Evening star., 1933-12-15
'3uy the Farms?

Ecre to come to the purchase of lean
farm lands in order to control produc-
ton of agricultural crops and prevent
huge surpluses which force farm prices
down and cause great distress among
the farm population, Secretary Henry
A. Wallace of the Department of Agri-
culture says in his annual report to
the President He adds that there are
about 100000 acres tco much land
cultivated in this country now. The
Secretary lays down the proposition that
production must in a measure be regu-
lated through the Government, under
the conditions which have arisen. The
renting of whole farms by the Govern
ment and their withdrawal from pro-
duction would be q more eff. cnt way
of dealing with the problem of surplus
production than paying the farmers for
keeping portions of their farms tenn
porarily idle, and the purchase Of farms
by the Government would be still more
effective, he says. In the long run
it would be cheaper for the Government
to buy farms than to lease them, and
such purchase would give greater pos
sibility of developing consistent and
stable policy of utilization.
Probably Mr. Wallace is correct in
his suggestion that the Government
would save money in the long run by
buying up farm lands and withholding
them from cultivation instead of pay
ing an annual dole to the farmers for
Withholding portions of their farms
from cultivation and production of
given crops. The Government is hand
ing cut s300O00,OO0 this year to
farmers for keeping parts Of their lands
idle, and that sum of money would buy
a lot Of farm land. It is clear, how
ever. that some disposition must be
made of the population of the farms
which Mr.. Wallace proposes to pur-
chase. Either they would go to other
farms or into the cities.
The proposal is to have the Govern
ment take over the lean acres, the So
called marginal farms, first, and retire
them from production. If the Govern
ment is going into the business Of buy
ing up poor farms, in order to control
production, there seems just as much
reason for its reaching out to buy shoe
factories that are operating at loss
and producing too many shoes. There
is just as much reason for taking a
non-paying grocery store off its owners
hands as there is for taking a nom
paying farm off the hands of the farm
er inhabitant. The extremes to which
some Of the proponents of farm relief
may go seem to be without limit
After all, the farmers in this country
get living off their farms. The earth
produces their food and they have
shelter. In the old days the farmers
wives and daughters made the clothes
which they and their husbands and
sons and brothers wore. In the end
great population may live off the soil.
if it be necessary, far more easily than
it may live off machinery and the fac
tory. If the theorists are intent upon
rectifying all the ills of the population
through governmental action it prob
ably would be far better to have the
Government buy up the urban proper
ties, instead Of the farms, and to turn
the people back to the land. At least
there they would be able to get enough
to eat and to clothe and shelter them
selves.
The Government is seeking to aid the
American people in distress, and very
properly So But the world is surely
upside down when it becomes necessary
fer the Government to buy up farms
and to sUbsidize the owners of farms.
Not so long ago Americans were reach
ing out for more and more homesteads,
and the Government was encouraging
them to do so. Millions of acres passed
into the hands of the men and women
who moved westward in streams from
the Atlantic Coast
The farmers, after all. are not the
only people in America today. They are
equaled in number by the urban popu-
lation and by those who labor in fac
tories and mills, on railroads and in
business Offices. If there are too many
farmers, there ere equally too many
coal miners and too many carpenters.
There should be neither too many
farmers nor too many miners, it is quite
true. But there seems as much justi-
fication for the Government to go into
the business of purchasing mines as for
it to go into the purchase of farms to
retire them from production.
An attorney who manages to protect
guilty man is accounted smart law