The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-09-24
Fight Must Be
Against A.A.A.,
For Farm Bill
Government Welcomed
The Drought, Which
Ruins Millions
By JOHN BARNETT

out why the Administration and the
Secretary of Agriculture, Wallace,
have so gladly embraced the worst
drought in our history as the saw
Jour of the AAA., hailing it as a
blessing to the farmers. The pro-
gram of crop destruction and cur
tailment, and plans TO reduce some
noil1ions of farmers to subsistence
farming met with powerful resist
ance This resistance has been led
POLITICALLY by the Communist Party,
which in its 1894 election platform
stands for the repeal Of the A.A.A.,
for emergency relief for the m
poverished ant drought-str1cken
farmers. for exemption of the small
farmers from taxation, for the can
collation. of debts and obligations
that threaten the farm and equip
ment of the exploited farmer, and
for the Farmers Emergency Relief
Bill
The yearly flow of billions OF
profts into the Golfers Of the food
trusts, big bankers, insurance com
NAMES and landlords was not large
enough to suit these gentlemen.
Drought put thousands of dollars
into their pockets and gave the ad-
ministration a weapon with which
to force through its destruction pro
gram.
The Aim of the A.A.A.
A short time ago, when the ad-
ministration felt it was time for
more election ballyhoo for the New
Deal, Roosevelt had his chief coun-
selor. Donald R. Richberg, issue
series of reports telling Of its Won
derful accomplishments. Richberg
gives the two aims Of the New Deal
in agriculture, the AA.A., as in
creasing the purchasing power OF
the farmers" and providing a com
plete and coordinated agricultural
credit system" In plain words, the
real aims Of the A.AA. were not so
much to help the farmers them
selves as to make it possible for in
dustry to sell the farmer more in
dustrial goods which were piling up
in warehouses, and to save the
profits and investments IN agrlcul-
ture Of the big financiers.
We will not dwell on the fact that
according to Richberg's figures, less
than 10 per cent Of the mortgaged
debt of the farmers has been re-
financed, that refinancing has been
denied to the poor farmers, who
needed it most, that for many farm
ers "coordinating agricultural credit
meant sheriff sales and evictions.
The New Deal has done something
for Wall Street, but not enough.
How about the first aim? The
A.A.A., after a year Of effort, had
failed to raise the purchasing power
of the farmers dollar. When the
A.A.A. went into operation a year
ago last July, the farmers dollar
was worth II cents compared with
his pre-war dollar. After a year of
the A.A.A. in July, 1884, it was
werSh SIS cents. 1t had fallen five
cent?. Of course, Richberg keeps
still about this. But, while farm
prices went up a little, prices that
the farmers had to pay went up
much faster, more than cancelling
any benefit.
Administration Welcomes Drought
So it was a happy day for the
New Deal when the drought brought
wholesale destruction and raised
farm prices. But even in August,
with higher prices due to the
drought, the farmers dollar was not
above what it was in July 1888, be-
cause the farmers have to pay such
high prices for what they buy. And
little good this did for the drought
farmers, who had nothing to sell,
or to the milk and poultry pro-
ducers, and the drought-stricken
farmers, themselves, who must buy
feed from the feed dealers at prof.
teering prices, or the workers, who
pay higher prices for food. 1t was
not the mass of farmers so much
as the food trusts, grain dealers,
spectators, etc, as well as some OF
the large farmers who are taking
enormous profits from higher prices.
How Farmers Would Gain
Big cuts in the profits of the
trusts, with lower food prices to the
workers and higher prices to the
farmers would give the farmers more
purchasing power. But the New
Deal would fight this to the last.
Now the drought has become the
main instrument for carrying
through the A.A.A. reduction pro-
gram. This cold -blooded policy is
one of putting out of commercial
production 40 to so million acres Of
cultivated land while people are
starving, and forcing two or more
million farmers into subsistence
farming, of putting farming into
the hands of the big farmers, and
placing the market more securely
into the hands of the trusts.
The AA.A, which had not been
able to push through this program
successfully, now uses the drought
in every conceivable way to force
its policy upon the farmers. After
having permitted the drought to
devastate whole regions without
taking adequate steps to check its
destruction, it now requires farmers
to subscribe to the reduction pro-
gram in order to get benefit relief
payments. 1t uses necessity and
suffering caused by the drought to
force farmers onto subsistence
farms.
The New Deal policies concerning
the drought tear the mask from the
AA.A, show the rank and file farm
ers its real purpose, to enrich the
f1nanciers at the expense and suf-
fering Of the exploited farmers.
The drought-stTicl,sn and all poor