The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-08-05

Neutrality-suspicious. are many &C.
casions on record where several i'm
ar =, portant j S s
"EUer-Norn'al have engaged the
Granary" attention of con-
gress and fire.
quently one of these issues has
aroused such bitterness and devel-
oped such controversy that it
overshadowed all others. That has
been the case in recent weeks dur
ing which President Roosevelt's
plan to add six justices of his own
choosing to the Supreme court of
the United States completely SUBJ
ordinated everything else.
But the crushing defeat received
by the President through refusal of
the vast majority of Democrats in
congress to support his court re-
organization scheme suddenly has
directed attention to other major
questions. Outstanding among these
is Secretary Wallace's farm bill and
the so-called wages and hours bill
which is claimed to contain COM
plete protection for the laboring
classes. 1t is of the farm bill that !
shall write now since it is much
more imminent as far as congress
| sional action is concerned than is
the case with the wages and hours
proposition.
The basis of Secretary Wallace's
program is what he calls the "ever-
normal granary." There are other
provisions included in the bill but
the idea of maintained supply of
farm products is the heart of the
plan.
Now, it seems that if the words
"ever-normal granary" mean any
thing, they must be accepted as
meaning a continuity of supply at a
level which government agents ar
bitrarily determine as the proper
rate of accumulation or sale of such
supplies.
The house of representatives has
been muddling along with the ques-
ton for several months. It has
been under much pressure from
Secretary Wallace and his asso-
ciates and from some of the farm
leaders whom the secretary has
convinced of the value of his
scheme. The farm leaders as
whole are far from unanimous on
the proposition despite the fact that
Secretary Wallace and the tremen-
dous propaganda machine within
the Department of Agriculture has
been exceedingly active in an effort
to "sell' the plan to the country as
a whole and thereby bring addi-
tional pressure on congress.
/ shall not attempt to give all of
the details of the Wallace proposal
here. 1t is too complicated for ex-
PLANTATION in the limited space avail
able. Indeed, have found quite
number of members of the house of
representatives who are unable to
give complete explanation of how
the plan would work-and they adj
NIT it. 1t is a piece of legislation
that must be complicated in order
to accomplish things it's proponents
claim for it and my observation of
government agencies leads me to
the conclusion it is so complicated
that the chances of it succeeding are
almost nil.
In the first instance, as 1 have
said, the ever-normal granary idea
comprehends a constant level of
supplies. At first blush, it would
seem that storage of wheat or corn
or cotton or other farm products in
a big crop year to be sold in years
when crops are small should work
out to keep prices at satisfactory
level. That is the theory. On the
other hand, in times past this same
sort of scheme has worked out to
depress prices instead of maintain
ing them and the farmers have
been the losers.
Included in this legislation are
provisions for benefit payments to
farmers under certain conditions
when the price level falls below
parity. This injects into the prob
lem again the influence of the gen.
eral price level of all commodities
in the United States whether from
the farm or from the factory and
it also forces upon the United States
additional influence welded by the
level of prices in foreign countries
where the law of supply and de-
mand continues to operate without
impossible amendment at govern
ment's dictation.
No doubt, the Wallace proposal
would boost prices at present. This
is true because we have had sew
eral short crop years and there is
no surplus now. But with indica-
tons that the current wheat crop,
for example, is going to be excep-
tionally large, it is entirely possible
that the nation as a whole will have
a surplus of wheat this fall. In ad-
dition, there will be wheat crops
grown in other countries as usual.
Some of our wheat must be sold
in foreign markets and compete
with wheat grown in Russia or in
South America. 1t is easy to see,
therefore, that the lack of a wheat
surplus in this country is exceed
ingly temporary.
The ever-normal granary, if it
works as the theorists claim, would
store or keep off
IL SOUNDS of the market that
Great portion of the crop
which is not need
ed for current consumption. That
sounds fine. Great users of wheat
must buy their supplies far ahead.
If they do not take this precaution,
they stand a chance always of find
ing their bins empty and are faced
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