Evening star., 1943-03-05
Argues That Farm Front
Is Most Important.

II MOSL Important,
To the Editor Of The Star:
The administration, through Economic
Director Byrnes, has put forward the
dubious proposition that increased pro-
duction furnishes an occasion for higher
unit costs in farming With adequate
modern equipment such as was being
Installed on farms when war priorities
put stop to it, costs actually could
decline in this real sense. Yet the
marginal cost idea is injected as an
excuse for starting subsidy program
IN the name Of incentive payments"
on a small scale to high-cost farms.
After all the argument over the in
creasing wage bill on the farm, this
can be little else than a disingenuous
scheme for drawing red herring across
the trail of the wage-cost factor so
as to escape being called on for an
estimate of the real size of subsidies
required to meet this dominant element
in the problem of food supply. It would
not be so easy to insinuate the camel's
nose of inflationary subsidies into the
Treasury tent once the size of the wage
dlfterential were brought to bear on
the subsidy proposal. Wage costs are
so related to the conflicting parity"
promises of the administration as to
be pyramiding and inflationary and not
at all in the nature Of small, fixed sums
to cover only extra, submarginal, war
time costs. Any attempt to escape from
this dilemma, instead of facing it
squarely. is clearly nothing but a play
in partisan politics.
OF course, it must be unpalat table to
some Of our grandiose total war" plan
ners, but even an American total is
only a limited sum. We have not in
creased our manpoWer by foolishly and
needlessly pyramiding wage rates in war
industries, nor will it be increased by
reintroducing palpable agrarian slavery.
If we hope to stabilize wages, and so
prices, while avoiding involuntary servi-
tude with its low morale, we can only
do so by: /. Limiting the size of our
paper Army; 2. Equalizing wage scales
by reducing instead of advancing rates
of pay for the duration"
We cannot choose whether or not we
shall eat if we hope to fight. Farm
production comes first, not last. But we
can and must choose how the rest of our
labor and other productive capacity shall
be distributed as between producing war
equipment and using it in the firing line.
OF course, an unequipped nation must
attempt though in rain, to conquer
with sheer numbers. But an industrial
nation, particularly If removed from the
scene Of action, must avoid such an
attempt in favor of stay-at-home num-
bers, so as to use its mechanical poten-
tlal to the limit To be most effective.
the American war effort must be pro-
portionately less in numbers on the
firing line than that of any other nation,
including the enemy; and to get the
largest possible effect on the field, ocean
transport should be avoided wherever
possible. ALDEN A. POTTER.
Questions About Rationinx
Asked of OPA.
To the Editor Of The Star:
When is the Government going to get
out the checks for those of us who turned
in tires last fall? We still are waiting.
Why shouldn't we residents of the East
be treated the same as the rest of the
country regarding gasoline consumption?
To do this, OPA could take two steps:
First, lift the ban on pleasure driving at
once, allowing us to use our very lim-