Evening star., 1954-01-10

and prices were TOO low.
Government was directly in
volved. The government in Lon
don, trying to nurture its new
American colony, had given the
colonistS an exclusive tobacco
market in Great Britain.
This made prices in America
high. So just about every one
sin Virginia and Maryland took
a whack at growing tobacco.
They produced so much that
prices fell-and the farm prob
lem was with US.
Part Of American Scene.
! Between 1882 and 1872. riot
erS cut down tobacco plants.
burned harvested tobacco and
prompted the Government of
ginia to buy up and destroy the
leaf.
From those times to this, trou-
BILE on the farms has been a
standard part Of the American
scene in times of economic
items.
Always the problem has been
similar: The farmer wanted more
credit, he wanted more produc-
ton and he wanted higher
prices. When he got credit and
increased production, prices fell.
Then he needed more credit to
increase production of crops to
sell at lower prices so he could
make ends meet.
Washington attacked the prob
lem on a national scale and with
national vigor for the first time
in 1922 when Republican Sec
retary of Agriculture Henry c
Wallace-the father of Henry
A. Wallace, later to become a
Democratic Secretary of Agricul-
ture-called national agricul-
tural conference. His aim was
to get the farmer a fair ex-
change value" for his cropS-a
forerunner of the parity idea of
today.
McNary- -Haugen Plan.
From 1924 to 1928, Republican
Senator Charles L. McNary Of
Oregon and Representative Gil
bert N. Haugen of Iowa fought
vainly for a two-price system
designed to subsidize production
for domestic consumption. Con-
gress finally passed the McNary-
Haugen plan, but President Cool
idge vetoed it.
President Hoover set up the
Federal Farm Board in 1929. 1t
stored COMMUNICATIVE most i'm
portant were cotton and wheat
to keep prices higher. But
farmers kept increasing produc-
ton until the Farm Board ran
out of money. The boards final
report said such a price-support
system would not work unless
the Government could limit pro-
duction.
President Roosevelt tried to do
Just that. Within two months
after Mr.. Roosevelt took Office.
the New Deal Congress passed
the Agricultural Adjustment Act
to limit production and subsidize
farmers. The money came from
q special tax on the first process
sor of a commodity. The Supreme
Court killed this law on grounds
the professors tax was uncon-
stitutional.
Money From Treasury.
Congress got around this by
decreeing that money should be
taken from the United States
Treasury and paid to farmers
who switch some of their lands
from growing money crops such
as wheat into such things as
clover. This scheme survived
court tests on grounds that it
was a soil conservation program.
In 1888, Congress provided
that the Government should Of
fer direct price supports at be-
tween 50 and IS per cent of
parity on the so-called basic"
cropS-wheat, corn, cotton, rice.
peanuts and tobacco. Parity, by
law. is a price that is supposed
to give farmers a fair return for
their crops in relation to the
prices of things the farmers buy.
During World War II, Con-
gress upped the support level on
the 'basics" to 80 per cent of
parity. In 1852, Congress speci-
fled that the 80 per cent supports
should continue through the
1854 crops.
If Congress does nothing this
year these mandatory 80 per
cent supports will expire. The
Secretary of Agriculture then
would have authority to set the
support level anywhere between
Is and 80 per cent.
Minor Innovations Likely.
The Republican farm program
that is due to be detailed tomor-
row will include a number of
minor innovations and will offer
various approaches to the prob
lens of different crops.
A fundamental decision that
Congress must make, however, is
whether to continue the manda-
tory 80 per cent supports on the
"basicS."
President Eisenhower in his
state-of- the Union message in
dorsed the principle of flexible
support levels set by the Secre-
tary Of Agriculture.