Evening star., 1936-01-10

(COntlnued from First Page.)
matter Of the agricultural problem.
He pointed out that, first Of all, he
must think Of agriculture from the
viewpoint Of 48 States. and not from
merely several Safes or some sections.
Also he must view his duty in the
light Of national problem.
He entered upon his discussion Of
the export subsidy theory by saying
that numerous suggestions are now
being made to revive old ideas in the
matter of helping the farmer. He said
some of these suggestions are ideas
brought forward as far back as the
administration of Calvin Coolidge.
Avoid Labelling Ideas.
The President purposely avoided
tagging a lebal on any of these ideas
and at no time mentioned the Nc
Nary Haugen export debenture, which
was so prominently before the Nation
during Coolidge's days, but it was evil
dent that he had this particular pro-
posed legislation in mind.
In the opinion Of Mr.. Roosevelt, 1t
would be difficult to limit export SUBJ
sides to any one crop. If there was
a bill passed placing subsidy on
wheat exports, 1t would mean that
other crops would have to be subsi-
died.
To illustrate his contention that
the soil fertility Of this country must
h. to;n onI dactrnYnA tho
President pointed out the case of in
creased production of wheat. He said
there never was much Of wheat
problem in this country until dry
farming was introduced. This was
call for the plowing up of prairie
lands on which buffalo grass had
been growing for many centuries.
The President said this resulted in
very light soil being turned up and
the planting Of wheat in this soil.
The acreage was tremendous and
therefore, according to the President,
the wheat yield per acre was not the
main concern of the planter. He said
the latter could make money if he
raised only 10 or II bushels to the
acre.
Duststorms Problem.
The result, the President pointed
out, was the beginning of the dust
storms which he said are getting
worse year by year. He said this
development was brought about by
the use of this old buffalo grass land
for a wrong purpose. He then cited
the magnitude of the area of the
United States which had been affected
by duststorms in recent years, which
he said was equal in size to all Of
New England. New York and New
Jersey. He contended that If We
enter upon a national agricultural
policy such as export subsidies, this
would mean the plowing up again of
all that as well as other land, which
would result in turning those lands
back to deserts.
The President said this situation is
not only true in the case Of wheat,
but also in the case of cotton. He
said that an export subsidy on cotton
would result in increased production
of that crop, which would mean that
cotton growers would start planting on
land which should be in pasture or
timber, and that this eventually would
result in the good top soil running
into the ocean. 1t was at this point
that the President declared for pol
icy calling for the avoidance of Ship
ping our soil fertility to foreign ma
tions," as he expressed it.
Mr.. Roosevelt believes the thinking
farmer will not be in favor of subsidy
proposals, although there will be many
who favor them. He mentioned the
transportation people, adding that it
would be perfectly natural for the
railroads to want increased production
because it means increased freightS.
The same is true in the case Of steam
ship companies
The President said it is natural for
them to think more about carrying
increased freights over the seas rather
than to think of the future Of the
country's soil He mentioned the
warehouses and commission merchants
and commodity exchanges as being in
favor of anything that would produce
bigger crops. He added that pocket
books would figure greatly in the
sentiment developed by export sub
sides.
The President called attention also
to the fact that in the matter of en-
couraging crop exports it should be
recalled that large number of foreign
countries already have very definite
quotas limiting the amount of i'm
ports from this country.