. demand that the board be
empowered to invoke the equli-
zation fee and the export de5en-
ture plan to raise domestic farm
prices.
Chiefly. the arguments in ia
vor Of the board are that:
During its sterilization ac-
l. tivities the farmers received
from 20 to Is cents a bushel
above the world price level for
wheat and that cotton growers
were saved from $4,000 900 to
100000. 900 by loans and by sta
bilization operations.
O-The board has laid the foun-
L dations in what is necessarily
a slow process for the building
Of sound, stable system of CO.
operative marketing which event.
ually may place agriculture on
an equal basis with industry"
O-That, in view Of the plight of
- 100000 persons on farms
with very low purchasing power,
the money spent has not been a
bad investment.
The boards enemies counter
that the effect, of holding great
boards of wheat and cotton and
the necessary liquidation of those
stores causes more than enough
damage to Offset any past benefits
and that by improper methods
the board has hurt rather than
helped the cooperative cause.
But even the men of the grain
exchanges admit that the farmer
who still had his 1880 crop late
in 1880 received at least 20 cents
a bushel more for it than if the
hoard had not tried to peg the
price.
1t is alleged that much or most
of the crop was by that time in
the hands of the SPECTATORS, but
some of the farmers still had
wheat.
A S for the very large salaries
L n that some officials of the
boards sponsored co-operatives
receive, it is argued that the CO.
operatives really are private con-
Germs, privately organized and OPP
Grated despite the fact that they
do business with large federal
loans and hence are under GER
tain supervision by the board.
The National Grange has de-
cided that the board, "handi-
capped by measure inadequate
to meet the needs of difficult
situation. nevertheless has contri-
buted greatly toward developing
and strengthening the co-opera-
tive movement, and, so long as it
is continuing to serve these ends
with fidelity and efficiency, de-
serves the support of American
agriculture and the entire public"
Nevertheless. asserting that the
cooperative marketing machinery
must be extended further and
strengthened, it says pointedly
that more attention to building
from the bottom up and to farmer
control are essential for this de-
velopment."
THE act has been very. very
helpful to the co-operatives," says
President E. A. O'Neal, president
of the Farm Bureaun Federation.
1T has helped to build up the
morale of farmers who have been
in co-operatives. We have about
10000 of them.
They have been discouraged by
the way the surplus was handled,
but I think the sterilization acti-
vities in wheat and cotton were
honest endeavorS to do a job for
the farmers. If money was lost,
it was lost in very good cause"
THE farm price situation, ma
Il turally, has caused some con-
siderable losses besides those of
the board itself But the board
estimates that more than 2,000,-
900 farmers now are members oil
co-ops and says they transacted
a total business of s2,4O0,000, 900
in the fiscal year 1930-3l.
In three years, according to the
board. cotton handled by CO.
operatives increased from s25, 900
to $4,000 bales.
Every one agrees that stabili-
zation and other board activities
would have done more to hold
up prices If the board had been
successful IL its strenuous at
tempts to persuade farmers TO
reduce acreage.
But every one agrees that you
can't reduce acreage by persua-
sion.
Nobody but God Almighty can
operate an acreage cut PROPOSE
tion," says Senator George w.
Norris Of Nebraska, sponsor of
the farm board investigation. "A
voluntary acreage cut is just a
dream"
That fact, Of course, leaves us
with the old nroblen of what IN