The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-10-23

of the average for the period, 1924
'28; farm foreclosures were sweeping
the country like wildfire. A scourage
of bank failures had passed over the
country and wiped out the lifetime
savings of many farm families; sour
ces of agricultural credit had dried
up; the 100000 unemployed were
returning to rural areas Cor food and
protection adding further to the
woes of stricken people; the farm
market, as an outlet for industrial
goods, had vanished; the Nations
sails were being bled white of their
fertility in the production of staple
crops that could not be sold, but
were adding constantly to an already
unstable surplus, This was not an
acute situation; it was chronic. 1t
had been growing progressively
worse since 1920 and nothing had
been done about it.
The AAA set county committees
in every agricultural community in
the country in motion to adjust crop
production to effective market de-
mands. Trade agreements to reopen
the portals of foreign trade were
formulated Flood and drought
stricken farms were given aid. The
Farm Credit Administration was es-
tablished and by July l of this year
had already extended $2,667, ,28S
longterm credit to farmers at low
interest rates for refinancing mort
cages, for crop production purposes,
for farm cooperatives, thereby saving
thousands of farm homes from fore
closure.
Banking laws have been enacted
that insure depositors money i'll a
bank up to $4,000. No one has had
the temerity to attack this piece of
legislation. The Federal Housing
Administration, designed to rejuve-
nate the building industry of Amer
lea, is meeting with phenomenal suC-
cess. A building boom is alread.,
underway. In building, rs cents Of
every dollar goes directly or indirect
~ to skilled labor, which in turn,
spends 40 per cent of the wage for
what the farmer has to sell. The
Resettlement Administration is NOV
ing stranded families to better land
md establishing them in the farm
ing business. This is one of the
most humanitarian acts Of the entire
New Deal.
The Old Age Pension Act was an
epoch-making piece of legislation de-
signed to care for those who have
given their fruitful days to honest
toll and are now in the evening years
Of life. This law will do much to
bring about realization of Brown
ing's phrase "The best of life is the
last, for which the first was made. +"
1t is regrettable that the leaders in
the Virginia political ring" turned
down the gracious provisions of the
Old Age Pension Act at the last ses-
sion of the Virginia General Assem-
bly,, and denied our old people the
economic security that President
Roosevelt has said is theirs.
What has been the net result of
the New Deal for agriculture First,
he income from cash crops in 1885
was $6,943,OOO,O0O, an increase of
over so per cent above that of 1882.
What is more significant, the cash
available for living from the 1885 IN
come after deducting wages, operat-
| ing expenses, taxes and interest, Is
estimated at $3,575,0O0,OOO which
amount is the largest for any year
since 1929, and nearly 21a times as
large as that for 1892. This restored
purchasing power on the farms is
buying more automobiles, farm i'm
plements, radios, home equipment
and other industrial products. 1t is
turning factory wheels in our cities.
President Roosevelt is the first oc-
cupant of the White House in the
memory of the present generation
who was elected ON platform to i'm
prove the lot of that part of our pop
ulation who get their livelihood out
of the soil. He has kept that prom
Use and has focused the resources of
our great Nation upon its basic prob
agriculture. He has built the
ground work of legislation designed
to extend to agriculture the same
benefits of government that have
been so lavishly bestowed upon in
dustry. Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
the friend of the farmer, has kept
the faith!
1.-THE American Legion has had