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Show National Topics Interpreted fl-M nffilllBK by William Bruckart Sffi Whether his program Is to develop de-velop successfully Is quite another matter. He has rejoined what I believe be-lieve Is. the majority of the American Ameri-can public In the view that the United Unit-ed StateB cannot ever act jointly with most of the world powers. Conditions Con-ditions and traditions heretofore have made it Impossible and the view I have expressed cannot be Illustrated Il-lustrated better than the position which the senate took with respect to the Versailles treaty after the World war. The came thought seems still to be dominant, for the proposal pro-posal that the United States adhere to the World court has been pending pend-ing In the senate so long that it Is approaching deterioration. The Roosevelt theory, as thus far unfolded, un-folded, fails to give the Impression of Isolation for the United States Washington. Things have happened hap-pened here In Washington at such a rate recent-Treat recent-Treat Separately ly that most With Nations ? 03 been wholly oblivious to the existence and the subsequent death of the world-wide economic conference in London, and the aftermath of those sessions. True, there never could have been anything come of the conference for the simple reason selfishness ruled that meeting as it rules every other meeting of representatives of different differ-ent peoples. But it appears from the vantage point that our government Is now ready to embark on a new course, one which It could hardly have tackled had the London conference con-ference never been held. So at least the London conference resulted In such as always was favored by former for-mer Senator Jame3 A- Reed of Missouri, Mis-souri, and the late Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, according ac-cording to the views I hear in Washington Wash-ington discussions, but It is not far from the positron. The administration Is going ahead to bring about reduction .of the wheat acreage Cutting next year wheth- Wheat Acreage erwe f 1 " a policy of isolation isola-tion or not, and it is going to see that only so much is produced as will be needed In this country. It may seem that the wheat reduction program Is rather far afield from the London conference, but let U3 remember that Secretary Wallace made the announcement that the program would be employed on the very day the London conference adjourned. ad-journed. All of the Department of Agriculture machinery was set In motion that day, and it may be added add-ed that, like the trade treaty situation, situ-ation, all of the necessary facts and figures for use In the domestic allotment al-lotment plan were already compiled and on the secretary's desk. It seems Just possible, therefore, that not too much had been expected from the conversations In London regarding world wheat problems. Secretary Wallace estimated that 450,000,000 bushels would be needed clarifying the general situation from our own standpoint. You have seen the signs of moves by our government In the last month In guarded announcements to the effect ef-fect that Department of State's experts ex-perts were surveying the possibilities possibili-ties of trade treaties with many nations. na-tions. They are called bl-lateral treaties and affect, of course, only the two nations entering Into the compact While the London conference confer-ence was going on, it would not have been a gesture of hope for success in that gathering had the United States at the same time moved openly to arrange individual treaties with nations participating in those discussions. That very thing was being done, nevertheless, and now the effort is no longer concealed. con-cealed. The United States Is seeking seek-ing to do In the treaties with Individual Indi-vidual nations some of the things it sought, and failed, to do in London. Lon-don. Secretary Hull is back from London, Lon-don, has had a night of confidential conversation with President Roosevelt. Roose-velt. He Is ready to go ahead, Indeed, In-deed, he Is charged by the President to proceed, with the new plan of action. Consequently, In the next few months we are likely to hear much about agreements between the United States and various other nations na-tions by which trade barriers will be removed to some extent and bet- ier unaersianaings wui nuve oeen obtained about commercial relations. There are so many barriers to the free flow of commerce these days, aside from the low level of purchasing purchas-ing power resulting from the depression, depres-sion, that one can see possibilities of great results. Yet as observers here view the situation Secretary Hull has a hard job. . Nations are selfish, or their people are. They naturally want to protect their markets mar-kets and they obviously are unwilling unwill-ing to give up anything unless they gain something else. So there Is to be trading; there will have to be trading, and the United States will have to give In somewhere with every nation In the treaty