Evening star., 1935-05-16
FEDERAL PUSHING
SEEN IN march,
County Agents Suspected of
Promoting-PoIiticaI Re-
percussion Seen.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


Although the bonus march" on
Washington was discouraged by the
Roosevelt administration on the
ground that it was a form Of in
timidation with respect to legisla-
ton. the powers that be here evi-
IDENTIFY believe that a march" of
farmers to maintain the A. A. A.
laws and bounties is a proper form
of pressure.
There are suspicious that the Fed
eral Government itself engineered the
farmers march, which President
Roosevelt referred to as sur
prise birthday party" but it is doubt
full whether the truth ever will be
permitted to get out Of the Govern
ment's files.
Senator Hastings of Delaware, Re-
publican, has introduced resolu-
tion calling on the Secretary of Agri-
culture to produce correspondence,
but the Democrats are not likely to
adopt it because they have the votes
to suppress all investigations that
might possibly reflect upon them.
County Agents Hold Key.
Clippings from newspapers in Texas
would seem to indicate that county
agents, who, of course, are paid by
the Federal Department of Agricul-
ture, may have had hand in engi-
neering the march" of farmers on
Washington, and whether or not there
Is any ground for this impression,
certainly simple inquiry to official
sources for the records would quickly
dispel or prove the charges.
One clipping from newspaper in
Mart, Tex, states that "our friends
in Washington have held the line as
long as they can without the un-
stinted support of Southern pro-
ducers," and that a series Of meet
ings, therefore, was called at Mart
for May in response to a call from
j. c. Patterson of Waco, Tex, county
agent.
Another clipping says that the
A. A. A. Advisory Committee of each
county was asked by C. H. Day of
Plainview, Tex, chairman of the
Texas Cotton Advisory Committee and
original sponsor of the trip to Wash
ington, to select farmers to 60 to
Washington.
March" Not Surprise.
That the march" on Washington
was no surprise to Chester Davis, head
Of the A. A A., may be inferred from
the following remarks made at his
press conference on April "a:
Mr.. Davis-I will say that be-
lieVe in a month you will hear
great deal less about lifting the
processing tax from commodities
than now.
Reporter-Why?
Mr.. Davis-Because I think they
will be in here from the country.
Reporter-You think you have
got to carry on campaign to
drive to the grass roots what the
loss of this free money will mean
to them?
Mr.. Davis-I don't think We will
have to. I think these people
know it.
Reporter-You have a pretty
nice organization out in the
country.
Mr.. Davis-The farmers have.
But anyway, I mean to say they
have been studying this farm ques-
ton for quite while. and think
they are regarding the processing
tax as their tariff. 1t is working
for them, and this Is an awfully
good time to have 1t out and dis
cuss it.
Spontaneous idea Encouraged.
The impression sought to be created
BY administration officials about the
farmers march" on Washington
this week is that the whole thing was
spontaneous. 1t Is interesting to note
that between 5000 and 5000 farmers
came to Washington from 25 different
States, and that arrangements were
made for them to be addressed by the
President, something that could hard
~ have happened if the whole thing
was a surprise to the administration.
The probabilities are that the
county agents and the Farm Commit
tees set up by the A. A. A. planned
the march" on Washington as q
demonstration of how the farmers feel
about the A. A. A., Notwithstanding
the criticism of restricted production.
There is nothing wrong with march
on washington by farmers or anybody
else interested in pressing Congress to
legislate, but there Is supposed to be
lot wrong with the promoting Of such
movements with Government funds or
through persons who are on the Gov
ernment pay roll, as are the agents Of
the Department of Agriculture in
5000 or more counties.
If Government officials use their
positions to induce groups to come to
Washington to support legislation in
volving the expenditure of Federal
funds there would be no limit to the
opportunity of a political party to
perpetuate itself in power. The Fed
eral Government may not, of course,
have had the slightest thing to do
with encouraging or financing the
farmers march" on Washington this
week, but suppression of the Hastings
resolution will not help to remove the
suspicious created by the newspaper
clippings telling of county agent ac-
tivtty in organizing the movement to
lobby for A. A. A. legislation,