Evening star., 1933-11-05
NEW MONETARY POLICY
REGARDED LOGICAL STEP
President Following Up Declaration That
He Intends to Manage Currency
in Interest of Majority.

ers, sugar refiners, milk distributors
and tobacco magnates ever since the
passage Of the agricultural adjustment
act last May. They are, II Is true, well
groomed. Usually they are very ar1ia-
Bile gentlemen. But If they are at
tempting to conceal anything. they
have failed 1t Is quite obvious, it
seems to me. that they are IN the
ing farm products primarily to make
money, and to make as much Of it as
possible. Concern for the farmer, or
for the consumer, is not, as a rule,
the dominant passion Of their lives.
This being so, it is with mixed emo
tions that professors and distributors
the A. A. A. They were early at
tracted by the possibility, under the
act, OF perfecting marketing agree
ments without the hampering restric-
tions of the antitrust laws. They
considered the pleasant prospect OF ex-
ercising new influences on prices and
thereby widening the spreads between
the price the producer received and the
price the consumer paid.
1t has to be said, In fairness, that
some of them, at any rate, recognized
the possibility of saving and efficiency
which resided in increased capacity
and greater control. and were willing
to share with consumers and farmers
some of the gains. But usually against
the premise Of freedom from anti
trust restrictions they had to balance
the threat that the Adjustment Ad-
ministration might use these agree
ments and the accompanying licensing
powers to reduce the spread between
farmers and consumers prices, re-
gardless OF gains to professors.
That there is far more ground for
reducing than for increasing the spread
is certainly plain enough: the share Of
the consumers dollar taken by manu-
facture and distribution has regularly
increased until in 1929 it required 81
per cent of the consumers milk dollar,
81 per cent Of the bread dollar and IS
per cent of the egg dollar They have
hoped that this logic would not occur
to administrators.
Secretary Wallace.
II the professors had their way. Of
course, the Department of Agriculture
would become less devoted to farmers
and more devoted To the processing
trades. They have not been encouraged
in this ambition by Secretary Wallace.
The refusal of the Secretary to sign the
sugar agreement was the first major
disappointment. That agreement was
so framed as to favor refners. raise
the price to consumers. and do little or
nothing fer beet and cane growers.
But there were also two similar prob
LENS folioTing ;oE, g immediately- @ These had
the meat packers
The tobacco agreement vas sin. (
| because it brought higher prices to til
| Permit an increase IN the price CT eigaI-
/ cites to consumers, and that this in
crease may be more than the benefit
to be received by the farmers. 1t is Oil
! experiment with the good faith of a biz
badly. '-- Wv "A
1t was done In an exigent situation;
the middle Of the tobacco marketing
season for flue-cured tobacco had ar
rived. and prices to growers were
desperately low. BY one means or an
other prices to farmers had to be
raised, and raised quickly; this is the
excuse for adopting an arrangement
which otherwise would arouse no en-
thusiaSm
Meat Packers.
The .greement with the meat pack
| ers Is still under negotiation. The de-
partiient has always realized that per-
maps the most serious situation faced
oy Amerlcan agriculture exists in the
corn belt. 1t is there that all the mimi
cal forces seem to concentrate. 1t is
necessary therefore to devise a remedy
and to do it quickly.
Corn acreage has TO be reduced and
/ the numbers of hogs going to market
nave to be curtailed. A processing tax
| on pork and on corn which is CONNER
/ claIIy proceSSed will be used TO paw
! heneflts to farmers who cut down on
/ corn acreage and on hog numbers In
| aoCltlon some OF the tax will be used
10 BUY pork to be given to the needy
through the Surplus Relief Corporation.
All these items of the program REQUIRE
a certain amount of co-operat ton from
the packers. The negotiations turn on
what has to be conceded in order to get
the needed service from the middleman.
Secretary Wallace can be trusted to
make good bargain for the Govern
ment in this. He is thoroughly alive to
the interest of consumers. also, and
| reaLzes the larger economic implica-
lions involved IN granting concessions
Which may turn out to assist the proc
esSors more than farmers or consumers.
! What a statesman has TO keep in
mind in contrast with these who have
their own special interests to work for.
is the general effect his specific actions
may nave III any SITUATION II may seem
! at the moment easier to Concede some
thing than to stand firmly by a prin-
ciple which has only a very general sig
nificance. But the end result Of such
concessions would almost surely be the
failure of planned policy.
The administration has policy. It is
to raise commodity prices, to increase
workers and farmers incomes, and TO
ease the old burdens of debt. This is
the kind OF blueprint with which those
who have their own special interests to
further can work up great impatience.
But recovery-and beyond that recon-
struction-has its own demands. OF all
this the Secretary is aware, and it gives
him some serenity in the midst of the
daily pulling and hauling which bese;s
his office.
tCopyright, 1881