The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-04-07


jectively. Anonymous letters will re-
N. Names will be withheld on request
press or even the Congressional Rec
ord.
This is not fair nor just TO agricul
ture Obviously we farmers canno
sell our products at world prices, ant
buy our machinery based on American
prices Now do not forget that if tn,
CONSUMERS buy our products we ge
the income; but if the consumers blu,
cheaply produced foreign product!
they get the income, and we Amer
lican farmers go out of business.
Let us look back at our own record
and we find that every depression il
our history was caused by low com
modify prices, and l remember the
Cleveland depression. Every depres
sion cured itself when prices raised tt
above costs, and not until then. Re
member the steel mills closed wher
the farm prices hit the all-time low
in the thirties; labor and business
suffered along with the farmers. Evi
IDENTIFY all groups must have bal
anced income, because after all we
are customers of each other 1t is
possible to borrow from our future
income and create an artificial OF
false prosperity; but that will result
| in a double burden later of paying
back what we have borrowed and
paying our current operating costs at
the same time. This will mean less
buying of productive machinery
AS further proof of what happens
to the farmers | ask if | may quote
from the 1910 yearbook entitled
Farmers in Changing World" This
yearbook was started under the direc-
ton of Mr.. Henry A. Wallace, and
completed under the director of Mr..
Claude R. Wickard. This yearbook
was compiled and written by the B.
A. E. staff and cites PIG references
on pages 266 to 276, inclusive. I
quote extracts from pages 240 to 241:
ssThe RESULTS of these huge cereal
and meat imports on European social
and economic life were of the most
fundamental character. On the one
hand, the laboring classes in cities
were provided with cheap and abund-
ant food At the same time however,
European farmers, unless protected
by tariff barriers, were unable to COM
clining prices and falling land values"
-"Great Britain was our chief mar
ket, and with free trade prevailing
after the repeal of the corn laws in
1916, agriculture there suffered partic-
ularly -" Continental countries that
imported sizeable quantities of Amer
lean foodstuffs suffered similarly. The
results were mirrored partly in the
tremendous migration from Europe
westward during the seventies and
partly in the flocking of
farmers to cities, and partly in the
agrarian movement that sought relief
in government policies. '-"European
governments, in an effort to aid their
agricultural classes, raised duties and
imposed embargoes on sanitary
grounds, as in the case of hog prod
ucts. AFTER the eighties, new agri-
cultural regions were opened in Rus
STA, Argentina, Australia, and Canada |
and their produce began crowding
American foodstuffs out of European
markets. at the same time foreign
markets were contracting, the domest-
C market was expanding. Industrial
development in the United States
caught up with the overstimulated
agricultural development, and as ur-
1anization increased larger share
If the farm produce was consumed
In 1899 the average |
lumber of wage earners in industry
otaled 100000; by 1909 it had in
creased to 100000"
The history of free trade as indi-
ated above in England was to destroy
he farmers of England Up to just
'efore the present war England had
host farms and the dole and London
ad the slums. We have had in Amer
ca the highest income of any nation !
4 the world because we developed |
ur resources and protected our pro
ucers and we have built up the stand I
I'd of living and income above any !
Their nation in the world. 2
1t is obvious we can expand our G
wn markets only by permitting our i
wn producers to supply our own de- 2
land as there are large importations ?
{ almost every commodity the Amer f
an producers raise, and in no case
as importation of competitive prod