Show national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington cotton farmers of 0 the united states or a lelent number of them in sixteen six teen effect of states have just div united Action 60 en a demonstration of what can be done by unified action we have just seen them sign contracts voluntarily under which they have agreed with their government to destroy certain portions of their growing cotton crop as a concerted effort to force prices higher that their industry may live As a result of this action more than acres of growing cotton will be plowed under that means approximately bales from the potential crop will never be allowed to attain maturity it will never be on the market it will never be used tor for clothing or other fabrication it Is out of the economic life whether such a course Is good or whether it Is contrary to the laws to which all humans must respond Is another question the tact fact Is that we ave who live have seen a government and a people take a step that history must record as epochal mie die farmers are going to bo be paid lor for that portion of the crop which they destroy I 1 have the exclusive information that the average amount to be paid them will be close to A great many will receive more because they are larger producers and some will get less but there are thousands of them who will receive around that sum in cash all will receive the additional benefit of a higher price for that portion of the crop which grows on to harvest 0 0 0 I 1 am told privately and I 1 think it Is an interesting tact fact that the bulk of the contracts offered to the secretary of agriculture under the cotton plan carried estimates by the farmers that are proving to be conservative the government through the department part ment of agriculture Is arranging the scale of payments so that it will figure out from 7 to 20 per acre it a farmers land Is producing this year an estimated pounds of cotton and not more than pounds he will receive 7 for each acre plowed under from that basis of production the payments range upward to 20 a an acre where the production Is calculated at pounds to the acre or more in addition to the plan of payment I 1 have been describing there Is an option plan under which the farmer Is given an option on cotton which the government heretofore has acquired in the various farm relief programs the purpose of the present plan of course Is to force the price higher the cotton which the government holds therefore can and will be sold sometime for more money than it 11 was worth when the government bought it an option Is given tile the farmer by which he can become the titular owner of tills this government cotton in an amount equal to the amount he agrees to destroy t roy out of this gears bears crop lie ile can get ge this profit instead of tile the cash t payment available otherwise the option plan is based upon pa payments Y ranging from G to 12 per crop acre and the government males makes no payment on destroyed crops where the estimate showed a potential production of less than pounds to the acre that Is true regarding payments under the cash plan which brings to the fore the real reason there Is payment at all the government considers that the farmer is entitled to a return on his land and the payments vi whether bether in cash or optional holding of old cotton and gets what amounts to a rental to let it lie idle insofar as the cotton crop Is concerned ile he can use it tor for potatoes or something else just so it Is not cotton cut but from whence Is the money coming to make these payments and how Is the government where to stand such comes from a tremendous drain in order to make good on its promises to the cotton farmer and to the wheat farmer who likewise Is soon to sign agreements not to plant so much acreage this tall fall or next spring the processing tax Is the answer the government will collect from the miller 42 cents in a tax on every pound of 0 cotton that goes late into mills for manufacture into the thousands of 0 uses tor for which cotton Is available it will collect SO 30 cents a bushel on every bushel of wheat that enters a mill from which to obtain funds for paying the wheat farmers ground rental if they withhold a certain portion of their acreage from planting in tile the next crop year it seems intricate to most of us but the department of agriculture experts say it Is simple this method of calculating cu lating what the farmer Is to receive whether Ali ether cotton or wheat they explained it to me thus a cotton farmer has been growing an average of pounds of cotton to the acre during the last five years and he estimates that his prospective crop tills this year will te be just about the same ills payment Is figured on that basis the wheat beat farmer has been producing a stated each year and he contemplates the same acreage next year ills crop croli over it a period of years can be and Is averaged up and he gets paid accordingly the total reduction of acreage in whatever crop Is figured out here on reports from farm agents in the various counties and the total cost to the government Is arrived at the total average sales over many years Is a matter of 0 record that i Is s the records show how much the millers r a of wheat have handled and how much has been exported and the cotton producers records also are available the processing tax then becomes a matter of a percentage it Is simplified to the point where the calculation must be made on the difference in the total average value of the crops from 1924 1024 to 1820 and the current prices M L wilson the man who Is managing the wheat heat program tor for the department part ment of agriculture aarl culture Is just as optimistic timis ti tte about the wheat plan tor for forcing prices higher as secretary wallace and george N peek farm adjustment administrator are about the cotton plan which now has been effectuated mr wilson told me after a recent tour of three weeks through the odd wheat counties of the nation that 00 to 05 per cent of the wheat farmers are going with the government on the plan that means signed contracts just as the cotton farmers signed contracts agreeing to stand together in unified action that reasonable profits may be realized from farming operations there Is going to be a shorter crop of wheat this year than Is usual the department of short wheat agriculture estl esti crop croo p mates it will be around bushels whereas it usually runs around to according to mr wilson the wheat farmers recognize that this years short crop and higher prices will be followed by larger acreage in the plantings of winter wheat this fall and the spring wheat next spring on the basis of acreage now growing fall and spring wheat together the next net years crop easily could go as high as OW bushels just figure what that would mean on the basla basis of wheat consumption of around a year the carry over would break the price down to the level where it would be on the same basis RS as other stock feed and it would be disastrous so mr wilson says the wheat farmers are coming through in good shape as fast as they can be told what the plan means to them 0 0 0 there are two other phases of the crop program that must be remembered according to ill the authorities one of them is the necessity for patience particularly as regards the working out of the wheat programs it will be slower than that affecting cotton the other matter Is less general era but more pointed the matter of attempts at self policing the industry involved I 1 mean to call attention to the age old practice of taking the law into our own hands that Is not going to be countenanced by the government in any way shape or form tor for a law violator ilo lator is a law violator says the department of justice and his bis punishment will not be made easier simply because he thinks he Is enforcing a farm law and he be happens to be a farmer in tills this matter of patience I 1 believe I 1 state the view of the washington ers as a whole who e that the various farm plans as well as the plans affecting industry otherwise should have a chance to 91 show low their worth it Is patent that nothing will help unless the programs designed to extend such aid are ghen time to mature unless they mature the results tire are worth nothing to anybody an body hence the belief of most of us that the nation must be patient As regards the self policing problem the department of 0 agriculture the other day re operation cooperation co calved information that a self appoint Is sought ed crew of 0 individuals was going about certain sections of north carolina telling some of the farmers that either they would sign up contracts to reduce their cotton acreage or we will pull it up by the roots the threat to pull up the crop was accompanied by another kind of a threat agriculture department folks do not want that kind of help in putting over tile the program they want it to be voluntary operation cooperation co a sincere and serious effort to accomplish something by united action on the other hand I 1 am told the agents in the various counties are accessible ces sible to nearly dearly every farmer and the department Is willing to know of any unfair practices that Is part of the idea of operation cooperation co if a farmer signs a contract and falls fails to live up to his agreement obviously lie he Is hurting his own community and to that extent damaging the chances of success for tile the whole program but the point of distinction Is that if there are unfair acts on oil the part of individuals or groups the government can and will correct them it Is not up to the self appointed police say the authorities in the department of justice C no paper union |