The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-03-23
Our Daily Washington Letter
Farmers Must Cut Production
BY RODNEY BUTCHER
NEA Service Writer


 (Copyright 1888 NEA Service Incl Washington-Decad of agita- tion for farm relief now eliminate in the governments adoption of one of the most far-reaching programs
 ever proposed. at 8 time when the
 farmers are at the point of their
 most desperate need.
 The farm states last year voted advocated drastic measures for ag-
 ricultural recovery. President Roosevelt has taken what seem to him and his advisers to te the most
 feasible provisions of the numer-
 ous plans blocked by his predeces- sors in recent years and will have full power and discretion to invoke them in what is admittedly a vast experiment.
 To understand the new program, resigned to become operative on 1883 crops, it is necessary to absorb these main points.
 The primary principle: Farmers are to lrecieve cash compensation or benefits for reductions of their production by agreement with the government. No payment will be | | cut overproduction. Six million farmers can't get together and cut surplusses, but the theory is that they can be induced to do so if the
 bait is adequate.
 Tho primary aim: To increase l the farmers purchasing power by inducing higher farm prices until the prices he receives for his prod ucts are on a level of equality with
 the prices he must pay for what nc buys. The first requisite for this IS a restoration of the balance be- | tween production and consumption.
 The specific objective is to restore
 the pre-war parity of prices. rom | which farm prices have failen about 50 per cent.
 The chief feature of the program
 is the dental plan under whlcn | the farmers will be paid by the acrefor land withdrawn from culti- vationor, as proposed in the case of cotton, will be allowed options l o n farm sboard-owned cotton in re- l turn for reduction. The combined | effect presumably will force uT cotton prices. The rental plan is an | outgrowth of the domestic allot- ment plan, which the secretary o1
 agriculture will be permitted to use
 at his discretion.
 Reproductive Land
 we must have an orderly re. treat from 50.000,000 surplus acres l of land and q bonus to those farm.
 CTS who will reduce theft acreage, | Henry A. Wallace said before ht
 became secretary of agriculture. One unofficial estimate is tha,
 such land can be rented at ar
 average of around $4 an acre There is Indian land in the west
 leased for as little as 35 cents ar acvre for large scale wheat opera.
 tions. Farmers now selling crops l far below production costs can a, least obtain a certain cash income
 which will help meet taxes, inter-
 est and other expenses.
 i Most of the land the govern. ment will lease will be marginal or submarginal acerage. Marginal
 land is that On which farmer merely breaks even and of course submarginal land is that on which he doesn't even do that. Some. where around 35,000, 900, 900 acres | of cultivated land In the United States are regarded as submarg-
 inal. ., The agricultural department will work out detailed procedure and regulations under it's broad discre.. tionary power, but it is supposed that a call will be made for bid: from farmers willing to yet land
 now titled lie fallow for a proper reimbursement. One advantage ol | the plan is that it will require deal ing with perhaps only 10 or 15 pei cent of the farmers instead of the entire million or more. Even so, ol course, the problem of administra- ton under the rental and various