Evening star., 1935-05-17
WALLACE DENIES
SCARCITY SYSTEM
Speaking in Radio Forum,
Secretary Hits A. A. A.
Critics.
Continued From Page Twelve.)

CONTINUED From Page Twelve)
our history. Accordingly, we are de-
termined to bring about an expansion
in basic food production above 1884
in order to protect American con-
sumers from any possibility Of short
age. Present indications are that
there will be harvested in the United
States this year 40 million acres more
Of crops than were harvested last year.
In short, our agricultural policy is
an adjustment policy providing for
increases when such increases make
for the welfare Of the consumer, and
for decreases when such decreases
make for the welfare Of the farmer.
The policy was one Of reduction in
1888 because the facts demanded it;
the policy Is one of expansion today
because the facts demand it.
I am aware that a flexible policy
is difficult to administer and difficult
for some people to understand. It is
the more unfortunate, therefore, to
have few strident voices doing their
utmost to make understanding i'm
possible. Whether their purpose Is
political, or whether they have an
unreasoned prejudice against farmers,
do not know; the unfortunate fact
is that they exist and may be capable
Of misleading some part Of the public.
One journalistic critic, often in the
past engaged In misrepresentation and
distortion, has now gone on record in
favor Of the Joseph idea Of the ever
normal granary. Last Sunday, in ad-
vocating this idea, the statement was
made that lone of the qualifications
for Office of all future Secretaries of
Agriculture should be Q sworn ad-
herence to the agricultural program
of Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel"
Now this Is fine. We in the A. A. A.
have been preaching this doctrine
steadily for the past year, and for
mulating a legislative program to
make the plan workable. In fact, the
plan is embodied in the amendments
to the agricultural adjustment act
now before Congress. Our critic ap-
parently does not read the general
press and therefore is not familiar
with the legislative notifications
which are necessary to enable the
Joseph idea to work to the benefit Of
farmers and consumers under mod
ern conditions
The Farm Beard idea OF merely
buying ana storing crops from fat to
lean years meant economic death to
the farmers and increasingly long
breadlineS to the consumers. The Farm
Board began loaning on wheat at
$1.18 a bushel and cotton, through the
A. c. c. A., at 16 cents a pound. Be-
cause these operations were not con-
Quoted under the Pharaohlike Dictator
ship; because the law was inadequate;
because the relationship of the United
States to the world round about was
different from the relationship of
Egypt to the ancient world-because
Of all these things the pseudo -Josephic
operation Of the Farm Board resulted
in wheat going to 80 cents bushel,
corn to 10 cents, cotton to cents,
hogs to 50 a hundredweight. As q
result of these prices, agriculture could
buy only third as much Of the city's
product as she hard formerly bought.
In 1882, year Of bursting surpluses,
unemployment was greater than ever
before in the history Of the United
States. It became obvious, well in
tentioned though the operations were,
that the Farm Board method of play
ing Joseph would not work.
Market No Longer Existed.
1t did not take into account the
fact that the United States was o
creditor nation with q high tariff,
and that American farmers were pro-
ducing goods on 40 million acres for
a market that no longer existed. People
who since the World War have bawled
in season and out for higher and still
higher tariffs, have destroyed the
larger part Of the farmers foreign
market. Today, therefore, now that
the foreign market has been so largely
destroyed by the rampant nationalists,
the farmer has an obligation to give
more and more thought to producing
for the needs Of the people Of the
United States and less to producing
for the outside world. Now that the
foreign consumer has been destroyed
by our tariff policy, the American
consumer must bulk larger in the con-
sciousness Of the American farmer.
1t was for this reason, in the Spring
Of 1884, before the drought of that year
had become the worst in our history,
that I came out with the idea Of the
ever-normal granary, which is identi-
cally the Joseph idea made practical
for our present-day American situa-
ton. It would permit farmers, with
the help Of the Government, to apply
the surpluses Of fat years to the
shortages Of lean years, but, unlike
the Farm Board plan, it would include
effective production control whenever
necessary. It was an idea to which
I had referred on many occasions
before becoming Secretary Of Agri-
culture, and I was only too happy to
utilize the first practical moment to
put it before the American people.
The goal, Of course, must be to protect
the American consumer without de-
stroying the American farmer, as the
Farm Board application had SO nearly
done.
Right here let me say, incidentally.
that the Joseph application did not