Evening star., 1935-11-10
Bv NJ. G.. r.

w YHILE the Agricultural Ad-
\A/ justment Administration
wv has been occupying con-
spicuous place in head
lines, and while claims have been fly
ing about as merrily as brickbats on
an Irish holiday, that portion OF the
public which is so low-spirited as to
yearn for mere facts may suffer its
moments of bewilderment. For facts
sometimes do seem to be in shortage.
Or maybe they are like cotton, they
exist in such an abundance that it
becomes expedient to plow a per-
centage of them under.
Be that as it may. they are not al
ways easy to come by in lucid or
ganized form. And for this reason 1t
seems fitting to examine the series OF
studies of the A. A. A. programs which
have been made and published by the
Brookings Institution over the past
two years. These studies cover the
wheat program, the marketing agree
ment program, the dairy program, the
tobacco program and the live stock
program. A volume dealing with the
cotton program is under preparation.
Following this series of six, the in
stitution plans to bring out still an
other work-probably next Spring
which will attempt to give general
appraisal of just what has been ac-
complished along the whole A. A. A.
line Of endeavor.
The reader may or may not agree
with the conclusions which these VOL
umes draw concerning the good or
Indifferent nature of the various pro-
grams. But, however he may decide
on the debetable aspects of the ques-
tlons, he will find the factual studies
OF value. Each of the volumes is the
work of separate writer who is an
authority in his field. Their investiga-
tions were supplemented by staff OF
field workers-some "a of them-in-
dividuals who for the most part we're
connected with agricultural colleges
in the districts under examination.
THE wheat study is called wheat
and the A. A. A" Its author is
Joseph S. Davis, one Of the directors
of the Food Research Institute, who
took a years leave to work on the
Brookings study. After setting forth
the aims and accomplishments of the
wheat program. as it has existed up
until April, 1885, this writer delivers
the pointed criticism that there is
danger that the reduction payments
to farmers be made an instrument of
politicians. 1t seems to him that
while the farmers-or some Of them
may benefit by the payment plan, it
is of dubious fairness to the taxpayers,
whose money is used to make the pay
ments. to have the program become a
club to be welded by any political
party This is sound reasoning. of
course. but a detached viewpoint will
allow that that peril is not unique to
the wheat-reduction program Of the
A. A. A. 1t could be said to be in
herent in any governmental enterprise
which affects the income of a sub
stantial section of the voting popula-
ton.
A second study in the series is
called Livestock Under the A. A. ="
This volume points out that while the
income of the hog farmer increased
by more than so per cent from 1882
to 1894. most of this increase was due
to factors other than the A. A. A,
including the drought. and on the
average the hog farmers income was
only I per cent more than it would
have been under normal circum-
stances. The question naturally comes
up as to whether such results are
worth the effort when they can be so
completely overshadowed by a factor
over which man has no control. In
view of the recent controversy over
this particular program. it would seem
that this volume would have special
interest for the electorate.
A somewhat more optimistic out
look results from the study made of
the effect of the A. A. A. program on