Imperial Valley press., 1942-11-16
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

] meaning not the tarm bloc in Con
! greSs, but the paid, kept fixers an
wire pullerS for the organization
of big farm operators as oppose
TO the small farmers and tenan
farmers-has apparently started
campaign for the scalp and hid
of Secretary of Agriculture Claud
r. Wickard.
The technique which the farm
lobbyists are employing is an oil,
enc to Washington, consistin,
chiefly in spreading the rumor tina
Wickard is about to resign or b.
kicked out.
1t can be stated authOritatively
that there isn't a word of truth
in this whispering campaign. but
the motives behind the effort to
have Wickard diScredited present
an interesting bit of background
on how this farm lObby-the most
powerful in Washington seeks
to achieve its ends. In their eff
fort to sabotage Wickard the big
farm organizations are trying to
make out that he is the man who
should be blamed for the Donna
Gratis setback from the farm
states in the recent election.
Wasn't il 4 farm protest vote?
Weren't the farm policies ap-
proved bv Wickard? These two
rhetorical questions asked by the
farm organization people are sup
To clinch the argument that
Wickard should be the goat.
AS a matter of fact Secretary
Wickard had foreseen that the ad-
ministration's wartime farm poll
cies might have. a few political re-
percuSsionS, and the inside story
IS that as far back as last summer
the Department of Agriculture sent
a memorandum to the White House
suggesting that in dealing with
ceilings on farm products every eff
fort should be made to step up food
production for Army and Navy
lend lease and United Nations re-
quirements. BY paying tribute to
the farmers demands it was felt
that the administration atti-
tude of the farm lobby could be ov-
ercome.
DIRECT COURSE SET
Instead of following this task, the
administration set sail in a direct
course heading right into the wind
against Congress for failing TO put
ceilings ON farm products, with a
general blast against the IS per
cent increase in farm income and
the 85 per cent increase in farm
prices.
After the Presidents Labor Day
speech, some of the top men
around the Department of Agri-
culture are supposed TO have
been pretty fearful of the re-
suits. Not a word of praise for
the good production job the farm
erS had done in the face of la
Dor and transportation shortages.
Not a word against the farm lob
by which had really been respOn-
sible for forcing Congress to vote
against ceilings on farm prod
uctS.
In spite of this, the farm lobby
finally took licking on the price
bill which Congress passed on Oc-
tober l applying September Is CELL
ings on farm products. The farm
lobby its regular course of Wash
ington fiXers augmented to $50 by
hurry calls to their field organiza-
tions, saw their dreams of 100 per
cent parity voted down. How
much influence the organized farm
ers had on the result of the cleo
ton is something the statisticians
could not prove. But the farm lob
by throws its weight around
Washington with more force than
even the labor lobby and if it is
out after the Wickard scalp the
lobbying braves can cause plenty
of trouble on the agricultural war
front.
There is, however, no real rea-
son why the secretary should be
scared. He has fought the farm
lobby before in all its garbs for
more power in Department Of Ag-
riculture policies, and in opposing
aid to small farmers and tenant
farmers Wickard is a real dirt
farmer himself. He is today the
Youngest member of the cabinet.
STEPPED UP FOOD
He has been given all the credit
for organizing and ably admins
tering a vastly increased food pro-
duction program. The Department
CT Agriculture began this organi-
zation three years ago and it has
kept increasing the goal every year
to meet war demands.
There may have been squaWks
from the United Nations for short
ages of food supplies from the Unit
ed States but the cause of any sucf
complaints have been lack of ship
ping and net lack of food to ship
Wickard's greatest attribute is
his courage. AT one time he sug-
gested the 10 per cent parity
ceiling. He did it because he
thought that was necessary TO get
100 for full parity. When the
program of the war showed that
100 per cent parity would be
enough Wickard had the CUTS
TO say publicly that he had been
mistaken. IL was the first time
that any political figure had
ever admitted error and that is a
record that probably will not be
euualed soon.