Evening star., 1936-01-24
BUSHEL REMAINS
A BUSHEL STILL
Governments Effort to Pro-
tect Corn Loans, However,
May Cause Complications.
RY DAVID LAWRENCE.

What the New Deal has Just done
to change the size of bushel OF
cor, applies only to money loaned
by the Government and has no ap-
pucation to the transactions of pri-
vate individuals with one another.
Thus, q bushel still remains q
blishel, so far as the people generally
are concerned, and it is violation
Of the law Of standards to sell any
thing called a bushel and not give
the official weight that bushel has
always had. r#
The Federal Government, through
the Commodity Credit Corporation.
has changed the size Of q tushel
frorl two and one-half cubic feet
to about three cubic feet. The reason
Is that the Government has been
lending Is cents a bushel on corn,
and it was considered disadvantageous
to reduce the amount Of the loan. So,
instead, the size Of the bushel on
which the loans would be made was
increased It works out so that the
loan really amounts to about 40 cents,
but it isn't called 40 cents.
Seek to Protect Loans.
Some one once said that the real
purpose cf governments nowadays. IN
devaluation of their monetary units,
was tu find way to reduce real
wages without letting the working
man know what is happening. So is
the changing of the size Of the bushel
OF corn on which Government loans
are made here intended to make the
farmer feel that he really isn't get
ting less of loan than heretofore.
The Commodity Credit Corporation
has about $269, 100000 of loans out
standing, and it has made loans on
many millions Of bales of cotton, in
fact on far more than did the old
Federal Farm Board on cotton. But
the only chance the Commodity Credit
Corporst ton has of making sure that
it will get its money back on corn
Is not to lend at price above the
market level. Thus, with corn selling
today at about so cents to the farm
er, the loan Of IS cents on the old
bushel was considered fairly good
margin so long as production con-
tro. through the A. A. A. has been
in effect. Now, because of the New
Deals fear that more corn will be
planted than is desirable, the lend
ing agency Of the Government wishes
to revise its lending price downward
and thus play safe against a market
II, in fHa yHrica nf d11n fn
increases in the crop.
Precedent Is Important.
The device used py the Commodity
Credit Corp. is believed to have origi-
mated with Secretary Wallace of the
Department Of Agriculture, one Of the
original defenders Of the devaluation
of the gold standard. It may not be
that the change in the size Of bushel
Of corn Is very important to anybody
but the farmers who borrow on their
corn crop but the precedent Of hav-
ing q government agency change the
size of the unit of measurement when
ever 1t feels inclined to do so in its re-
lations with the farmers is an i'm
portant matter.
The power to define bushel in any
contract with the farmers, in fact to
make any and all regulations. has
been, under the A. A. A. system,
matter Of government control anyway.
The iarmer. on signing production
control contract or on borrowing
honey on his crop, virtually submits
himself to any change in conditions
that the government may in its wis
dom seek to impose. Hence. there
can be no comeback from the farmer
II the conditions are changed. In this
particular instance, it is assumed that
the new size Of the bushel will apply
not only to old loans, but to new ones.
The change in the bushel size will,
no doubt cause much discussion, not
because the Government hasn't any
right to change the terms of its loans
-~for it does have that right-but
because the existence Of two different
sizes for q bushel is likely to cause
considerable complications from a
bookkeeping. II not from a marketing
standpoint.
Copyright. 1860