The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-10-25


 of the first tasks to be undertaken is that of providing further relief for agriculture.
 The problems of agriculture have been with us since the war. The depression which finally overlook all business and industry in 1929 had already overtaken agriculture many years before, and for nearly fif- teen years now Congress has been endeavoring to afford some relief.
 The Agricultural problem is so complex that even the farmers themselves were for many years un- able to agree on Q remedy. They were unable to obtain satisfactory cooperation among themselves. They would approve some course of acc tion by Congress, only to reject 1t in a later Congress. By trial and error some steps toward relief had been provided, but when the gen. eral depression came agriculture was back again at its lowest depths.
 Agriculture Aided
 President Roosevelt actually did something to help agriculture, and with the aid of Congress quickly enacted laws to provide emergency assistance, crop loans, and to save farmers from bankruptcy until their industry could be rehabilitated. When we look over the list of laws enacted we see recorded the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allot- ment Act, the Commodity Exchange Act, the acts consentlng to Tobacco CompactS between States, the Farm Credit Act of 1888, the Farm Gre dit Act of 1895, the Soil Erosion Act, the Livestock Bankruptcy Act, the Farm Mortgage Act, the Farm Mort- gage Refinancing Act, the Crop Loan Act, the Jones' Connally Farm Relief Act, the Jones-C Costigan Su- gar Act, the Farm Mortgage Fore closure Act, the Cotton-C Cattle Dai- ry Relief Resolution, the Grazing Act, the Farm Mortgage Amenda- tory Act, the Tobacco Inspection Act, the Farm Research Act, the Homestead Settlers Act, the Com modity Credit Corporation Act, the Farm Forestry Act, the Insect Con- trol Act, the Bankhead- Jones Farm Tenant Act, the Cotton Classifica- tion Act, the Act extending Seed Loans to Farmers, the Agricultural Marketing Agreement of 1887, the Farm Credit Act of 1887, the Sugar Act of 1887, and other measures which benefited agriculture direct- ly or indirectly.
 No other industry can point to such a record of activities in its be- half in Congress.
 Still we are facing problems with agriculture in certain regions and must devote much time to the solu- tion of these problems in the next Congress. For nothing is of more vital concern to the nation than agriculture. It is the fundamental industry of this country.
 Now what has been the effect of all of these laws and activities in Washington to aid the farmers in our Stateq
 Cash Income
 Farmers cash income from their products is most significant in- deX to their economic welfare. Oth- CT similar indexes include the pric- es they receive, per unit, for their products; the value they set upon their farms; the number of farms disposed of at forced sales: the vol- tune of their production; the amount of manufactured and industrial goods for which they can exchange the products of their farms; the tax es they pay: the amount of money they have in the banks: the wages of farm labor, Similarly revealing are the indications of their spend- ing-the purchase of new automo- piles, of gasoline, of life insurance, of farm machinery and of other manufactured goods. These latter points not only reveal the condition of the farmer but also the extent to which his buying power is being con- verted into more business for Inanu- lecturers and commercial concerns.
 Cash income from farm produce tion in connection rose from $33,- S760o0 in 1ss2 to $42,S4O000 in 1885, including $828,00 0in rental and benefit payments in 1885 produce ton. This is an increase of 24.6 per cent.
 By l932 farm cash income in this State had fallen to ,B9 per cent of its 1929 level. By 1885 1t had risen to 75 per cent of its 1929 level. This compares favorably with farm cash income in the Nation as a whole