Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1936-12-23

declares the resulting small rise in
the cost of living will be substantially
offset by recovery in urban buying
power. This country's farm produc-
tivity is so tremendous, the Secre-
tary remarks, that recovery from
drought comes quickly Our farm pro-
duction, despite the influence of the
1884 drought, was only 10 percent less
in 1884 and also in 1885 than it had
been in $780, Industrial production,
after falling in 1882 to Sc percent of
the 1880 level recovered in 1885 only
to 80 percent of the 1890 volume.
Describing action taken under the
Soil Conservation and Domestic AL
lotment Act of 1886, the report says
the shift from land exploitation to soil
conservation in this country is the
logical outgrowth of changing econo-
mic and social conditions. AS the &C.
cupation of the continent proceeded,
Secretary Wallace says the expansion
program ran out of land, and forced
the land hungry into submarginal
farming, destructive grazing, overcrop
ping and forest devastation. The new
law through weaker in crop adjust
ment power than the old Agricultural
Adjustment Act has the great merit of
launching a positive attack on the
dual problem of soil destruction and
unbalanced cropping and will produce
some crop adjustments as a byprodut-
The Federal Government made
grants to farmers who cOoperated in
soil conserving and soil building pro-
grams. AS required by the decision of
the United States Supreme Court in
the Hosac Mills case, it did not en-
ter into contract with individual far
mers, but merely checked their COM
pliance with the requirements. Secre-
tary Wallace says the farmers re-
Spouse was gratifying. In general the
cooperation was about the same as
under the A. A. A. in areas where corn
cotton, wheat, and tobacco are the
major crops and much greater in the
| areas of general farming, as for ex-
ample the dairy regions of Wiscon-
sin and New England and the mixed
farming sections of California. In set
| ting up the new program the admin
| istration took into consideration a
great diversity of regional conditions,
crops, and types of farming and treat
| ed each farm as a unit
|
for the critical areas in the Great
Plains is an urgent necessity, the re-
port states. This region is suffering
from mistaken efforts to introduce
into it type of agriculture suited on
ly to humid areas. Wrong public po-
licies, notably the Federal Homestead
Laws, have fostered unwise cultiva-
! ton, and have condemned the cul-
| tivators to poverty. Over a tremen-
dous aggregate area the outstanding
results, says the Secretary, have been
bankruptcy, tax delinquency, absentee
ownership, and excessive tenancy Re
search should he undertaken, the Sec
rotary says, to determine how many
people the region can properly sup
port. He adds that it will support
more people under sound agricul-
| tural system with scientific cropping
and grazing and with proper conser-
possibly support under present con-
ditions. In dealing with the Great
Plains the fundamental purpose, says
| the report, should not be to depopu-
late the region but to make it per-
manently habitable. AS appropriate
measures, the report suggests the pub
| lie acquisition of certain lands that
are not suited to ranching or farm
ing and a coordinated program in
volving Federal, State, and local CO.
| operation with erosion control and
water conservation the basic aim. Els
pecially important for this area, the