Imperial Valley press., 1942-05-26
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

hang the Communist label on q
government official, it's fun to go
around and have a look at the ac-
cused. to see how long he lets his
whiskers grow, Whether he wears
his shirt inside or outside his pants,
and Just how big a supply OF bombs
and vodka he keeps
Conso iuently, when it was charg-
ed on the floor of the Senate that
c. B. Baldwin, who heads Farm
Security Administration in the De-
partment of Agriculture, might be
Communist. this reporter went
out to inspect.
Everyone now agrees that
these Communists are darn
clever people, but if Mr.. Bald
win is a Communist, the way
they get up their DISCUSSES rs
a caution. What greets the eye
is a young feller of 40. Far
from growing a BOlshevik bea-
yer. he looks almost too young,
too boyish to grow any beard
at all. Furthermore, he combs
his hair. His eyes are blue.
get-up was blue-suit, shirt, tie.
He looks like a bond salesman,
but of course you can't trust
these Communists and there's
no telling what tricks they're
up to.
The real secret of Mr.. BaldWin's
communism comes out when you
examine his political paSt-he is a
Virginia Democrat and tshh) he
has voted for Harry Flood Byrd
for senator three times. 1t was
Senator Byrd, you'll recall, who
led the fight on FSA in the SEN
ate. though it was Senator Ken
meth McKellar who called Baldwin
a Communist.
Tovarich c. B. Baldwin is known
to his intimates by the nickname of
"Beany". That was hung on to him
from his middle name of Benham'
The c. stands for Calvin. He was
born in Radford, Va, where his
father ran a grain mill. AS boy,
Beany worked around the mill and
got to know the Virginia farmers
and their problems rather well. He
went to Virginia Polytechnic In
stitute, then came back home to
work in the railroad shops and
run an electrical business. In 1888,
Henry A. Wallace as secretary of
agriculture hired Paul ApplebF as
one of his assistants. Appleby knew
Beany Baldwin and brought him
to washington as a bright young
man
BEANY BRICKBATTED
1t is of course the FSA program
that was really under attack IN
the Senate. Baldwin just happens
to be the man who is directing the
program and so he has to catch
all the brickbats thrown in that
general direction. FSA can be crit
icized. 1t has considerable expert
menting in rural relief. About 81
billion have been administered by
the agency since it was created by
Congress in 1885 as a successor to
Resettlement A ministration OF
Tugwelltimes.
FSA has made loans or 9TH
erwise helped nearly million
farm families, which is about
sixth of all the farm fam
lies In the United Stst"s.
About 80 per cent of its loans
are cOllectible. FSA employees
number some 10000. Its ad-
ministrative costs have run
per cent, due to the close in
spection that must be made on
its millions of scattered small
loans.
Now there is obviously much in
that program you can find fault
with, but consider what FSA was
given to work with. 1t was as
signed the job of bringing relief
to the lower so per cent OF the
farm families, the group that gets
only 10 per cent of the farm in
come 1t was authorized to help
only those families which could
not get help from private banks,
those families which had no col
lateral, those families which were
the poorest risks. The average FSA
loan has been about $500. The
average annual FSA cost for bring
ing relief to one of these poor
families has been brought down
to S75 a year, and that cost should
be compared with the $400 or
$500 it cost to keep a city or town
WPA family for a year.
HAVE A CHANCE
Today, with a war on and with
a huge food production program
under way, Beany aldWin sees
the first chance these low income
farm families have had TO get
back on their feet. There is
shortage of farm labor The one
family farm therefore has a chance
if it is steered into producing the
needed vitamin crops and steered
away from producing the surplus
crops of cotton and wheat.
In addition, Baldwin believes
that the best way for these
small farmers to help them
selves is through cooperative
effort.
Mind you, these principles are
darn sight different from Soviet
collectivism, where the state owns
the land and the tools and the
crop. These coop practices are the
things that American small far
mers have been doing for gen.
erations. If a belief in these things
makes Beany Baldwin a Communist,
SOS your grandmother.
WASHINGTON
HUMIDITY
Three thousand HOLC examiners
sie making national checkup on
ell building construction begun
since April 8 for the compliance