The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1939-08-24
Poor Mr.. Wallace

most pathetic figures in it is that Of
Mr.. Henry A. Wallace, secretary of
agriculture. In no other phase of this
extraordinary Administration is the
confusion as great or the collapse as
complete as in the department over
which he presides.
AS Mr.. Wallace reviews the record
since he entered the Cabinet, his feel
ing must be one of the deepest discOur-
agement. He is far too intelligent
man not to know the extent of the fail
ure of the Roosevelt farm policies and
much too conscientious not to be ap-
palled at the cost. In the whole history
of government no such vast sums of
money have been poured out with so
negligible result. 1t is, in fact, a
shocking picture which those who un-
dertook to regulate the agricultural
production of the country look upon
today.
The simple truth is that, with the
major crops, with which these plan
ners have dealt, the situation is worse
than before they started An incredible
number of millions have been eXpend
ed without fundamentally improving
conditions in any direction. Caught in
A spraying, ill-conceived, unavoidable
Legislative tangle, year after year Mr..
Wallace has been compelled to strug
gle with new price-fixing-subsidy
scheme in place Of the one just failed.
After six years of this it would seem
that the most optimistic dreamer
would lose faith.
Unquestionably, Mr.. Wallace lost
most Of his a long time ago; but he
can't stop. He has to go on. To deal
realistically and candidly with the
facts-to say that not one of the
schemes has worked: that the goal is
as far away as before; that the price
levels are lower than they have been
since 1888; that the great sums SO
prodigally expended have had only
temporary etfect-to say these things
is to confess to a failure so gigantic
that no one in the Administration can
contemplate it without shuddering. It
has, in fact, been long time since
any Administration spokesman made
a claim of what had been done for the
farmers, though evey year, with the
new scheme, the propaganda machine
continues to promise what will be
done.
Actually, there is no escape from
the fact that the wheat and corn pro-
grams literally have fallen to pieces
so far as their 'objectives" are con-
cerned. Wheat and corn are now sell
ing at the lowest price since 1888 and
the reports Of the Agricultural De-
partment itself show a shocking de-
cline in exports of American farm
products. Specifically, the statistics
show that farm product shipments
abroad for the year ended May 1, 1889,
are twenty-one per cent less than for
the year ended May l, 1888.
&**
As for cotton, the story is even
more distressing and the plight of the
cotton grower generally recognized as
acute. Through the Government ware
house storage policy an entire years
crop has been removed from the mar
ket and the American price, at enor-
nous government expense, kept above
the world price. AS a result, the total
exports of cotton for the year were
about 3,40O,00O bales, or much less
than for any year in sixty years
fifty per cent less than for 1888. Nat
urally, other cotton-producing coun-
tries have stepped into the world mar
kets which we have abandoned and
naturally, there has been an cutlery
at home.
To correct this, the AAA now pro-
poses to subsidize cotton exports
that is, raw cotton to the tune Of one
and one-half cents point. Thus, hav-
ing at great cost taken our cotton off
the world market, we are now about
to spend millions in an effort to put
it back. Aside from the patent fact
that this policy clashes directly with
Secretary HulPs reciprocal-trade
agreements, it does not make sense
in other ways. In effect, as the New
York Times points out, we will be
given foreigner cheaper raw cotton
to compete against our own manufac-
turers in our own market as well as in
the world market.
The effort to compensate by also
substituting exports of finished cotton
goods and limiting cotton goods i'm
ports only builds up a new and cum
bersome series of bureaucratic con-
trolls. Further, it is true that recently