Evening star., 1933-01-24
STATE AID SOUGHT
! ON FARM RELIEF
New Control Plan Proposed
, by Editor Relieves U. S.
of Burden.
BY the Associated Press.

A new idea contemplating active Co
operation of States with the Federal
Government in administering the do
mestic allotment plan of farm relief was
put forward today for consideration OF
the Senate Agriculture Committee.
1t WAS presented by w. r. Ronald,
editor of the Evening Republican, Mitch
ell, S. Oak, as an answer to arguments
often raised against the bill as passed
by the House.
Ronald. who has played q prominent
part in advancing the voluntary allOt-
ment plan, expressed his views In
letter to Senator Norbeck, Republican,
South Dakota.
Under his proposal, responsibility for
obtaining prescribed acreage reductions
would be placed with the States. Only
if State made the required curtail-
ment of production would 1t be eligible
to receive the allotment money for dis
tribution among its producers.
Puts Tax on Professors.
The plan, as it passed the House jan
ary u, provides for tax on the miller,
packer or other professor Of wheat,
cotton, tobacco hogs, rice, peanuts and
dairy products, the money to be
paid to farmers who cut production
20 per cent These allotmentS would be
an amount sufficient to give the farmer
the pre-war price on that share of his
produce which goes into domestic con-
sumption.
One of the main criticisms of the
plan has been, Ronald noted, that it
would involve great expense because of
the large force that would be needed to
check up on acreage reductions
Another argument against 1t, he said
slw>1 - <-s..~
too much power to the administration
and set up dictatorship or bureau
cracy."
To meet these two arguments Ronald
proposed ito work out the plan on the
same general basis as Federal aid to
highways"
Il am proposing" he said. that each
State be authorized to advise the Sec
retary of Agriculture as to any limita-
ton on production and this in practice
would mean that the States would
speak for the producers in each case.
In this way we would meet both
of the arguments outlined above. There
would be no dictatorship, because each
State would be counseling with the Sec
retary of Agriculture or whoever the
administrator would be. There would
be no bureaucracy because the Secre-
the terms and conditions under which
each State would qualify for its share
in the tariff adjustment fund.
This would relieve Congress of de-
Gliding the question of control Of produc-
tion and properly leave to the various
States and the Secretary of Agricul-
ture decision each year as to whether
or not for the common good any such
reduction or limitation should be Speci-
fed. ***
The House bill has been criticized
as requiring that every farm be policed
1t is true that it does in considerable
degree substitute coercion for cO-opera-
ton. '
The State-unit method I am pro-
posing would substitute for penalties the
effective control to be secured by put
ting. the burden of proof upon the in
tended beneficiaries.
Would Punish Violations
1T should be made clear in the bill
that the Secretary of Agriculture shall
reject the application of any State for
its allotment if there has been any nom
compliance with regulations or viola
tons of any provisions of the act.
Then the State authority would put
the same burden of proof upon each
ment in the same way as the State is
awarded its allotment and adminiStra-
tion in the county would no doubt be
through a local commission. -
The county would reject any town.
ship if there had been non compliance
by any producer, in order to keep the
county allotment from being thrown
out by the State.
Thus every producer would have to
protect his own allotment by reporting
incompetence by any other.
Since violations, excessive acreage,
forbidden use of diverted acreage, mar
keting of too many hogs, or bootlegg1ng
would be of the more overt char
acter, the other producers of the local
ity would know about them and would
see that any offender is not on the list
for sllotments in order to save their
own"
Provides Administration.
The Federal Government would re-
tain one-half of / per cent and the
State up to per cent of the allotment
money to cover administrative expenses.
Ronald strongly urged that elimina-
tion Of production control from the
measure be not considered, saying Presi-
dent elect Roosevelt is more insistent
upon this feature than any other" He
expressed apprehension at ANY pro-
posal to elevate the price Of farm prod
ucts that would leave the door open to
eny amount of increased production"
The South Dakota editor advised that
time be taken to work out the plan
along the lines he suggested, remarking
that it cannot possibly become a law
before May at the earliest ana that, ac-
cordingly, there would be no chance
for its use or products sold in the pres
ent marketing year."
The Senate Agriculture Committee
will begin public hearings on the plan
tomorrow and will take possibly a week.
Many have predicted President Hoover
would veto such a bill, thus making
it major issue at the special session
in the Spring.