Evening star., 1938-05-11


been so good that the surplus is at
q record level.
Take wheat. for example, because the
hgures have just come out giving the
Official estimates. The prospect is for
crop OF about billion bushels, when
we usually consume only about 65O,-
100000, and we had 100000 carried
over from last year, making a surplus
OF about half billion bushels, which
is almost as much as whole years
supply
Naturally, under the crop-control
law, this means wheat farmers will
nave to plant less next autumn and
take cut estimated to be about 40 per
cent below their previous planting.
The corn farmer has already been told
he must cut 20 per cent and the aver
age cut being imposed on the cotton
farmer is about 40 per cent. They're
all bowling about it to their Congress-
men, but the complaints will be even
more vociferous when the wheat farm
er learns about the cut in acreage he
must take.
Like Farm Board Days.
The Government, of course, meaning
the Roosevelt administration, has got
itself loaded up with commodity loans
very much along the lines of the Fed
eral Farm Board of the Hoover days,
except that the method is not to buy
the excess crop outright, but to lend
money on it, which amounts to the
same thing when the crop isn't sold.
Thus the administration has loaned
cents pound on cotton, and the
market price. due to the glut, is lower
than that figure already. Uncle Sam
has on hand about 100000 bales of
cotton, which is about twice the
amount of cotton the Hoove~ regime
ever held
AS for wheat, the loan price may
be fixed at so cents, which means
that, Notwithstanding the enormous
production, the Government will be
Lending money on a. crop that cannot
be moved into market. If the ad-
ministration didn't make these COM
modify loans, however, the prices of
farm products would be even lower.
So We have a situation in which
price pegging by the Roosevelt ad-
ministration is indulged in with pub
lie funds, and there is no telling how
many billions of dollars more will
have to be spent If the farm acreage
or production is not cut down, or if
a drought doesn't come along to do
the cutting down which the admin
tstration has the power by law to
enforce.
Control to Control Control
The farm problem has got to the
point where some form of control is
necessary to meet an emergency Gre
ated by other forms of control Thus
Government restriction of industrial
operations has cut them down to the
point where capital is too frightened
to invest and where the politicians are
insisting that everybody else Is to
blame but themselves, and that the
remedy Is even more restriction and
regulation, such as the wage and hour
bill.
When industrys pay rolls 60 down
there is less money to buy farm
products. Certainly If one-third of
the population Of the United States
Is "ill-nourished, ill-clad and ILL
housed" and five years have elapsed
since this condition was first noted
by a rm-hearted administration, it
Is surprising that none of the brain
trusters has devised a plan as yet to
give the extra food at low prices to
the in-nourished one-third
The theory Of the administration
has been that there must be a gen.
eral increase In purchasing power,
and that's right. But the method of
getting that increased purchasing
power has been to devalue the dollar
or to cut production in industry by
forcing prices higher and higher
through increased labor expense, so
that buying Is curtailed.
The whole situation points to an
agitation for price control This
means control not only of farm prices
but industrial prices and everything
else. 1t Is a natural and inevitable
outgrowth of a planned or national
tstic economy. In the terrible old
days" Of 80 or even 20 years ago we
exported a good part Of our crop to
other parts Of the world. America
didn't have as high tariffs as we have
now to keep foreign producers from
selling some of their goods in our
markets, and they were able to buy
much of our farm surpluses.
World Economy Secuted.
Today world currencies are de-
moralized, world trade Is far from
normal, exchange restrictions are nu-