The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-03-26
with the AAA.

living on JZU-6CT6 homestead WHOSE
wheat acreage under the AAA is as
low as % and so acres with the big
percentage in the 80 to 100-acre class
These farmers cannot possibly stay
with the AAA and white out an ex
istence without the aid of grant as
such low acreages have equally low
allotment checks; and yet under the
marketing quota they will be penal
/ lied Is cents a bushel on all wheat
raised which is not grown on the al
lotted acreage.
One farmer at the meeting asked {:
"If l raised $4,000 bushels, all on al
lotted acreage could l market all OF
it," Eyes, If you raised it all on al
lotted acreage" was the reply. No
wonder none Of the big farmers was
there-they didn't need to be. | am
told about IL Of our largest farmers
in this county raised between 10000
and $4,000 bushels apiece; divide that
by any 10 farmers In row in the
western half Of the county where |
| live and l wager that the total bushels
raised would not be $4,000 This fig
ure would be an average of 5000
bushels each. Mr.. Farmer, did you
get that much?
The large farmer seldoms jumps the
allotment. 1t is more profitable for
him to stay with the AAA. One large
farmer told me that his allotment
check amounted to an average of $500
toI 10 70
fortably in town and his farming was
on the side. That man would be fool
ish to jump the AAA.
1t is a well known fact that large
scale farming has been on the in
crease since 1892 and small farmers
ter written by Fred Alter of Hill coun-
ty is the following quotation: "The
small bona fide farmer is being grad
ually pushed off the farm. In Hill
county there were 1926 farms in 1910,
as against 1926 five years ago, a loss
of 279 farms in five years." In my
county (Daniels) the picture is very
similar This is an alarming situa-
ton If one stairs to multiply this fig
ure by the number of wheat growing
counties in this and other states, and,
as one farmer puts it: 1.-The new mar
keting quota with its lucent penalty
will actually amount to a bloodless
purge of the farmer with family
sized farm"
l believe the family size" farmer
should be preserved. Most of those
farmers have spent the greatest share
of their lives on the farm and are not
suited for any other kind of work.
Industry does not want them - it
wants young men, under 35 or 40
years of age. There is only one other
place left for them and that's WPA.
The family size" farm would vary
in different parts of the country, but
out here in the west let us say fam
lily size farm would be designated as
a 320-acre homestead. | believe a
man farming 800 acres should not be
cut at all, as by the time he gets his
feed requirements, pasture and garden
taken out, at best he would have prob
ably 200 acres left for wheat. The
ldTIu0T WILL fOu dCl CD WOuiu nave
his acreage reduced 10 percent; $40
acres, 20 percent, and so on, similar
to our graduated income tax. The |
large scale farmer can better stand a |
70 to 80 percent cut than many small
farmers who have to make such a cut |
now.
also believe the ceiling should be
lowered on our allotment payments.
One. farmer suggested that allotment
payments should not be made on any
hing over 500 allotted acres. | be-
ieve this is good idea-it is used
IN our neighbor country of Canada.
# this were done our large farmers
would soon be selling their holdings
instead of buying land out from under
some other farmers feet just to col
ect allotment payments on.
Many of our large farmers are ma
,hine dealers and business men who
,et their machinery at cost. How can
he small farmer compete with them?
Furthermore, it takes just about the
anne kind of farm machinery to farm
90 acres as it does to farm 1000.
Thus, the farmer with 100 acres has
lis equipment standing in the yard {
most of the time and his initial cost
o the acre is much higher. {
Much has been said in the past [
bout balancing the budget. But,
elieve we should first balance our
ocial system, and agriculture is a
God place to start. You can't put a t
ig fat, heavy man on one end of
he balance scales and light one on f
heother and expect the scales to bal G
nee. Yours for better farming. t