The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1935-12-05
PreUette Speaks
In Protest OF The
Potato Control Act
jefferson. N. c.,
December 2, 1885.

friends who read your paper trust
you will publish this statement rel
alive to the Potato Control Act. For
some time after the passage of this
act the AAA officials intimated that
it would not be enforced. An Asso-
ciated Press dispatch, November
80, from Washington state that the
law is going to be enforced. In view
Of this fact I believe my friends
would appreciate statement from
me as to the provisions and penal
ties Of this act.
No better. description could be
obtained than a statement appear
ing in the November 16, 1885 is
sue Of the Saturday Evening Post,
which is as follows:
The law says: There is hereby
levied and assessed upon each first
sale Of potatoes harvested on or aft
er December 1, 1885, in the CONT
entail United States, a tax, to be
paid by the seller, at the rate of
three-fourths of one cent pound"
That is tax, amounting to forty
five cents bushel laid upon the
first sale of potatoes, all alike and
everywhere. It is tax, and yet not
one penny of revenue is expected
from it. The idea is not to raise
revenue but to raise the price of
potatoes.
The law then goes on to say that
the Secretary of Agriculture shall
guess how many potatoes the total
population can afford to buy in one
year at a fair and reasonable price;
and when he has guessed and pro-
claimed the quantity, he shall ap-
portion it among potato growing
farmers who apply, and say to each
one of them this: "Your share in
the total crop, determinend &C
cording to Section 2O4, 206 and 2O7
of the law, is so many bushels. For
that number of bushels, and no
more, you may receive tax-exemp-
ton stamps, which, when they are
affixed to a standard Federal pack
age, as provided for in Secion 211
(a) of the law, will indicate that
your potatoes are tax free. On any
quantity above this you will pay a
tax of three quarters of a cent a
pound when you sell them; and it
will be unlawful for you to sell any
potatoes at an except in a standard
Federal package bearing a Federal
stamp to show either that they are
tax free, or, if not, that you have
paid the tax The penalty for boot
Logging potatoes will be one thou
sand dollars fine, and for a second
fine with Imprisonment,
both for you and for the person
who buys your potatoes"
That is the law. It is the law of
potatoes for 1896. After that, the
Secretary of Agriculture is instruct
ed to conduct referendum, (which
will afford to producers of potatoes
a reasonable opportunity to vote in
favor of or in opposition to" contin-
uing the plan. Not all farmers can
vote, apparently. Only the produc-
ers of potatoes shall have only a
reasonable opportunity" to vote
whatever that may rnean-as a con-
cession to the voluntary principle.
AS the law stands, it will be a
crime next year for. a farmer, on
his own land, to grow potato and
sell it but by permission of a Fed
eral bureau, in a Federal package,
bearing a Federal stamp. It will be
a crime for you to drive out to a
farm and buy an ordinary sack Of
potatoes for the cellar bin. If you
do it once, and get caught, it will
cost you $1,000. If you are caught a
second time, you will be imprison-
ed, along with the farmer. AS a
consumer, of course, you would not
expect TO- have had anything. to say
about it. But in this case neither
had the farmer.
I wonder if the representative
from this district really reprented
the people of Ashe, Allegheny, Wa
tauga, Wilkes, Caldwell and Alex
ander counties when he assisted in
the passage of this law.
Respectfully submitted,
JOSEPH. M. PREvETTE.