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

report declares, is action to enable
competent tenants to purchase and
| operate their own farms.
Secretary Wallace deals extensively
in his heport with the tenancy ques-
ton as a whole. Development of bet
ter land-use methods will depend lar
gely on the improvement of land
tenure systems, he says Widely es-
tablished practices in this country
stimulates soil mining, destructive
grazing, and excessively high rates of
tenancy. These, the report insists, are
not the unavoidable results of private
ownership but can be minimized, as
the experience of some other countries
amply proves.
Quoting recent statistics as to the
growth Of tenancy in this country, the
report says in some areas more wide
spread ownership by farm operators
is desirable, provided the new owners
can be protected from certain eco
nomic hazards. 1t should be possible
to improve leasing agreements with
advantage to both landlords and ten
ans and to promote type of agricul-
a more secure occupancy of his farm,
to conserve the soil, and to build
sound rural institutions. Under pres
ent conditions few tenant farmers, ex-
cept hose who occupy the farms of
relatives can be sure of operating
their farms for longer than the per-
iod covered by the lease, and they
have no property rights in any i'm
provements which they may make on
the farms. These shortcomings, the
Secretary says, could be corrected.
The report emphasis the need for
some form of crop insurance, and says
the Government probably must assist
if crop insurance is to be made gen
orally available to the farmer. Secre-
tary Wallace would combine crop in
surance with the principle of the ever
normal granary, so as to level off the
amount that individual farmers tend
to place on the market in various
years. In other words, he would COM
bine crop insurance with the storage
of SURPRISES in an effort to deal 81
simultaneously with the problem of
both the lean and the fat years. Any
plan that is offered should be optional
with the farmers, he says, and he adds
that the administration is committed
to no single plan.
Studies in the Department of Agri-
culture indicate that crop insurance,
to be successful, should have an &C
tuarial basis, that rates should vary
by regions and by farms, that yields
and not prices should be insured, and
that it should not benefit the shift
less at the expense of the hrifty or
the poor land at the expense of the
good.
Discussing our foreign trade in
farm products, the Secretary notes
that agriculture participated in the
general improvement that took place
in our export trade as whole last
year though neither the exports nor
the imports of farm products were
near the level maintained from 1920
to 1929. In the fiscal year 1886 there
was domestic shortage of certain
farm products as a result of the 1884
drought, yet the value of competitive
agricultural imports was less than
two-thirds as high as the annual aver
age of the decade preceding the de-
preston and represented an insight
ficient proportion of our normal out
put of similar products. AS our farm
production revived in 1895, the i'm
ports fell off. Temporarily they may
increase again as result of last years
drought. Secretary Wallace says, how
ever, that the agricultural problem
is not how to stop moderate flow of
competitive imports following crop
failure but how to plan for our nor
NAL conditions, which are those of a
surplus country. Normally, American
agriculture meets it's chief competi-
ton abroad, because it produces lar
gely for export; and an import ex-
cusion policy would react adversely |
on the export trade.
Agriculture is beginning to benefit, |
the Secretary says, from agreements
concluded under the Reciprocal Tar
iff Act 1t will not be possible, how
ever, fully to test the advantages OF
this measure until agreements nave
been concluded with our leading for
eign markets.