Show I i Revised Farm Program Begins to Take Shape J Greater Curtailment Cu of Surplus Crops Seen Administrations Administration's Stand Against Con Con- Convoys Convoys voys Has Significant Angle I By BAUKHAGE National Farm and Home Hour Commentator Service 1395 National Press Washington D. D C. C WASHINGTON A WASl A A new and revo revo- revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary farm program for Amer Amer- America Amero o lea ica is In the works It if it Is carried out according to the wishes of the administration It will mean the first tep step In an effort to change the whole a pattern of farming In hi this country as we have accepted it for the last century When this column Is In print the new bill may be made public At this writing even Its outline has not been announced But a careful re re- review review re- re review view of f f discussions in highly government circles justifies Oreo iree predictions 1 That Tha the new bill will revolutionize revolutionize New Deal farm policy and anda J a will have for tor its goal a a- a 2 Vastly greater curtailment of production of surplus products prod and and and- 3 Complete change In type of r some lome of the crops now raised by farmers I What is behind the change in pol pol- policy polIcy polIcy icy is this the last die hards who believed that any American farm program should take for granted a return to normal world trade have thrown up the sponge There is at long last a majority agreement agree agree- agreement ment In the department of agriculture agriculture ture tore that American farming must follow a new pattern pattern one one that calls I fC fa no subsidy for lost export mar mar- markets of the past no attempt to nurse along along surpluses on the assumption that the same foreign markets on which we once counted would be beI gain again available I e Original Purpose I Roughly the original purpose of the agricultural adjustment legisla- legisla legislation tion on on was to secure reduction of certain certain certain tain crops and with the payments provide a livelihood for thousands of I farmers who had lost their markets I Later conservation was emphasized the but theory behind the subsidies tf wa as permit the farmer fanner who J depended on the foreign i arket ar e to cp plis ephis plant going to him f tooled to l tooled l to d'-to to keep for ex- ex fi ample amp m e a y- y t Jar f arm armer i c F a w e c ej j farmer ta-rin ta r ag against the the day when the theor foreign or ign market was restored By B 1933 Sv the Triple A was started foreign markets i had pretty well melted but the pattern of Amer Amer- American AmerIcan ican lean farming itself was the same I generally speaking as it had been for a hundred years The Triple A policy was planned to preserve thata that a pattern and fill the empty corners in inthe Inthe inthe the mould by artificial means When I say the pattern was preserved I mean that all the Triple A wanted to do was to cut down production to the point where demand and supply approximately balanced The pol pol- policy polIcy polIcy icy of the congress as stated in the Agricultural Adjustment act was to restore to American farm products as rapidly as practicable the same purchasing power in terms of things A farmers buy that those products had hadIn hadIn I In the year five period 1914 1909 immediately preceding the World war So if you were told to plow under your pour cotton this year this did not i mean go out of the business oi of o rais rais- raising raisIng raising ing cotton for good You were sup sup- supposed supposed supposed posed to get payments so you court coulA stay alive until it paid to raise mON moru cotton again Now a New Pattern But now a new pattern has been r. r drawn It is based on the belief that the major foreign markets are j gone for good or good or at least for so I long that they cannot be reckoned on any longer Some farmers will L jus have ave to face the fact that they must make permanent shifts in their crops y j Here is the key phrase of the j 9 new policy in a sentence taken from the annual report of the department f of agriculture recently published Growing r unneeded crops is sheer I waste of labor of capital of soil ou J even if temporarily the products can cango cant cango t go into storage under government 1 loans Vi This change in agricultural ad ad- adjustment adf f j policy was not heralded in f J advance But little by little hin hints s shave i I have shave been dropped as to what is isI I r coming Secretary sounded warning that the definite t i muted a In foreign trade was down- down downward downward trend recent speech at Pur- Pur Purr Purdue ward Vard in his f. f r due university His Supplementary followed as a sUp slap in ins S k Cotton Colton plan j Il s Se the diction direction of reducing the cotton 1 j surpluses ses shifting acreage to food crops In the annual report of the tha department of agriculture are fur fur- further further further ther hints as to the adjustments which are to be faced by the pro pro- producers producers of foodstuffs tobacco and the other things which formerly made up our farm export trade Still SUII a Possibility Of at course the administration does not say there will never again be beany beany beany any foreign market whatever for farm products But the new policy refuses to take for granted that such outlets will ever return to what we have always insisted on calling normal This viewpoint represents a struggle struggle struggle gle between those who fought to the end with hope as their chief sup sup- port The last Light went out when the Hull reciprocal trade program collapsed In the face of war Now agreement has haa been reached that the old plan must be scrapped and that America must build a new mar mar- market market market ket for the farmer based on the theory that in war or peace the trend Is strongly away from a pos pOSe possible sible profitable export trade It might be said here however that the producers of meats and fruits and vegetables are going to benefit by the immediate situation at at least temporarily when the con con- contents contents contents tents of the newly filled pay enve enve- envelopes envelopes envelopes lopes of the defense industries will willbe willbe willbe be exchanged for these products In home consumption But a Cde disparity of prices Is due between these products and cot cot- cotton cotton cotton ton wheat corn and tobacco The latter staples are among those which the administration believes must be curtailed under the nev ne plan Are We In lri or rout Out Of the Current War There Is a popular pop lar response around Washington which you fre fre- frequently frequently frequently hear in answer to the ques question question tion do you think well we'll get Into the war It Is another question Arent we already in That remark was started some some- somewhat somewhat what facetiously f but bu now you will hear it stated seriously if unofficially d ally in the affirmative by some of And if you judge by the theold theold theold old standards when a country was either a belligerent or a neutral we weare weare weare are in Because we are not neu neue neutral neutral and Secretary Hull himself has said so so-he so he said that the law of self self- preservation and not neutrality now governs the nation We We have taken many steps which could uld be offered to prove that Mr ill y-Ul ll f Is legally correct But all the dj rules are off Undeclared war waris waris waris is the popular stunt these days It Itis ItIs Itis is the way the totalitarians totalitarian do it and we are being forced to take takeover takeover takeover over a lot of these measures in or or- order order der to fight fire Cae with fire The job will be to scrap them all when the trouble is over But In the real sense we are not at war No Americans under the American flag are shooting anybody under any other flag And that is something And a high official of I the United States government has made it clear that that was what the President had In mind when he said that he had never considered using American warships to convoy supplies through the war zone to Great Britain It has been pre pre- predicted predicted frequently that convoys would be our next step Well this official explained that the reason the ad ad- administration administration ministration was against the use of convoys was because when a con con- convoy convoy voy gets into the war zone there Is likely to be shooting and shooting comes awfully close to towar to war Statements Statement's Significance It seemed to me significant that I this statement was made on the same day that former Ambassador Joseph Kennedy testifying before belore the foreign affairs committee on the I lend lease-lend bill said almost the same thing thin In other words It almost looked as If the two spokesmen had gotten together beforehand That was the same day as some of you may remember that I had bad said earlier on the Farm and Home hour that I could find no Indication in Washington that any steps were being taken to get us Into the war My observation was a coincidence Perhaps the conjunction of the other oth oth- other other er remarks was was too To the men who were In France FranceIn In hi the last war we will still be at peace as long as we are not shoot shoot- shootIng shooting Ing anybody |