Plentywood herald., 1934-01-11

Federal STATISTICS. The first i'm.
pu1se of the growers was to say tht
government stAtistics Were wrong
and for two or three weeks THE
county allotm emit committees were
ON a hot spot. A series of deadlocks
seemed to threaten the success OF
the whole plan. Accordingly the
offdcias OF the Adjustment Admin
lsatraitaon decided to 60 out into
the field and get ait THE root of the
tnDulble. II There was overestdmat-
Ing by tanners and underestimate
ing Dy hlhe Government, the obvious
timing to do was find eut how much
OF each there really was. SURVEYS
on enough sample acreage to check
on the accuracy OF the estimates
ciaTa1ladl the atmosphere a great
aeaa. laie next step was to discuss
une problem frankly with Ii q
growers In local meetings.. lit care
fuLlly checked Government stntdstdcs
s1 owed a base wheat area OF 10O.-
UOO acres, while growers estimated
showed a narea of 100000 acres
N vas plahnly up to the growers to
revise their estimates. The base
fdgure for THE county, as deter
mlned by Impartial Government
STATISTICS, would be made as accnr
ate as possible, butt once that was
come 1t was up to THE growers to
ADJUST their estimates to 1T.
Wheat growers In counties where
THAT sort of problem cropped I'M
talkied 1t over in meetings and back
nome with their neighbors. The
feehng THAT the government was
wrong was dissipated by the sample
surveys and by the reasonableness
Of the Federal, State, and local ad- !,
The consciousness
that within each county the admin
Strastl1on Of the plan was. after all
lp ITO the growers themselves
prompted them to figure their ownl
way out OF the difficulty. Aware
hat individuals who had overestd.
married their acreage were encroach-
ng on the rights OF their neigh.
'ors, the local committees deter
mined to meet the issue squarely.
mus they did In a variety OF WAYS
n some counties they CALLED HIhe
oWnsih1p committees in, put the
oWnsl1dp totals ON the blackboard
'Olnfed to the overrun I'm the asfi
nates, and asked for volunteers tnI
lbtadn revised estimates from the
roWers. In some cases townsfh1r
llotments were made.
In an EASTERN Montana county
mother criterion was chosen. There
ne producers pointed out that far
ears The state college had been
aWng, as a result OF its ra-
earches, that THE average farm IN
nat region ought to have aho,,H s5
eroent of 1t crop land in whaat
my not use THAT as a guide In re-
Using THE individual estimates?
ne committee agreed 1T was sen
lpde. so thalt the growers who
1oWed less than SIS percent M
leir crop land In wheat were per-
atted TO increase their wheat acre
se estimates, while those with /
ore than SIS percent were asked tol
sduce theirs. {
This sort OF thing went on An
unnreds OF counties and involved
lndreds OF thousands oil farmers
epdfe the understandable concernll {
lflh cash benefits, despite the con t
let's and temporary i1l-feelane t
ese may have engendered. tine 4
'nflfcts were settled and the con, y
fions of the wheat plan were met g
tine growers themselves. Iii was s
thoroughly Democratic process :
10 to everyone who participated Z
ere came genuine sense az ac- y
/ truly believe THAT Il
any OF these men learned. per. n
Ups for THE first time. what is in a
lived In making Individual inter. =
i coincide with group Interest i
ND having identified themselves b
nm the group, there doubtgese P
me to them some vision OF fine Y
wer THAT resides In group action 9
Tribute to Committees Q
There We're other results from ,
ls first stage In the wheat ad- Y
campaign which ought to u
mentioned In passing. The fact Y
At the nights OF the tenant were
nCf1}callv nrnfef,frAd ~ }1,n -. -