Evening star., 1932-09-14
Higher Commodity Prices Seen
As Hopeful Sign for the Future

farmers. more employment in the tex
tile field and elsewhere, and better bust.
ness in general" The Miami Daily
News declares: Cotton showed the
way out of the depression Of 1921. Is
it too much to hopeifor the same thing
in 1892" The Abilene Reporter adds
that If the cotton farmer wakes proS-
porous, 1t means better conditions al
down the line" The Meridian CMissA
Star states: The trend still seems up-
ward. King Cotton is coming back.
Emphasizing the rise in the tobacco
markets. the Roanoke World-NewS
states: IF prices for bright tobacco paid
in the Eastern Carolina field hold un-
til the Old Belt markets centerlng
around Danville open in another month
confidence over considerable areas Of
Virginia and North Carolina" The
Nashville Banner observes that in most
instances the prices paid tobacco grow
ers advanced steadily AMI indications
are that they are likely to be even bet
ter" The Charleston IS. c. Evening
Post records the sales of tobacco ''s4
the best prices quoted in several years.
and with heavy poundage on the
market
The action of the Farm Board in
spires the comment by the San Antonio
Express: The price -pegging ventures
cost the taxpayers many millions and
evidently did the farmers more harm
than good However. II the lesson thus
taught shall be hee6ed hereafter. that
will be something gained. A principle
which President Coolidge repeatedly
states-'No price fixing and no Governs
ment purchase'-was sound when he
spoke it and is sound today. Now that
the Federal Farm Board has done cot-
ton-growers a good turn, they should
respond by keeping the acreage down
another season"
The Oklahoma City Oklahoman
thinks that "the Farm Board may not
have been wise. but it certainly was
helpful when 1t borrowed sufficient
ronev from the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation to hold its cotton stores
intact" but the Baltimore Evening Sun
makes the protest: The board. nog
content with spending its own half
Billion. has now gone to the Finance
Corporation for additional $4,000 900;
-hus is futility piled upon futilitv."
The Texarkana Gazette suggests that
the board may be just postponing
bad cay, but when that day does come,
the country may be in better posi-.
ton to face it."
THE fact is" argues the Houston
Chronicle. that the South farmer
has 'economizcd' by sen6i~ wife
and children into the fl has
economical by skimping bone
on food and clothing; he - 7-oro-
niZed by foregoing for hm-cf, his
wife and his children neede' medical
attention: he he's denied himself and his
family their usual meage" supply Of
newrra pe-s and books All too often
his children have been kept from school.
and very often the schools themselves
have shortened their terms and in-
creased the load on underpaid teachers.
He has impoverished his soil by failure
TO fertilize it; he has neglected upkeep
on his home and his farm equipment
Perhaps in this day of returning optim-
ism these facts should not be stressed.
Nevertheless, we must not let the pros
pect of better day blind us to what
has actually happened. for fear 1t may
weaken our determination that, II we
have the wit to prevent 1t. 1t shah
never happen again. Whatever may
be said as to monetary costs, the simple
fact is that. IN human values, the cot
ton crops of the last two years have
been produced by our farmers at the
highest cost in all the history of this
Nation"