| Show 5 farmer will beat communism american food can halt chaos threatening europe by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator washington the american farmer is going to lick communism I what your worried capital is saying today A amen meri can representatives abroad and at home are sub submitting mitti ng one report after another which register gains in the soviet battle to build a communistic world out of chaos the reports come in from prague from belgrade from sofia from budapest showing how each day the iron grip of the russian dominated secret police is gradually choking off democracy in the little countries reports from rome tell us of a planned coup of the moscow directed corn com muni party in italy to overflow the government there the open record of the meetings of the united nations reveals the consistent atte attempt ampt of the russian delegation to block the efforts of the struggling stillfred still free governments in greece and france some american political leaders still look askance at the huge pro gram of aid to west western e rn eura europe p f wa wed in the marshall plan part of the coun try seems pathetic or at least indifferent toward the effort to win the cold war against russia with pure ly economic weapons because it means flees on the part of the american baukhage citizen some of ficiala in the administration sup porters of the marshall plan in con gress and a few diplomats at home and abroad are frightened by this attitude until recently this correspondent has been pretty much distressed too but I 1 feel better after talking with certain officials whose names seldom appear in the news these men are not cabinet officers they are not diplomats they are not th the e leaders in congress whose faces appear in the news p coures and whose adumbrations are quoted in the daily d snatches spat ches they are just the men who do the work for which uncle sam pays the wage they are paid for knowing about american farms and american farmers their con census is embodied in the first line of this dispatch the amer lean farmer is going to lick corn com tourism I 1 believe the farmer will do it not because he knows it will pay him in dollars now but because he is going to be convinced before very long that it will pay america the amer lean farmer will do it by pro viding the food necessary to halt chaos in europe just as he proved the verity of the slogan food will win the war the history of europe since the war is that every government falls when the bread ration is reduced the men who know ten tell me that whatever the total amount in goods or dollars demanded by the mar shall plan it is safe to say that two thirds of it will be for food either the food commodities them selves or the dollars with which to buy them american dollars are growing very scarce in europe but there are three things which the european purchaser hesitates to quit buying grain coal and fats you will notice that france when it reduced its imports as all european countries are doing as their dollars decline tried to hold on to her gram grain coal coa and edible tats fats as long as possible even it the marshall plan were not put into effect in time to pro vide extra dollars for their grain purchases there will be a lag of some months before the farmer is touched in his pocketbook by that time if nothing is done the euro countries starve free burld Is at stake exports to europe already have been cut down that will affect first employment of people in this coun try in such export industries as ra d 0 electrical appliances and like gadgets which can be spared it is quite possible that there may be a sufficient increase meanwhile in em in construction or other 6 industries chich which will ab this unemployment and keep up the purchasing power of the con sumer sufficiently to maintain pres ent farm prices in any case there T probably will be a six months lag before prices are greatly affected eventually the marg nal surplus would be pe touched if europe is not stimulated as it was in 1920 then you recall grain prices dropped al though exports were still heavy however the demand at that time was not great enough to absorb the entire american output it is this marginal surplus which decides the prices at home when the de mand for the first bushel over an and d above the domestic surplus ends it affects the whole price structure before such a situation arises itkis it is firmly believed that the wc realistic side of the picture will be brought home forcibly to america the average catl zen as well as the farmer and the exporter and others directly dependent on international trade as a whole will realize that what Is at stake is something far greater than the dollar america a stake in the preservation of a free world a world which will perish if europe Is underfed russia has only about one sixth of the amount of wheat which the unit ed states is able to spare accord ing to current estimates the unit ed nations food and agriculture or estimated it as 70 mil lion hon bushels against our million bushels as stated above our own situation we admit Is not too good nevertheless we are in a much better position on a corn peti tive basis than russia there appears little doubt in the minds of the men most familiar with the facts that when the full force of this situation and what it means is real iced in this country europe may be saved tor for democracy and the american farmer w 11 have at least R two thirds of the credit due him I 1 please kid dont EVER go collective on me what do the russians think of collective farming comma nihed agriculture under the sovi etsa well I 1 asked a friend of mine paul ward of the balti more sun who got this story from a russian a good comma rust whom he met in moscow after a few vodkas the used to tell stories this was one stalin and roosevelt were driving through the countryside A cow got into the road in front of them and wouldn t move the driver tried to shoo it away but it wouldn t budge finally stalin got out went up to the cow and whispered into its ear the cow gave one frightened look jumped over the fence and disappeared in the distance what did you say to the cow to make it do thata roosevelt asked stalin smiled don t tell any body but I 1 said to her if you don t get out of here but quick put you on a collective f farm arm |
