Evening star., 1932-10-11


consumer paid $l5,O00.000 because Of
the increased price Of pork in the
month of March alone, and that the
action was taken against protest Of
my entire staff and myself" As to
wheat he said:
"Unless some superior force inter-
venes, we do not propose the American
consumer to suffer from such rises in
the price of bread and we intend to
hold the price of wheat at the figure
it has stayed during the entire war"
Prices Of Manufactures.
Now what was the next step. Imme-
diately after Mr.. Harding's election the
manufacturers demanded and obtained
a tariff for the express purpose of en-
abling them to maintain war prices on
their products" Long before that the
Government maximum guarantee on
wheat had expired. There was nothing
to sustain the farmers market. He
was then obliged to buy in the high
protective market and to sell his sur
plus (which also fixed the price in the
domestic markeD upon the bankrupt
market of Europe From that day on
his prices have been declining.
Until the present panic the farmer
has been compelled to buy in market
artificially held at the war level by the
tariff law and the combinations be-
hind 1t.
The gap between those two price
levels is the gap Of bankruptcy to which
the American farmer has been con-
stantly driven.
Let us now turn to the remedies pro-
posed by Mr.. Hoover. Not on the eve
Of this campaign when he is looking for
votes, but when he was expounding his
philosophy and policies. In his PAM
phlet published in 1925, entitled some
long view policies for the improvement
of the farmers profit" Mr.. Hoover said:
Continuous overproduction means
unmanageable surplus and that can only
be corrected by prices low enough to
make production Improbable for some
part Of the acreage in use"
Balancing of Production.
Let me burn those words into the
brain of every farmer In the United
States-"Can only be corrected by prices
low enough to make production un-
profitable for some part Of the acreage
in use" Early in 1925. over his own
signature, he said: Generally. the
fundamental need is a balancing OF agri-
cultural production to our home de-
mand."
These declarations are found in full in
the Congressional Record Of April D,
1928. What did they mean except starv-
ing the farmer to point where there
is no surplus. The farmer organizations
put in few words "starve out the sur
plus"
Hoover became Secretary OF Com
merce in 1921 and Immediately began to
maneuver to take the supervision OF the
grain markets away from the Agrlcul-
tural Department and have them trans
ferred to himself bitter fight ensued.
During its prograss Hoover declared the
functions of the Department OF Agrl-
culture should end when the production
on the farm is complete and at that
point the activities Of the Department
of Commerce should begin. An agrlcul-
! tural conference was called. Hoover
packed the conference and actually sue
ceeded in getting report RECOMMENDING
a contraction OF agriculture 10 90
mestic -sufficiency basis with only
such foreign markets as shall be profit
able.
That was January %. 1925. 1t. of
course, il carried out meant the discon-
tinuation Of about 20 per cent OF wheat
farms. IL per cent of corn farms and SO
per cent Of cotton farms. This policy
of starving out surplus has been IN
progress ever since the war.
Reference to Droushts.
It is manifested in the declaration OF
Mr.. Arthur Hyde that "droughts are a
blessing" and the recommoncat-ons OF
the Farm Board to ''plow up every other
row Of cotton and shoot every tenth
cairy COW"
The farmers having reasonable de-
gree of common sense did rot accept
Bills which the farmers sponsored were
brought in in 1924 and 1926 but were
defeated. In February. 1927 third
bill WAS passed and WIS vetoed in one
of the most rancorous and resentful
messages ever written. 1t is generally
believed that the message was ccmpos ed
bv Mr.. Hoover. II not W-itt-n by him
at least it was spors-red by his pres
ent bscker. Mr.. Coolidge. Then a
fourth bill was psssed b. enormous ma
jorities. The legs alton W?s lnmedl-
ately denounced by both Hoover and
Mellon.
It is fair to infer from Mr.. Hocver's
declarations when he came to this
country and from his 1928 campaign
speeches that his real objection was
that he still entertained his original
,, design to capture the commerce OF the
world It will be remembered that he
had fer years declared his purpose 70
capture the trade of the world and
that to do so he proposed to under,eil
the world. Thct me- Mt, among other
things. to ur6ersell the world in agri-
cultural products. That was and has
been his theory.
Farm Board Set Up.
Under MIR. Hoover's sdr1 nistration
the Farm Board was set up. At its
head Is Arthur Hyde. There wss ap-
propriated five hundred million dollars
to control the prices Of farm products
The money has been largely wasted
The weat market has been destroyed.
wheat has sold at the lowest price
in the last century Ct time. Mr.
Hoover now admits that the scheme
is failure But what does he pro-
pose as a substitute. He goes back to
recommendation OF co-operatives. Co.
operatives existed before Mr.. H over
arrived in the United States. They
have done some coed but they have
never been abe to raise the price level
above world prices.
He tells you in one breath that he
proposes to collect the foreign debts
ana III tUe nSHC tlldG III S-lIS lISS-
tericus way he is going to wipe cut
the debts due us by Europe by send
ing them our wheat in addition to the
money we have heretofore given them
That kind of financing is well Illus
trated by a proposition now beirg dis
cussed. The Farm Bard paid more
than twenty-five million dollars Of our
money for twenty-five million bushels
of wheat. It is now trying to sell the
wheat to China for sl5.000,000 and
proposes to loan China S1500O,0 900 with
which to pay for it. Thus we will have
forty millions of dollars invested and
the very doubtful note Of China for
SIS, 100000.
Policy Change Favored.
Clearly enough there must be a
i change of policy Seven years Hoover
has been in position of command.
Every time he has uttered a word.
written a pamphlet, sent telegram or
invited a message, he has succeeded