Milford chronicle., 1935-11-22
new FARM AID
PLAN GOES TO
WASHINGTON
Would Pay Farmers For
Producing NOn-FOOd
Crops For Industrial
Uses, In Place OF The
Acres Now Devoted To
Surplus Crops.
.[c0niinned from First PsgeI

y
would be permitted to expend thei
volume Of total production. Con
sumption would not be restricted be
cause fixed sums would not be add
ed through processing taxes to th'
consumer prices. Production in tn
most efficient areas would be en-
couraged.
"The plan is frankly dependen
upon the distribution by the govern
ment Of subsidies, bounties, benefi
payments or whatever term ont
wishes to apply. However, in return
for these contributions from the pub
lie purse, the nation at large woulI
reap tangible present and future
benefits in several desirable forms.
Under the present situation, bene-
iit payments are mailed to a giveI
farmer in consideration Of his agree
nient not to produce a specified
amount of corn, wheat, cotton OF
pork. He is told that there are GER
tain things that he may not grow
upon the acreage which he has the
oretically rented to the government,
Under this new proposal no such
agreement would be required. The
agreement would be simply that the
government would pay him bounty
upon such acres as he chose to de-
vote to certain permanently advan-
tageous purposes.
Say man chooses to devote more
acres to leguminOus soil-building
crops instead of surplus crops. Ev-
cry farmer knows the production of
clover is desirable for the improve
nient of his soil, but very often, un-
der the pressure of need for imme-
diate cash, he grows, instead, crops
more readily marketable, and con-
tinues to drain more fertility from
his fields.
Most students of agricultural af-
fairs agree that It would be very
desirable If the acres now devoted
to producing surplus crops could be
used instead for the production Of
non-food crops, of which there are
no surpluses, or for the production
Of raw materials for Industrial con-
sumption. Progress in this direction
has not been rapid, either because
cultural methods have not been de-
veloped to a point where the given
commodity can profitabIy be sold by
farmers at low enough price to at
tract manufactures, or because the
manufacturers processes have not
been developed to a point where he
can pay a high enough price to in
duce farmers to supply the product.
Yet such crops are highly to be de-
sired.
For the purposes Of illustration,
an instance of little immediate i'm
portance may be drawn from the
field of Insecticides. In combating
orchard and crop insects, farmers
are using arsenical sprays in tre-
'mendous quantities, because no
spray not injurious to human beings
vet fatal to insects has so far been
developed that is a cheap enough
substitute for the poisonous mineral. /
Consumers are being taught to OBJ
ject to arsenica1 sprays, and the per-
eentage that may adhere to fruit or
vegetables is rigidly limited by Fed
eral regulation. Now, it is a fact
that sprays fatal 20 insects and nom
poisonous to human beings can be
made from pyrethrum "a daisylike
flower now imported from Japan
and from certain roots that grow in
the tropics. This country had per-
haps one hundred and fifty acres OF
pyrethrum being grown more or less
experimentally in 1885, but farmers
have not taken IL up extensively be-
cause they do not see enough in It,
In a case like this the government
could nav a direct subsidy of so
much an acre or a pound to the py-
iethrum grower, thereby making 1t
worth his while to supply the domes-
lie manufacturer. This would, in
lime, remove the necessity of i'm
porting pyrethrum.
The U. :. is still importing large
quantities Of soybeans from Man
,huria. The subsidy for soybean ,
growers, which would be applicable
throughout the Corn Belt and the
South, should remove the necessity
ior these imports and serve the adj ,
iitional purpose Of promoting more
extensive use of known and we'll (
soiI-building crop.
Starch crops. sugar cane and SUE ]
,ar, beets, artichokes or other sugar I
.rops. hemp and FAX. and other fiber
,rops, might be included among {
hose to be subsidized by the gov
fnment. Tung-oii production. fax
eed, saffower, castor beans and I
Ither oil crops could be included.
Another illustration: There has J
cen much discussion Of the possi- :
iiity of diVerting some OF our farm
cres to the production OF motor 4
uei. At present scientists engaged d
d studying this problem believe that \
he Jerusalem artichoke would prob r
billy yield the most profitable output L
{ alcohol per acre. The inclusion OF h
10 per cent blend Of agriculturally e
reduced alcohol in all the motor
ieI now used would require 1,700.- a
90 900 gallons Of alcohol. A subsidy j
lould encourage tho diversion Of p
liIlions OF acres to a product that b
-ouId not compete with other agri- 4
nltural acres, nor with other farm C
The product Of these A
cres would not compete with other i
,od stuifs.
Where would the money come p
ON? Mr.. McMiilen says: 1T might q
} we'll be paid directly out Of the N
ederal Treasury. since in the long oi
IN the cost OF all bounties and sub e
dies comes from the people e n
rge. However. It might be found p