The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-10-02

cent, over the same period
of the preceding year. The
benefit payments contributed
nearly one-ffth of the in
crease.
The market prices he received for
the things he sold and the market
prices he gave for the things he
bought had both risen to approx
mately the same extent.
Two Factors Overlooked
Those who deduce from this fact,
however, that the farmer was no
better off in May, 1894, than in
May, 1888, are overlooking two vital
considerations. One is that for
farmers who were cooperating in the
agricultural adjustment administra-
tons programs, the market price
was only part of their total returns.
The other consideration is that the
increase in total farm income made
it possible for the farmer to buy
many more units Of the things he
needed, even though the relation be-
tween their unit prices and the unit
prices of what he sold remained the
same.
The increase in farm purchasing
power is irrefutably shown by the
increase in sales in rural areas that
began in the autumn of 1888, start
ing first in the areas where the
agricultural adjustment administra-
TONS crop-control programs first
got under way.
The federal reserve boards figures
for department store sales in its
southern districts showed an in
crease of Is to 10 per cent during
the last quarter of 1888 as compared
with the last quarter of 1882, while
the country as whole showed only
a per cent rise.
Rural Sales Squirt
During the first five months of
1888 one of the largest of the mail
order houses suffered loss of over
100000; during the same period
in 1884 the loss was turned into a
profit some 100000 larger than the
former deficit had been.
Between March 1888 and March,
rural sales rose IS per cent. During
the first six months of 1884 COM
mercial failures dropped AZ per cent
in the cities, but in the rural areas
they dropped So per cent, showing
where business was most rapidly i'm
proving.
The reduction comprised in the
agricultural adjustment programs
does not apply to the production
ties normally consumed by the
American people, to the amount
which we can export at that time,
or to the carryovers which are made
from year to year in sufficient
amount to keep the nation from
suffering in case Of unexpected
shortages due to crop failure. What
it does apply to is the amount of
our farm commodities for which
there is no market, except at prices
which the farmer may rightly con-
slider ruinous.
Farmers Horizon Widened
The definition of parity price as
relation between city made and
farm grown commodities causes the
farmer to think of his own welfare
as definitely related to the welfare
of the nonagricultural producers
who with him make up the Ameri-
can economic community. That
sense of community greatly widens
the farmers horizon; he is becom-
ing accustomed to assist in the for
mutation of national economic poll
cieS.
What is needed is a balanced ag-
riculture-with balance between the
production Of farmers fields and
the consumption of their product,
between the income of the farmers
and the income of their neighbors
in the cities and towns.
Insofar as we are successful in
achieving and maintaining such a
balance we shall insure a fair share
of our national income to the pro-
ducers of the farm commodities on
which our basic national welfare to
a large extent depends.