The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-01-31
WNU Service, 1895 National Press
Bldg, Washington, ID. C.


WASHINGTON.-Few people real
lied how much dynamite there was
In that speech on agricultural pre-
paredness which Secretary of Agri-
culture Wickard delivered at his old
alma mater, Purdue university, the
other day.
While he didn't come right out
and say so in so many words, the
secretary sounded the knell of hope
for foreign market for farm sur
pluses. That speech marked the be-
ginning of new farm policy in the
United States based on what is
believed by officials here to be a
permanent and not temporary loss
Of export trade.
1.-THE facts are" said the secre-
tary, that the trend of American
farm exports has been downward
since the turn of the century. Now
I don't mean to say that the decline
has been constant. You know better
than that. It has been by fits and
starts. Exports shot up for Is
years. Exports fell off like stone
dropped from a tower after the
Smoot-Hawley Tariff act Of 1880"
In that paragraph is the secre-
tary's hypothesis from which he
draws his conclusions.
SURPLUS STATISTICS
According TO the best statistics
available here there are two bales
q cotton on hand In the world today
Tor every bala that. win probably be
used In the current marketing year"
and there are at least 1000 900 900
bushels Of wheat In the world today
for which no market exists and "a
similar situation exists IN the lard
and tobacco markets"
The secretary says that the an
Swer to this problem of farm sur
pluses cannot be solved with the two
words reduce production" because
we cant reduce the number of peo-
pie who live on cotton farms, or
wheat farms, or tobacco farms, in
the same proportions which we can
reduce the acreages of these COM
modities."
Those are the secretary's words
but folks with good pair Of glasses
have been busy reading between the
lines and this is what they say he
means:
when the war is over our ex-
ports of farm products, even If they
increase for a while, are going to
decrease in the long run and we've
got TO take steps right now to make
adjustments in the country"
Adjustments" is the secretary's
own word for 1t.
OTHER PAINFUL POINTS
More reading between the lines
reveals a number Of interesting, II
somewhat painful, points:
One: Not only must the amount
OF farm products be cut down, but
the number of people on farms has
to be cut down q. e. other means
Of income found for them).
Two: Not only must the unsuc-
cessful farmer adjust himself TO this
situation by raising stuff that he
can eat himself or by getting some
other work, but the successful farm
er will have to make some adjust
ments.
For instance, he will have to ex-
pect a certain amount of inter-
regional competition. Concretely
that means that the cotton farmer
will be raising more of his own
meat, poultry, and corn. Some Of
this will spill over and compete with
the corn-belt and dairy farmer.
II also means that in self-defense
the successful farmer will have 20
cooperate in supporting economic
and political effort toward raising
the income Of the unsuccessful farm
er and the whole low-income group.
This will mean that the big farm
organizations which hitherto have
used most of their influence in
Washington to get better prices for
farm products will have to use some
Of their influence TO raise these low
incomes so there will be q bigger
home market for the farmers prod
ucts. At least, that's the way Wash
ington officials look at the farm stu
alton today.