The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-10-13
by William Bruckart

rowings from the reserve banks.
Hence, with the note back in it's pos
session, the bank gets all Of the inter-
est.
Now, as to the loans that are being
made by the Reconstruction Finance
corporation, the Department of Agri-
culture. the Farm Credit administers
tion, the Federal Home Owners Loan
corporation, and whatever other
agency there may be, it is the same
old story. None of them can loan
unless the security is ample. That is,
farmer cannot borrow unless he has
farm which he can mortgage or a
| growing crop or some work stock, and
the city man cannot borrow unless he
has house which he can mortgage. If
1t were not that way, the government
would be putting out money without a
chance of getting repaid unless the
borrower wanted to do it. 1t takes
no fortune teller or soothsayer to fore
see where that would lead and what
1t would amount to in the end. It
would simply be taking money paid
into the federal treasury by taxpayers
and virtually giving it away. Obvi-
ously. soon the taxpayers would quit
paying it in.
And having mentioned the taxpay-
ers, l gather from conversations with
unbiased observers here that the tax
payers are due for tremendous shock
anyway before this recovery plan is
completed. The expenditures are so
vast and in so many ways that it is
difficult, If not impossible, to tell how
much the thing is costing. OF course,
as see it, If recovery takes place and
there is prosperity abroad in the land,
nobody is going to object so much.
On the other hand, if the methods EN-
| ployed by the Roosevelt administra-
ton fail to bring complete recovery
and the country has to worry along
for awhile in the same condition 1t
now is, then it appears quite obvious
that the taxpayers are going to raise
enough cane to rout some of the public
officials out of their jobs.
Secretary Wallace's plan to buy up
about six million pigs weighing less
than 100 pounds and
Wallace Plan one million sows
Holt Success about to farrow, as
means Of cutting
down the hog surplus and forcing
prices higher appears to have been
only about half successful. Or to say
1t another way, the program failed.
Department experts won't say why it
failed. but there has been a good deal
Of discussion In the Capital that the
secretary's plan missed fire because 1t
did not take into consideration the
practical, the human side, of the
equation. 1t was beautiful theory.
think the secretary ought not to be
charged wholly with it, however, be-
cause 1t had it's inception in the minds
Of certain men who claim to be lead
ers in agricultural thought who put
their heads together with some of the
professors who are so numerous
around Washington. Of course, the
program became the Wallace plan as
soon as he approved it.
From divers sources, get the infor-
nation that farmers in many sections
of the country held off marketing their
pigs and their sows,' even with the
premium the Department of Agricul-
ture was paying, because they wanted
to wait for those higher prices that
the Department Of Agriculture said
would come. Quite obviously, they ex-
pected the little pigs to grow up, and
when they became bigger pigs and
prices were higher, there would be
bigger amounts of money.
The net result of the whole show
was that the Department of Agricul-
ture put out only about $22,000,O0O in
it's pig program, whereas it had esti-
mated that there would be approx
mately $50000O00 expended. A part
of the total paid out went to the proc
essors, such as the meat packers and
butchers, as compensation for the
work they did. The country's hog
population was reduced by the extent
of about four million pigs. while in
stead of one million sows being bought
and killed, there were not more than
one hundred thousand.
Notwithstanding the failure of the
program to buy pigs and sows, the
outlook for hog sup
Expect LoUer plies in the principal
Shipments markets during the
Forthcoming market
ing year is for lower shipments than
in several years. The marketing year
ending October /, 1888, saw roughly
47,25O,OOO head of hogs slaughtered.
That total, and it is fairly accurate
because federal inspectors see all of
the hogs killed, was the largest in
four years. But the marketing year
just now starting gives every indica-
ton of considerably smaller ship
ment and slaughter and that probably
means higher prices, according to the
experts.
The relationship between hog prices
and corn prices has been unfavorable