Evening star., 1932-10-07
Point and Counter-Point.

those Sharply oeluleu SsueS tiinV AL
the past have served to draw broad
tine between the two major parties and
leave nobody in doubt about where the
line runs, there are few candidates and
few campaign speakers. indeed. who
have not been able to present pro-
gram enumerated as to points.
At Topeka Gov. Roosevelt offered
Z six-point farm program. and one OF
these points was subdivided into six
more points At Des Moines the Presi-
dent countered with twelve-point farm
program. Today the farmer might be
pArdoned If he leaves the chores un-
done while he dissects the programs,
point by point, laid down for his benefit.
Some Of, the points, the farmer will
find, may be eliminated by cancel
lation-that is, when Roosevelt point
covers the same general ground covered
by a Hoover point, such points can be
stricken out and laid aside, more or less
as net gain. Regardless Of what hap
pens In November, the farmer is prac-
tically assured of them. The candidates
are generally agreed on Q some pro-
gram to remove Improbable land. to-
gether with soil classification and turn
ing improbable land to better use; CD
reduction of taxes or more equitable ad-
justment of the tax burden; 90 expan-
sion OF farm credit; % easement of the
burden Of tgage-encumbered farm
ers through liberalization of interest
refinancing, ETC.; (5) taking the Farm
Board out of the business of buying and
selling by repeal Of its "stabilization"
duties, and (6) improving the farmers
opportunity to dispose of surplus crops
by developing foreign markets.
These are general principles under
lying farm relief championed by both
candidates. In the first five Of them
the method suggested for making them
effective differs more or less as to de-
tan. In the first, for instance, Gov.
Roosevelt would "reorganize" the ad-
ministrative machinery Of the Depart
ment Of Agriculture. while the President
contends that the Department Of Agri-
culture for years has been working on
Just such a program, which contem-
plates reorganization Of agriculture" to
divert lands from Improbable to prof
ttable use.
But It is when the farmer gets to the
tariff, and the sixth point Of those given
above, that he begins to think hard He
fnds from the Democrats that all or
most Of his Ills are attributable to the
tariff. From Gov. Roosevelt he learns
that they" the Republicans
destroyed the foreign markets
OF our exportable farm surplus, begin
ming with the Fordney- -McCumber tariff
and ending with the Grundy tariff
thus violating the simple principle of
international trade and forcing the in
eV1table retaliation of foreign countries
And from President Hoover he learns
that
The very basis Of safety to American
agriculture is the protective tariff on
farm products. The Republican party
originated and proposes to maintain the
protective tariff on agricultural prod
ucts. We will even widen that tariff
further. where necessary to protect ag-
r1culture.. Ninety per cent of your mar
ket Is at home and propose to reserve
this market for the American farmer.
From Gov. Roosevelt he learns that
the protective tariff, as far as bene-
nting the farmer, is cynical and
pitiless fraud" and a "ghastly fraud"
From the President he learns that, if
1t were not for the tariff, beef, butter
pork, lamb, faXseed, beans, wool, corn
and wheat could be dumped by foreign
countries at prices ranging from twenty
ftve to nearly one hundred per cent
below those the farmer now receives. Il
suppose these are ghastly jests,' replies
the President
From Gov. Roosevelt the farmer has
received the outline of a program for
aiding him by what some students de-
scribe as the voluntary domestic allot-
ment plan" but which other students
declare is impossible. This plan is de-
signed to bolster farm prices by SUBJ
sides, raised by special taxation, in
return for voluntary control of crop
planting, until the Governors policy
Of tariff bargaining would develop for
eign markets.
The President, knowing from ex.
perience the hazards CT such scheme:
as equalization fees and farm deben'
lures, proposes that the disposal O.
domestic surplus be facilitated by
r. F. c. loans and that world recov.
cry, which means farm recovery, b,
hastened by rehabilitating world trad
through maintenance of peace, reduc
ton of armament, the Forthcoming
economic conference Tin which the
farmer will be representeO and b.
some plan, the details of which ar
not available, for exchanging war deb
payments for foreign farm markets.
Thoughtful farmers, who, in spite o
prevailing prejudice and passion, ar
still able and disposed to reason, vii
carefully compare, point for point, wha
has been accomplished in the past ant
what that is specific and practical !
promised for the future by the con
testants for their political favor.
The farmers are interested, not onl
IN the distinctive farm programs OF tn
opposing parties, but also in their pro
posals to promote the welfare OF tn
American people as a whole, Of whom
the farmers constitute a CONSIDERABLE
fraction For that reason the Presiden
devoted less space, in his Des Nome
address. to his actual farm pro
gram than to the whole record OF hi
party In dealing with the flnancis
pAnio end business depression. Thi