negotiations. negotia-tions. For Instance, If a new trade treaty were to be negotiated with France, it appears that France certainly would have to agree to remove limitations lim-itations on certain kinds of Imports from the United States. They are called quotas. They prescribe that only so many thousand pounds, say, of American wheat can be imported into France. In turn, no doubt, France will demand that the United States establish a lower tariff duty on some commodities which that nation na-tion heretofore has shipped here in large quantities. But to get back to the London conference: I recall having written writ-ten in these col-Plans col-Plans Another umns at the out-Road out-Road set 'of those ses sions that President Pres-ident Roosevelt was in . a highly advantageous ad-vantageous position when he promoted pro-moted the meeting of some G4 nations. na-tions. Whether he expected the widely advertised conference was going to fall, as a great many persons per-sons believed, by entering wholeheartedly whole-heartedly Into It, sending a large American delegation t6 participate and doing the other things that gave the appearance of sincerity, he . maneuvered at the very same time to build another road which this country can follow. When the London Lon-don conference was called, the big issue was whether our government should act in unison with other world powers on an International basis or whether we were to become an Intensely nationalistic country. Therefore, while Sir. Roosevelt on the one hand was pushing American plans and proposals Into the conference confer-ence for an International understanding, under-standing, he was on the other hand driving legislation like the farm adjustment ad-justment act, highly nationalistic in character, through congress. While every ounce of energy is being used to stabilize American crop production within the limits of our own needs and while every effort ef-fort is being utilized to create a manufacturing structure self-sustaining within our own limits, the President now Is seeking to fortify those acts and strengthen our position po-sition by, treaties with Individual nations na-tions on trade relations. In other words, be Is completing the picture of nationalism. out of neit year's crop the 1934 acreage In addition to -the carryover carry-over from this and previous years to supply domestic needs. Accordingly, Accord-ingly, he has sent Instructions to farm agents or agricultural extension exten-sion agents in the various wheat-growing wheat-growing counties to get to work on contracts with the farmers. The agreements are like those which the cotton farmers were asked to, and did sign. It is a voluntary proposition. propo-sition. If the farmer signs the contract con-tract to withhold some of his normal nor-mal acreage from planting next year, he will benefit by the receipt of cold cash to the extent of 28 cents a bushel out of the sum which the government collects as a processing proc-essing tax. I am told that Secretary Wallace Is about ready to announce how much the acreage will have to be reduced In the 2,233 counties In 42 states where wheat Is more than a side crop such as on that "strip across the ditch." The maximum that will be cut is 20 per cent of a farmer's average acreage over the past five years. . If all of the farmers agree to reduce re-duce their acreage, the cash paid out this fall and Farmers to Get the next spring $136,000,000 win total $13G,-v $13G,-v 000,000, an addi tion to the purchasing power of the wheat counties that cannot be ignored. ig-nored. Under the contract which the farmers will be asked to sign, they will receive an initial payment on their allotment of 20 cents a bushel as early this fall as county j wheat production control assocla-' tlons can be organized and the individual in-dividual allotments completed. The second payment, constituting the remainder re-mainder of the sum due, will be paid the farmers next spring when they will be asked to submit proof that they have reduced the acreage as agreed In their contract In fixing the size of the wheat crop next year, the government calculators calcula-tors took Into consideration every known factor. But they had to make a guess on one thing, the weather. They assumed that the weather was going to be "normal" next year and that there would be a normal crop. That Is, they figure the weather conditions would be such as to produce a crop equivalent equiva-lent to the average of the last five years. I have been unable to learn what the allotment plan contemplates contem-plates in event there should be a widespread drought or how the acreage would be treated if there happened to be a bumper crop. ... The government divided up the 450,000,000 bushels which It figured should be grown next year on the basis of the percentage each of the 42 states had grown of the total crop In the last five years. The total to-tal of bushels to be produced next year appears to be about .r5 per cent of the average amount of the crop In the last flpe years. , 1633, Western Newspaper Union. |