The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-09
In Washington
BY BRUCE CATION

commissions recent report h a t
one-third of the population isn't
getting enough to eat touched on
an issue the Department of Agri.
culture has been hammering at for
years.
Whole point of the famous food
stamp plan-which is costing the
government around $1O0, 900, 600
this years. that this lower third
inability to buy all the food it
need is a major cause Of the farm
problem.
Officials of the Federal Surplus
Commodities Corporation, which is
in charge o the stamp plan, fig
ure it this way:
The American farmer has lost
an export market worth $500, O0O,.
600 because of the war. But he
would gain a market worth con-
siderably over a billion if all the
people of the United States we're
able to buy as much food as a
family with an income of 500 a
month normally buys.
FsCC AIDS
RELIEFERS
The plain FSCC figures tell the
stroy.
Right now the food stamp plan
is operating in 1874 communities
and is serving some 5000, 900 per-
sons. Under present plans, it will
soon be in operation in 200 cities
and will be serving 5000, 900.
So far with n minor excep.
tom only people certified as eligi.
BILE for public relief can partici.
ate IN the stamp plan. The 5000.
600 who will be taken care of when
the present program reaches its
maximum will constitute about
one-fourth of the total eligible.
Since experience has shown only
about three-fourths of those eligi.
BILE actually take advantage of the
food stamps, the estimate is tina,
to serve all the relief families in
the country the stamp plan would
have to be expanded to accommo.
date some Is, 900, 600 people.
In addition to this group, t III {
FSC Cpeople figure there are about
2 10000, 900 people in the nation, moi
on relief or eligible for it, who are
in the extreme low-income bracket
STAMP PLAN
ONLY STOP-GAP
For about a year, now, FSCC
has been experimenting along thai
line-in Shawnee, Okla, where the
food stamps have been made avail.
able to all families whose total in.
come is under $40 a week. The
Shawnee experiment has demon.
strated that a huge number Of
headaches would be involved ir
any general extension of the plan
to low-income groups family in.
comes fluctuate considerably in
that bracket, and a terrific amour,
OF case work is necessary.
FSC has a good deal of evi.
dence to show that malnutritior
due to lack of %aufficient food in
the depression years is a genuine
defense problem. A letter from an
army recruiting officer to Milo
Perkins, head of FSCC, is cited:
this officer told of a test enlist.
ment campaign in a large city
recently, in which rs per cent Of
the recruits were rejected for ply.
steal defects, with more than hall
of those rejected showing under
weight.
Nevertheless, there is no present
indication the stamp plan will be
expanded as a defense measure
On the contrary, there is a good
chance that it may even be cut
down somewhat in certain locali-
ties as a result of the defense por-
gram. That figures out like this:
If the defense program causes a
great deal of Unemployment. as il
apparently will, the number of re-
lief and low-income families will
decline. AS that number declines,
it will be possible to spread the
stamp plan thinner. The Agricult-
ure Department has always looked
on it as a stop-gap depression rem.
edy which could and should be cur.
tailed as soon as industrial recox
cry really takes hold. 4