The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-03
DRUM BEATER WICKARD

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 Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard, in spite of an announced administration policy for controlling dages and the cost of living in war time, is beating the drum for one of his long standing personal beliefs = higher wages for farm labor. It is the secretary's contention that higher pay for farm labor will make for sounder agriculture and in wartime will solve the problem of getting more farm la Dor to offset shortages caused by the draft and greater industrial employment.
 Wickard is genuinely concerned about providing sufficient farm labor to take of all crops in crit ical areas. But he has small sym pathy with farmers who complain of a labor shortage when they can't get help at low pay. Last fall, for instance, there was a good bit of hollering from the South when cotton farmers could not hire cotton pickers for $l a hundred pounds, equivalent to $2.50 or 8 a day. When the rate went up to $50 and in few places $2 hundredweight, the labor appeared and the full crop was picked without loss.
 National average farm wage rates now run from $43 a month with board to $53 month with out board. and vary from an aver age of 94 cents a day with board in the South to $335 a day with out board in the Pacific states.
 Only control which the govern ment has over wages now is in the Sugar Control act of 1897, which requires the Department of Agriculture to hold public hear and fix wage rates in each beet and cane sugar producing area, includ- ing Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Sugar wages for 1922 were fixed at an average of 25 per cent higher than for 1941.
 The tendency is to let farm wages go up, whether it's inf1a- tionary or not, the agricultural point of view being that price ceilings on processed farm prod ucts will prevent farm labor costs from getting out of line.
 SPONGE STEEL
 STORY
 Investigation of the Sponge iron" process by Senator Joseph c. OMa- honey of Cheyenne, Wyo., has steel men puzzled and they're asking who sold the senator that bill of goods. Far from costing $5 a ton less to produce, as O'Mahoney was told, 1t Iwould probably cost good $1O 8 ton nore than the usual blast furnace pig iron. Sweden has made sponge iron for years and shipped 1t to the United States for certain speciality uses. Some specially sponge iron sells for as high as $1 a pound and it's tiny particles will be found in high-grade face powders.
 Great Britain's experience with war damage insurance was of no use to the United States in shaping plans for the War Damage Insur- ance Corporation, whose policies go into effect July l. Great Bri- tain, being much closer to potential damage, made war insurance com- pulsory. In the United States 1t IS strictly voluntary. Sales of policies up to July were good on the coastal areas, but nothing to brcg about. Unoflcially, what's needed to promote sales Is token bombing.
 While the War Damage Insur- ance Corporation is selling crop insurance at cents on the $i00 valuation, 5OO,000 wheat farmers and 170,00o cotton farmers won't have to take 1t out. They are pro- tected by the exceedingly broad Ipolicies Issued under the Depart ment of Agriculture'S Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, which lprotects against practically every