Carbon County news., 1937-08-06

ing tnelr plns empty and are raced
with the necessity Of closing their
mills. 1t is this feature that causes
long range buyers to resort to what
is called hedging. That is, they sell
on option nearly as much as they
buy on contract. They are thus able
to offset losses whether the price Of
wheat goes up or whether it goes.
down and the losses or the gains
are distributed throughout the in.
dustry. It is the only way by which.
the industry can protect itself.
Mr.. Wallace's scheme proposes
doing away with that sort Of thing,
not directly but through the effect of
the ever-nornnal granary. In other
words, the net result of the ever
normal granary would be for the
government to hold these stocks and
feed them into. the market as de-
mand for supplies requires. This
sounds feasible and it probably
would be except for the fact that
we have no means of controlling
production in the other wheat pro-
ducing countries, and repeat that
I am using wheat as illustrative Of
all farm products. In fact, the Wal
lace plan provides no control Of pro-
duction in this country and that
question is vital. As far as I can
see, nature is going to operate to
give US rain or give US drouth in
accordance with the judgment Of
the Higher Power. No human is 60
ing to be very influential in that
regard.
To get back to the question Of the
price level. it should be said that
while the Wallace plan provides
what appears to be. an insurance
against f1uctuation, it is more likely
to have the opposite effect. Be-
cause of the influence Of world |
prices, great storehouses of wheat |
in the country will hang over the |
market like an epidemic. No one |
can tell when it will strike and since |
markets are made up Of individuals |
who are human. portion Of the |
markets is always going to be
by the uncertainty Of
when government wheat will be Of
fered for sale. It is a perfectly
human reaction because it involves
the pocketbooks and humans nat
urally want to buy as cheaply as
they can and sell as high as they
can.
One Of the things that happened
in the administration of President
Hoover tn at is
Tried Once sure to be remem-
and FoiLed bered is the utter
-"~ failure Of his farm I
policy. That farm policy centered
at one time in what was called the
Federal Farm board. If you will go
back few years and recall the OPP
erations Of the Federal Farm board,
think you will agree that the things
It undertook to do were exactly
comparable to. if not exactly the
same as, the scheme set up by Sec
retary Wallace in his ever-normal
granary idea. The only difference
hat can see-and ] watched the
operations of the farm board from
close at hand-is a change in the
name. It must be admitted that
he phrase ever-normal granary has
4 pretty sound. But when it comes
% a question of an attractive ex-
one that is soothing and
me that should convince US all
hat every problem is solved, SUBJ
nit those favorites which Mr.. Wal
ace used when Professor TugWell
vas with him in the Department
+ Agriculture. Who does not re-
all the "rnore abundant life," and
Who has forgotten the doctrine Of
carcity to assure plenty?"
AS far as / know, neither the I
ouse nor the senate committee on
griculture has held hearings. on
ais ever-normal granary phase Of
he Wallace legislation. Thus far,
he discussion has been largely on
uestions involving benefits and
ubsidies and means Of marketing.
10 attention has been given to the
ver-normal granary threat, and I
egard it as a menace.
If this discussion were devoted to
My the consumer phase Of our
conomic life, I think I should be
e1fish enough to urge enactment of s
ne Wallace plan. believe can
ee where the ever-normal granary
lea will make bread cheaper, i
here it will make cotton textile ].
Gods cheaper and when cotton is
heaper other textiles are cheaper,
nd where other food and neces-
aries of life that have their origin
n the farm will be reduced in
rice by such a legislative policy.
tut that is not my idea Of sound
cononic structure. 1t is just as x
ecessary for the consumer to pay
Is fair share toward the Inainte-
ance of living agriculture as it is !.
,r farmers to pay their fair share
! living commerce and industry