The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-02-20
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!. F.U.C.T.A..

Three Are Essential.
About Production.
Things Happen Oddly.
In response to Geographic call
from President Roosevelt, James G.
Patton, president of the National
Farmers Union, and M. w. Thatcher,
chairman of the National F. u. Leg.
islative committee and president OF
the National Federation of Grain Co
Operatives, sat down with the Presi-
ldent at the White House on the morn
ing of February 7, and had a good,
Istraight-out talk with him about the
needs of agriculture. Mr.. Thatcher
tells this columnist that, though he
had not seen the President for about
10 months, he found him looking in
physically better shape than he did
then. The President looked a little
more set and determined but appear
ed to have the assurance and conf
dence that he knew what he was
headed for down through time to
come and that we would come sue
cessfully out of this conflict.
The discussion with the President
took as it's theme agricultural prices
and income, Messrs. Thatcher and
Patton telling him that ceilings" did
not mean thing on commodities of
which there was big surplus and
that on most commodities what they
wanted was minimum prices guaran-
teed, or a floor" They pointed out
to the President that the so-called
commercially operated farms (corpor-
alton farms) will find difficulty in
hiring labor and in getting replace
ment of farm machinery, because of
priorities. Hence it is the family-type
farm from which to expect increased
production. This must be assured
with certain provisions, because the
family-type farm is a patriotic group
whereas the commercial farm is just
another assembly line" But, they
argued, the family-type farm cannot,
in about 80 percent of the cases, in
crease production unless certain pro-
visions are made, and these they out
lined to the President:
l. The farm boys actually needed
on such farms must be left to do the
farm work.
2. The Farm Security Administra-
ton appropriation must be increased
so that this great percentage of fam
ily-type farms may have adequate
credit seed and production supplies.
8. Minimum fair prices must be
guaranteed for their surplus commod-
tiles and for non-surplus commodities
which compete with imports, such as
flaxseed.
That last item is the reason behind
Mr.. Thatchers big and winning fight
for increased price and acreage for
flaxseed. AS a result of it, the price
of flaxseed has since jumped about
Csc a bushel. The proposals sub
mitted to the President were well re-
ceived by him and got his assent. He
knew, as did Messrs. Thatcher and |
Patton, that this meant about produc-
ton on the farm. 1t does not include |
that part of the Triple-A program
which operates as a pretense for soil |
conservation when, as a matter of
fact, it is a device to pay farmers for
keeping down their acreage and the |
production so badly needed There !
can not be farm program that works
two ways at the same time-one to
cramp acreage, the other to increase
one, to take a farmers
boys from him and the other to raise
more crops; one, to put pressure on
the farmer to raise more stuff and 1
the other to tell him to take a chance
on below-cost income and to refuse
him the credit he must have to buy
the seed and supplies he must have
to come through.
Things happen oddly in Washing
.on On February 6-the day before
his conference with the President
President O'Neal and general counsel
Of the Farm Bureau, APP
)eared before the joint committee on
expenditures and de-
bounced the FSA for lending money II
% farmers, being bitter because some
If the money was used in the south
by those farmers to pay their poll tax
md thus be qualified to vote. On II
10, President Roosevelt told
lis press conference that the FSA
vas Extremely essential to the whole
God situation for the duration of the |
var" He must have listened to what |
Thatcher and Patton said about FSA.
Then, on February 10, the senate agri-
culture committee unanimously ap-
proved bill to forbid government
ales of cotton, wheat, corn and other
commodities at less than parity
PRICES. If that is not as good as a
price, it is a step In that
direction, for only the government
an dump these commodities in the
market and break the price they now
ring. If it is not floor, it's a tenn
'orary scaffolding, until the floor
,oes in.