Evening star., 1937-08-29

r.
due them for complying with the
features of the already operative soil
conservation law
In order to finance parity pay
ments the bill would revive our old
friend, the processing tax. This time,
however, the tax would not be uni
versal in applications; it would be i'm
posed only when the cotton crop
seemed likely to exceed the normal
supply need by IS per cent; wheat
exceeded it by 20 per cent or rice by
10 per cent.
There are other features of this
gigantic bill which are designed to
protect the consumer, 20 permit Amer
ican markets to react quickly to va
| riations in imports to provide crop
loans to growers
Should the bill become law, the
chief administrative problem would
lie in the fact that no farmer can be
compelled to agree to the crop-control
| and marketing limitations. For COM
pllance he is rewarded by sol-con-
| servation payments and parity pay
ments. But ever present is the temp
tation when price is high to market
the whole production in the hope for
greater return from sales than from
the Government handout.
That was an early problem Of the
first adjustment act. The Agricul-
tural Adjustment Administration
points out, however, that the no.
penalty soil-conservation Law which
succeeded the adjustment act and
offers only limited reward for pro-
| duction control has caused 10000 900
| acres to be diverted from money crops.
| And it feels further that the power
| the bill gives the Department of Ag-
rlculture to stabilize would keep prices
so level that there would be little
temptation for a farmer to sell his
market quota.
Sees Other Benefits.
The bill, Secretary Wallace told the
House Agriculture Committee, would
have the further beneficial results of
carrying forward the fight against
erosion, eliminating the one-crop
farm and aiding urban industrial
workers. His own quotations before
| the committee are:
The South greatly needs such q
farm program as this, because It Will
encourage more farmers to get away
from the one-cash crop method which
results in heavy soil loss.
More stabilized supplies of cotton
and tobacco, more production OF home
feed and food and more il-building
practices will help Southern farmers
to attain higher standard of living
Cotton and tobacco growers will RELY
less than corn and wheat growers on
the loan and storage features of this
bill and more on its provisions for
payments to encourage proper adjust
ments OF supplies and diversion Of
land out Of soil-depleting crops into
soil-building crops and practices.
But economic justice, and the in
terest OF the Nation in saving and re-
building the soil fertility of the South,
justify emphasis upon its usefulness
to growers Of cotton and tobacco as
well as the other crops named In the
bill
Those who perform useful func-
tions in handling, processing and
moving farm products to the con:
sumer at fair and stable prices will
gain through the elimination Of the
wide swings in the agricultural prices
and agricultural production.
Sees Benefit to Labor.
THE ever-normal granary feature
has very definite benefits for labor.
Wide swings in the production of ag-
ricultural products naturally lead to
rapid changes in the demand for
labor. A great deal of hardship
among those employed In the handling
trades would be eliminated If farm
supplies moving to market could be
better stabilized"
Requests for agricultural control
legislation such as Congress Is to con-
slider come from many farmers as
well as from the Department of Ag-
riculture. The Farm Bureau Fedora
ton is an especially vigorous hacker
of the proposal. Yet, perhaps because
times are better and for many farm
ers Is a year not alone Of good crops
but of good markets, the demand that
the Federal Government do some
thing" Is nowhere nearly 80 vociferous
as 1t was early In 1888.
To find out how the farmers them
selves feel about the situation, the
members Of the House Agricultural
Committee will tour the country be-
tween now and the convening of the
next session, interviewing growers and
adjusting in their own minds what
the needs IRE. What the farmer will
tell the visiting Representatives Of his
reaction to the proposal for crop
control is problematical. This, how
ever, Is what H. r. Tolley, agr1cul-
tlral adjustment administrator, told
the United States Chamber Of Com
merce convention last April:
III and when legsl pFoviG1en b