Evening star., 1932-09-16
Roosevelt's Farm "Plan."


! sympathy to the American farmers in
his Topeka address dealing with the
farm problem. That is as far as he
went. He discussed plan. it is true.
| and laid down six specifications which
that plan must follow. But the plan
Is nebulous, utterly lacking in con-
crete proposals or anything like them.
Not a single proposal so definite as to
be called even a start for legislation was
made by the Democratic presidential
candidate, who is now campaigning for
the farm vote Of the great West. It
does not seem possible that the farm
ers themselves could possibly be won
over by such milk -and-water diet as
that proposed by the Governor of New
York.
The Democratic nominee, for exam
pie, declares for plan that will pro-
vide for the farmers the benefits which
the protective tariff gives to the indus
trialists. So far so good. The farmer
should have just that. But he adds
that this benefit to the farmers must be
SO applied as not to increase and stimu-
late further production, apparently be-
cause he believes that the farmer is
overproducing today. Why not say so?
The candidate makes no effort to out
line an actual plan which will accom-
plish this benefit to the farmers In
cidentally, the development of such a
plan has. been an insoluble problem,
tackled by economists and farm ex-
perts, for many years.
Seemingly the Democratic candidate
has turned his back on the "debenture"
plan Of aiding the farmers, for he says
In his specifications that the farmers
must not look to the Federal Treasury
for their aid The debenture plan
which President Hoover turned down
during the last Congress calls for tax
ing from the Treasury all the revenue
derived from the customs duties on i'm
ported articles and making gift Of 1t
to the farmers.
"plan'-that mythical something still
to be erected-must be voluntary;
that there may be no coercion placed
upon the producers Of the crops to ac-
cept it, Well, If he can devise a plan
which all the farmers will accept VOL
unfairly, Gov. Roosevelt will have shown
himself a miracle man indeed. He
added another requisite-that the plan"
must not be such as to offend our for
eign competitors. Analysis Of the
Roosevelt proposal leaves the ordinary
man in doubt as to whether the Gov
ernor has ever heard Of the struggles
made in the last decade, and the decade
before that, and still further back in
time, to give the farmer aid. How to
aid the farmer without stimulating pro-
duction and thereby nullifying the whole
effect Of the aid has been the problem.
The Republican party, indeed, with the
aid of many Democratic votes, has
placed tariff duties on the imports of
many farm products. This plan has
been highly effective in protecting the
farmers who produce many food prod
ucts. But it has not helped materially
the great staple crops like wheat and
cotton, merely because Of the huge sur
pluses produced by the farmers In this
country and the world outside.
Gov. Roosevelt, in his Topeka speech
to the American farmers, apparently
has accepted the principle Of the pro-
tective tariff, since he wishes to give
the farmers benefits from such q tariff
This will scarcely sit well with those
dyed in-the-wool free-trade Democrats
who have hammered the Republican
protective tariff for years. But that
group apparently Is becoming scarcer
and scarcer as the years go by. The
Democrats vigorously attack the Re-
publican tariff laws, but many Of them
vote for higher and higher duties just
| the same.
Unless Gov. Roosevelt can come for
ward with something more appealing
to the American farmers than the gilt
tering generalities he has 50 far pro-
duced, why bother to Invade" the
, West?