The Washington times., 1938-10-26

WHERE this farm program is
w leading Mr.. Wallace is some
thing lot of people here would
like to find out, probably includ-
ing Mr.. Wallace.
With Henry already up to his
knees in wheat and cotton pre-
dicaments, he is now being
pushed face forward into the
corn bin. While corn is selling
around 40 cents a buShel, the
law requires the Agriculture
Secretary to make loans next I
month at SIS to SO cents-call it
81 cents, which will probably
be the final figure.
That IT. cent loan bounty
might work out to the satiSfac-
ton of all except Treasury Sec
retary Morgenthau, who is hold
ing the taxpayers bag, except
that a lot of old loans made
last year at so cents a buShel
are coming due at the same
time - $4,000 900 bushels Of
them, to be exact.
Wise farmers can get out
their arithmeticS and conclude
that this is going to make a
funny situation for someone.
Possible Corn Profits
OIMPLEST way for the corn
~ farmer to work it would be
to default on his old 50-cent
loan, then buy that very same
corn back from the Government
at the market price of 40 cents,
thereby making a profit of 10
cents per bushel without letting
a kernel of the corn out Of his
bin.
Furthermore, the same farmer
could use that old corn for feed
and then let the Government
lend him 81 cents a bushel on
an equivalent amount of his
new crop, thus fattening both
his pigs and his purse with the
same corn. A loan may thus
be turned into a subsidy.
Obviously, Mr.. wallace is not
responsible entirely for this ore.
Congress fixed the loan figure
on a basis of price parity. But
it is a good example OF the
tangles you get into with eco
nomic planning under precon-
ceived rigid rules.
Election Forecasts
INSIDE working chart at Demo
L cratic headquarters shows a
possibility Republicans will gain
more Senate seats than gener-
ally thought possible. It mournS
the possible loss of six unless
the existing situation can be up
set in the next two weeks, and
two more seats are considered
distinctly on the doubtful side.
South Dakota and New HaInp-
shire are considered everywhere
as good as gone for the Demo-
Gratis. Iowa is close, with the
best guess indicating a Repub-
lican gain by 10000 to 10000
majority. New Jersey and Kan
Sas are close, but on the minus
side. So is Wisconsin. If any
of these six is saved there will
be rejoicing on high.
Highly doubtful ones are Ohio
and California, the situation in
Ohio being considered worse
than in California.
Revised House Chart
DLEASE revise the chart of ex-
L pected House changes Gas
published here September 19) to
bring it up to last-minute re-
ports. That Democratic mourn
ing list showed % seats sure to
be lost, 18 more losses possible.
Latest lofty checking puts the
expected loss at 80, although
publicly Democratic headquar-
ters probably will continue to
say IL to 40.
Biggest changes from the old
list are being made in Ohio and
Pennsylvania. The Ohio loss is
likely to reach 10, with four
surely gone. In Pennsylvania
they count six possible, four
sure.
States in which losses of two
are now anticipated: California,
Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, New
Jersey. Losses of one are looked
for in Delaware, Idaho, Kansas,
Michigan, Nebraska, New Hamp-
shire, New Mexico, New York,
Oregon, Rhode Island, South Da-
kota, Washington, Wisconsin
and Wyoming. (Note that the
Democrats now expect to hold
their own in Colorado, Indiana,
Maryland, Massachusetts,, Mis-
sour, Minnesota
Republican figures expect a
gain of 86, which represents lit
tie change from the September
19 chart.
If you will average these op-
posing figures off, you will reach
an expected Republican gain of
So, which is about the average
guess of the experts, and prob
ably accounts for the manner in
which the calculations are made.
X \
Fact Finders Win
A NTTMONOPOLY (NEC)
"A Committee managed to keep
in the family a sharp dispute
at the last meeting about hold
ing hearings. DowntownerS
wanted to start as scheduled
to expose the influence of banks
over industrial boards of direc-
tors. Senator King of Utah
wanted no hearings whatever.
COMPROMISE was finally reached