Evening star., 1933-12-08

ford q. Tugwell, one Of the celebrated
brain Trust" Because Of his clash
with Tugwell and Jerome Frank. coun-
sci OF the A. A. A.. Mr.. Peek, who has
been head Of the Agricultural Adjust
ment Administration, Is to be ousted,
unless President Roosevelt steps in to
prevent this disruption of the farm
relief program. Secretary Wallace Of
the Department Of Agriculture is ranged
against Mr.. Peek. with Tugwell and
Frank.
It has been Mr. Peek's Job to carry
on the administration of the Roose-
yelt agriculture program, which was
designed to give the farmers higher
prices for their commodities, to curtail
production, for example, Of wheat and
cotton and tobacco. and to see that the
farmers were paid for the non-use Of
the land they did not cultivate. and to
levy processing taxes" on the manu-
facturers Of food products and textiles
to meet the burden of the Govern
ments payments direct to the farmers
for curtailing crops. 1t was also part Of
the Job OF the A. A. A. to deal with the
codes set up for manufacturers. Of food
products. 1t now appears that there
has been considerable dissension In the
ranks OF the farmers friends in the
Department Of Agriculture, which In
cludes the A. A. A., over the adminis-
tration Of these activities and more
particularly over the codes for the food
manufacturers. The young liberals,
with whom the Secretary of Agriculture
Is now aligned, have, it is reported,
clashed with Mr.. Peek regarding limita-
ton of profits OF corporations which
come under the Jurisdiction of the A. A.
A. There are reports, too, that the
young liberals and Mr.. Peek have dis
agreed over the control of the grain
exchanges. Mr.. Peek holding that the
grain trade should be given every op-
portunity to govern itself properly and
within bounds. while his opponents
have insisted that the Secretary Of Ag-
r1culture should do the cracking down
on the trade when he deemed that
curbs on speculation were necessary.
The set-up OF the A. A. A., of which
Mr.. Peek has been head, differs from
that Of the N. r. A. The A. A. A. has
been sandwiched into the Department
OF Agriculture, leaving Secretary WAL
lace really the superior officer over the
A. A. A. administrator. The N. r. A..
on the other hand, which might have
been made bureau of the Department
OF Commerce, is an independent agency
OF the Government. Mr.. Peek has to
deal both with Secretary Wallace and
with President Roosevelt. 1t looks as
though the President must decide
whether to sustain his cabinet officer or
the administrator Of the farm relief
program.
The liberals in the Department of
Agriculture seemingly are making Mr..
Peek the goat" and charging to him
the failure of the program to boost
farm prices to the heights which had
been promised. Admittedly the con-
troversy which has arisen is not help
fuf to the Roosevelt administration. It
comes right on the heels Of q similar
row in the Treasury Department which
resulted In the ousting Of the Under
secretary Of the Treasury and the resig
nation Of the Treasury financial ad-
wiser. Mr.. Peek has big following in
the Middle West. 1t would be unfortu-
nate to have heavy guns turned on the
administration from Iowa as wen as
from New York.