The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-12-01


going to be untan-
gled?" And it occurs to me that it Is
about the most important question be-
fore this government today. A chem
list can mix constituent parts of for
mula or a prescription, but he never
can undo what he has done. Thus,
while the new deal has not changed
the physical characteristics Of things,
as a chemist would do in mixing q
formula, the job of getting this cOun-
try settled down Is one of such mag
nitude that the untangling of the skein
is going to require something more
than patience.
Consider the farm adjustment pro-
gram. Or the MIRA. Or look into the
uprooting of commerce and industry
by the various banking changes and
currency and gold maneuvers that
have taken place. And last, but by
no means least, examine the rapidly
growing pile of obligations that con-
stitute what we know as our public
debt.
With reference to the public debt,
1t should be stated that this country,
after the World war and it's devasta-
tation and animosities had been shak-
en- off, proceeded to pay off its public
debt at an amazing rate. After the
end Of the war when the debt was at
its peak, the government owed total
of $26,550,O00,000. 1t stands today
roughly at $23, 400, 100000. In between
those two dates, when the country was
prosperous and income taxes and 9TH
er taxes were yielding their fullest, the
debt once was whitfield down to about
100000, So those who watch
over the public debt say they entertain
no fears; that when conditions are
prosperous again there will be taxes
to pay off the debt and that no one
will complain about the vast ums now
being spent If the result is prosperity.
This payment of the public debt,
however, is to my mind considerably
less Of a tangle, problem, with which
to deal, than the farm adjustment
scheme on which Secretary Wallace
and his Agricultural department folks
are laboring. 1t seems likely, from Mr..
Wallace's calculations, that the cOun-
try's acreage of harvested crops next
year will be at least 100000, and
may be 35,0O0,00O, acres below the av-
erage acreage of crops planted and har-
vested annually in recent years. Emer-
gency adjustment plans are RESPONSE
BILE. They are predicated upon basis
contemplating control of production,
restriction against a surplus that
would force prices down.
Mr.. Wallace Is profoundly con-
WINGED that this course will be ex-
tremely helpful to the farmers He
sees better returns to them and he
sees greater peace of mind, which aft
er all is not to be dismissed lightly,
among the farm folks of the country.
But that is the immediate picture.
What of the future? Or to quote
again the oft-repeated question: "how
is it going to be untangled?" My own
conviction is that in the urge to get
some relief out to the farm belt, too
little attention has been paid to the fu-
ure status of the entire commodity
production areas of the nation that can
be called farm land.
To show how far-reaching the farm
adjustment program is, it is only nee
essary to state that
Like a Game every crop thus far
~ Hbeee considered Is one
constituting a "key"
in the commodity structure. These
key crops-cotton, wheat, corn, ETC.
occupy more than 1,9OO,OOOO00 acres.
To change that layout, Secretary Wal
lace admits, is just like a game of
chess. When you make one move, you
are Immediately faced with another,
and so on.
BY removing wheat as a production
from one square mile or one portion
of a county. attention must immedi-
ately be given to the question of to
what use that land can be put. 1t is
obvious that it cannot be allowed to
grow only weeds. So there must be
stop-gap crop of some kind, some crop
that will not compete with wheat. or
with corn or with cotton or the other
crops on which production control is
being attempted.
AS an example, out in western Kan
sas, they have developed after years of
trial and experiment, new kind of
sorghum cane. 1t is no longer the tall,
slender stalk of yore but a short stalk
not unlike wheat that has heavy
head of grain, or seed, as you choose
to describe it. 1t can be produced for
about IA cents bushel, and farmers
are flocking to its use. It takes care
of the land made vacant by Withdrawal,
of wheat, but 1t presents a competitor
for both wheat and corn.
Or, if the vacant land is turned to
grass, you at once start live stock in
dustry to expanding there and the gov
eminent is trying to hold down live
stock production so that those who de-
vote their land to live stock will get
a fair return. Such is the story all
through the list. 1t is not easy, and
I think any fair-minded person will
admit it. No professor, however
learned, is going to solve that problem
without careful thought and exceed
ingly cautious moves.
Admitting my own inability to fore
cast the result and an equal lack of
capacity to find anyone who has sug-
gested the answer, l cannot refrain
from calling attention to one possibil-
ity: the new deal has set out upon
policy that cannot avoid revision of
our entire economic structure and, it
now appears, 1t may lead even to a
re-settlement of the United States.
That means, OF course. that folks who
devote their lives to live stock raising
will have to move to the areas where