The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-05-08
GCo.optig2'9!s:
F.U.C.T.A..

Y 7
The President Asks.
The Farmer Asks.
Floors-Not Ceilings.
He Took Our Tip!
Give Parity to All.
President Roosevelt, in his message
to congress on April 81, asked for
seven items: Heavy taxes; prices
ceilings on goods and rents; limita-
lions on income; greater purchase of
war bonds; wider rationing; reduc-
ton of credit buying and increase of
savings and debt payment; and-the
one in which farmers are most in
Iterested-the fixing of 100 per cent Of
parity as ceiling for farm product
prices. Referring to the Emergency
Price Control Act which forbids the
fixing of any farm price ceiling at
less than 10 per cent of parity, the
President said: Il ask that this for
mula be corrected and that the orig
inal and excellent objective of OBJ
tanning parity for the farmers of the
United States be restored" This pro-
posal met with the instant opposition
of certain senators from agricultural
states which was voiced in a speech
by Senator Bankhead on the same
day, April 27, who declared that a
100 per cent parity ceiling on surplus
products would inevitably mean a be-
|low-parity price to the farmer, and
that the floor price would be the 85
per cent Of parity found in the loan
value established and paid on stored
wheat, cotton and like surplus prod
ucts.
The viewpoint of the National
Farmers Union and that of the Ma
tional Federation of Grain Co-opera-
tives, as voiced by President Patton
and by President Thatcher in their
joint telegram OF President Roose-
Emergency Price Control Act, was
this: 1.-THE senate bill seeks advan-
tages In price increases never asked |
for by our farmers. Our organization |
has sought =. to assure parity |
prices for our farm commodities. Pa |
triotic and unselfish farmers do not |
now seek personal gain through I'M
fairly high prices, to the disadvantage |
of National Defense and the public
In our statement to congress we |
asked only for parity prices BOTH
AS TO FLOORS for surplus commodi-
ties and CEILINGS for those COM
modities of which we may have a |
shortage" In brief, as has been re-
peated many times by both President |
Thatcher and President Patton, all |
the farmer wants is price floor fixed |
at parity for surplus products. AS
Mr.. Thatcher wrote on February %:
"A ceiling of $500 bushel for wheat
does not bring the price of wheat up
one cent bushel, but floor at parity
would give the farmers a basic price
Of about $3.50 a bushel, Minneapolis g."
A surplus in itself constitutes a cell
ng and shortage invites initiation
and requires ceiling. !
,ress that he wanted the original OBJ
ective of parity for the farmers re-
stored, he may had in view some
method of securing it and assuring it, I
lot now apparent. 1t is a remark ,
lble fact that his message to congress
ollowed quite closely the recommen- {
lation filed by the National Farmers s
Union with the senate committee on ;
'anking and currency, in which this s
ppeared: 1--WE are firmly convinced r
hat, if ceilings are to be fixed on | +
armers' income or upon labors' in 7
ONE, we must abandon halfway meas n
res-adjust equalize and freeze clear
cross the board all forms of income,
Including profits and other capital re-
urns, all commodity prices, rents,
vages and salaries" All that, and
lore, can be found In the Presidents n
particularly as to restriction II
n incomes, ceilings on prices and
ents. If he has gone that far with n
ne Farmers Union-is it not likely
lat he will move to give the farmer n
le full parity that will bring farm Il
lcome up to level with the incomes "
other groups? q.
There is evidence of the Presidents 81
lrpose in the order, issued two days m
ter his message, by the Office of fc
rice Administration which froze st
ices of nearly all commodities pur- m
lased by the public at levels equiva-
mt to those prevailing during March. Ell
hat is an aid to the farmers buying re
,wer and establishes parity for the ly
ocessor, wholesaler and retailer If to
ese can be thus assured a basic til
ice, there remains little or no rea- m
n why the farmer should not come
lder the same parity and have his
ices established on just and fair nc
sis. If the clothing and food manu- =
ctured from the products of the soil
Joy stabilized price, then the raw 80
aterials derived from the toll of the o. o.
rmer should likewise rate similar ~
utilization.
ma