Imperial Valley press., 1943-03-10
Farm
Rotion
Blues

Imperial Valley farmers are con-
iinuing 10 farm and are making the
effort the Department of Agricul-
ture has asked Of them to meet
production quotas set high and
! ever higher That is their gallant
|. reaction to the problems of ration
! ing OF gasoline and rubber. food
; stuffs and farm machinery.
Nov after some weeks of grouSing
and brain cudgelling and viewing
with alarm. after the manner OF
! farmers the world over. valley crop
producers arc swinging into the
groove and are putting their well
. known ingenuity 10 work to deal
. with the problems Of rationing and
priorities and Of finding ways and
. means to get the work done regard
! less OF labor shortages.
FIRST EFFECT
Mileage rationing was first to
affect farmers as 1t did the rest
. of the citizenry. In Ma" OF 1912,
, when tire rationing was begun the
chief users of rubber in this area
were found to be farmers with the
|. cars, trucks. tractors and off-high-
. way farm vehicles. AS rubber quotas
became smaller the local ration
boards of the county implored dis
tTict headquarters for larger quotas
for Imperial Valley to carry essen
. tial vehicles through the harvest
season. Enough relief was granted
so that there was no appreciable
. crop loss that could be laid to ra-
tioning restrictions. Quota additions
were made from Los Angeles on
week to week basis, and this occa-
stoned many painful delays and Of
ten resulted in hardships and eX-
pense to valley farmers.
CHARGE OF ODT
With the introduction Of mileage
rationing, which combined the con-
: troll of tires with the rationing of
gasoline, the farmer and his ration
ing woes became the charge Of the
Office of Defense Transportation
at Washington Then for the first
time did the desert agriculturist
feel pull of the red tape in all its
throttling strands. Having kept only
the sketchiest records of his trucA
costs, mileage, loadings and back
haulS, he was utterly dumbfounded
by the intricate forms he had to
sign at the ODT registration con-
Quoted by the Agricultural Adjust
ment Administration staff workers
FEARING WORST
Imperial COUNT farmers, fearing
the worst, importuned every gov
ernmental agency between Califor-
MIA and Washington for relief from
what they feared would be the
worst when the ODT certificates be-
gan to return with prohibitive cuts
in their gasoline allotments. With
the rest of the nation. they hung
on the words of Fulton Lewis, jr.,
commentator, as he told the story
of the poor farmer, enmeshed in his
req tape net and perishing for the
want of gasoline to run his vehi-
cles TO harvest his crops to feed
the nation. Imperial Valleys tale
Of woe was the story of every other
farming community in the nation
with the names of the crops chang
ed.
ANSWERS CRY
In response TO the impassioned
outcry Washington decentralized
the Office of Defense Transporta-
ton and gave more authority to the
USDA war boards in each COUNTY.
They are now permitted 10 appor-
ton tires and gasoline to farm trucks
and off-highway equipment in the
same manner that the Office of
Price administration permits local
price and rationing boards to ad-
minister gasoline and rubber for
other types of vehicles.
AS it turned out, farmers did not
fare as badly as they had expected
in the matter of gasoline for their
essential occupations because of a
disrcnSation in December which al
lowed them gasoline on their own
statement of need while Detroit
was dealing with their applications.
BY the time they began to come
back from Detroit the new dispen-
sation made it possible for farmers
TO get adjustments through the
county war board
CHAIRMAN OF BOARD
L. c. Hawk, Jasper district farm
er, is chairman OF this board and of
its committee on transportation, and
Rudolph Miller, secretary of AAA
and OF the county conservation COM
mittee, is likewise secretary OF the
USDA war board.
From its beginning early in 1912,
the COUNTY USDA war board has
handled rationing of farm machin-
cry for the War Production Board.
Manufacture of all farm equipment
was frozen and none was manufac-
tured thereafter except as ordered
by the WPB. This agency determin-
ed the amount of steel that could
be allocated to farm machinery and
parts manufacture and turned
list of the items over 10 the ma
tional war board. This agency divid-
ed the items among the several
state boards which in turn allOcated
quotas to county war boards. All
acquisitions for equipment must be
filed with the board and approved
before dealers can make sales.
HOPE AT HAND
Hope Is at hand, however. at least
IN limited degree. During the early
part OF January, Secretary Claude
Wickard was granted a 80 per cent
increase in the amount of steel for
the manufacture of farm machinery
parts by the War Production board
Later in the month the WPB grant
ed further increase of 80 per cent