Evening star., 1943-06-09
Proqrum for Food

Herbert Hoover, addressing the
American Farm Bureau Federation
In New York, issued a solemn warn
Ing that our food supply is decreasing
while the demand for food. at the
same time. is rising rapidly. The
former President, who was food ad-
ministrator for the United States
during the last war and today is a
keen student of the food problem,
made series of recommendation
which deserve serious consideration.
The program suggested by Mr..
Hoover is designed to give this coun-
try its maximum production of food.
This must be assured, not only to
maintain the American people and
to win the war, but to make it pos
sible to provide food for millions of
persons In the United Nations and
other millions in countries that have
been overrun by the Axis powers.
There can be no lasting peace with
out food.
Chief among the recommendation
Is that forty or fifty million more
acres be planted in 1914 than in this
year. Only by greatly increased plant
ing will 1t be possible to produce more
and more food stuffs. During the
period from 1882 to 1899 the admin
lstration, by it's restrictive policies
toward agriculture, reduced the acre
age OF seventeen leading crops plant
ed in this country by forty-seven
million acres. Farmers were paid
not to produce. 1t is idle now to
comment on the folly of the econ
omy OF scarcity The thing to do is
to get away from it-and never to
return. These seventeen crops con-
stitute about 95 per cent of the whole
! harvested area.
1t seems incredible but it is never
theless true, as Mr. Hoover pointed
out, that after the passage of the
lease-lend act the Government un-
dertook to increase food production
but at the same time continued pay
ments to farmers to restrict produc-
ton. These restrictive payments were
not removed until this spring. In
some cases they still persist.
Mr.. Hoover also includes in his
recommendations a proposal that
one agency, headed by one man, take
over the whole administration of the
food problem. At present nine agen-
cles OF the Government are telling
the farmers, the food distributors
and wholesalers and retailers what to
do about production, distribution and
prices. The result, in Mr.. Hoover's
opinion, is chaos
In order to increase the farm
planting acreage, it will be necessary
to have increased farm labor and
more farm machinery Declaring that
the present price system is Sitting
farm production" Mr.. Hoover pro-
posed that the retail and wholesale
price ceilings be done away with.
Price fixing must begin as near the
source of production as possible, and
from there on regulations against
prof1teering must be placed upon
the trades. Prices to the farmers
must include floors" as we'll as Cell
ings," and the prices must take into
account labor and other costs. Such
a plan would be calculated really to
stimulate production.
In 1912, we had bumper crops. This
year the harvest is likely to be nor
mal-which means that the actual
production of food will be consider
ably below the crop we have just
about eaten up. There is nothing
that can be done to meet this situa-
ton Immediately. The paintings for
the following crop, however, will be
of vast importance.
If the statistics for the crops of the
last year are correct, then in the
opinion of Mr.. Hoover, some bu-
reaucracy'' has strangled the flow of
food from the farm to the housewife.
This is the only explanation of re-
ports that have come from all Sec
tions Of the country showing scarcity
of foods. And if this be true, the
sooner the hand of bureaucracy is
lifted the better.