The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-27
Babson Views
farm Price,
By ROGER Rama

'oAo ClII, Mo G 4
have been flying over A. nous
farming area of tho we grea.
West. I have not onlr Ceatil
things with my eyes ~. Ssea
heard things with nv oaS a.
Let me first say that f fsIS
are not being fooled Nv S'e,
h h prices. They know, @e's
sz,yo for wheat and S2's3 'a'
corn is not going to hold I'' ~
Re e that, througaov., ~!
u 5. history, only du Ts
directly after wars, have "a aad
ers made much money, M ,fsH
over, the wise ones an 'No's
using their profits to get o1 .'S
debt, to buy for cash new WI
chinery, and lay up a pnoa ma
balance for the future, 'sH
/. They also tell me that =,
though farm prices rise gr.t%
ally during boom time S''as
! when prices fall, they cclI,!e
all at once. This is kaoa'
farmers get panic s;ris a~1
when they see prices beain y
foil and all farmers try to dn,'s
at once. They admit thew S' up
now playing the same gov. a
with wheat and corn as SN-a !"
vestors, IN 1929, PLAYED wiz ~
stocks and bonds. "~
Among reasons for b;-,
prices are: ""
Cd Exports TO Eurono n,.
ing 1916 more than il No or M,
tons of food were shipnpd 1 w.
Europe. Heavy movements W
foodstuffs to Europe will co'.
tinue due to its poor crop CON- %
ditions. '"F
(2) Poor U. S. Weather e,
ditions. The American orsi,
harvest will be $4,000, 900 fan,
under normal, due to snr;n,
floods and unsatisfactory qrop'
ing conditions, with a consts...
ly increasing population.
CD Wasteiul American Eatr,
Habits. Americans have aIpa,'
been the most wasteiul peonIs
in the world when it comes IA
food High con.
sumner income has increased
this Wastefulness.
(4) Putting So Much Graf,
Into Liquor. The eight billion
dollar liquor business consume,
huge quantities Of gram for
brewing OF alcohollc beverages.
Despite starvation abroad. tb,
mon = essential" industry con.
t;nues uninterrupted in the pro.
duction of liquor.
(5) Increase In The Currency
From $1,000, GOO, 900 to S27,OM.
600, 900. The tremendous in.
crease in currency since befor.
the war has greatly stimulated
the power of the Amer'ca1 pub
lie to purchase food products.
There is good reason to be.
lieve that large amounts Of
grain are held on the farm.
This is not just a case where
farmers are gambling that
prices will continue to Ts,
above present inflated level,
Gram farmers are fully aware
that there is an ercela1t
chance that personal income
taxes may be reduced in 1913.
The farmer asks himself the
question:
"Why should / sell my gram
now and paw an income tax on
the proceeds at the 1877 rate
when I can wait until 1913 and
take advantage Of a new tax
law more favorable to the tax
payers??" Certainly with an
election year. coming up, poll
ticians will look with great
favor on some sort OF reduclrA
in personal income taxes IN
1913.
There is much talk in the
newspapers about distributes
and professors Of food produces
taking advantage Of the present
squeeze in food prices ard sy''
tematically goueing the po9 u
consumer. Quite frankly, | t1lN
this is plainly propaganda. LIZ
fact is that in most instances e.
the farmers percentage prom
margins today are no greae'
than normal. What mas rap
pened is that, due to a hlsnsl
dollar volume of business. t'
normal profit margin proaucs'
more dollar profits, Heac'
don't blame the farmers,
The real villain in the plc'II'
is unprecedented demand /.
farm products both at h0al'
where consumer income Ia
never been so high, and Hun
Europe where famine conoi'lo'