Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington things have happened here in washington at such a rate recently that most treat separately of us have been with nations who oblivious to the existence and the subsequent death of 0 the worldwide 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 peoples but it appears from this vantage point that our government Is now ready to embark on a new course one which it could hardly have tackled had bad the london conference never been held so at least the london conference resulted in 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 that department of 0 states experts were mere surveying the possibilities of trade treaties with many nations they are called ill bl lateral treaties and affect ot of course only the two nations entering into the compact while the london conference 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 cus that very thing was being done nevertheless and now ilow the effort Is no longer concealed the united states Is seeking to do in the treaties with individual nations some of the things it sought and failed to do at london secretary hull Is back from london ne ile has had a night of confidential conversation with president roosevelt lie ile Is ready to go ahead indeed he Is charged by the president to proceed with the new plan of action consequently ly in the next few months we are likely to hear bear much about agreements between the united states and various other nations by which trade barriers will be removed to some extent and better understandings will have been obtained about commercial relations there are so many barriers to the free low flow of commerce these days aside from the low level of purchasing po power er resulting from the depression 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 fire are they naturally want to protect their markets and they obviously are unwilling 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 for instance it if a new trade treaty were to be negotiated with france it appears that france certainly would have to agree to remove limitations on certain kinds of imports from the united states they are called quotas they prescribe that only so many thou thousand pounds say of amerlean 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 heretofore has shipped here in large quantities but to get back to the london con ference I 1 recall having written in these columns at plans another the outset of elioe road raad sessions that president roosevelt was in a highly advantageous position when he be promoted the meeting of some 64 04 nations whether he expected the widely advertised conference was going to fall fail as a great many persons believed by entering wholeheartedly whole heartedly into it sending a large american delegation to 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 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 mr roosevelt on the one hand band was pushing american plans and proposals into the conference for an international understanding he was on the other hand ban driving legislation like the farm adjustment act highly nationalistic in character through congress while every ounce of energy Is be ing used to stabilize american crop production within the limits of our own needs and while very every effort Is being utilized to create a manufacture ing structure self belt sustaining within our own limits the president now is seeking see klitz to fortify those nets acts and strengthen our position by treaties with individual nations on trade rela gions in other words he Is completa ing the picture of nationalism whether his program la Is to develop successfully Is quite another matter he hns has rejoined what I 1 believe Is the majority of the american public in the view that the united states cannot ever act jointly with roost most of the world powers conditions and traditions heretofore lime hae made it impossible and the view I 1 have expressed cannot be illustrated better than the position which the senate took with respect to the versailles treaty after the world war the same thought seems still to be dominant tor for the proposal that the united states adhere to the world court has been pending in the senate so long iong that it Is approaching deterioration teri oration the roosevelt theory ns as thus far unfolded falls to give the impression of isolation for the united states such as always was favored by former senator james A reed of mis and the late senator henry cabot lodge of massachusetts accord ing to the views I 1 hear in washington discussions but it Is not tar far from that posit position lolL 0 all 0 the administration Is going ahead to bring about reduction of the wheat acreage next year cutting whether we call wheat acreage it a policy or of iso or not and it Is going to see that only so much Is produced as will be deded for use in this country it way may seem that the wheat reduction program is rather far afield from the london conference but let us remember that secretary wallace made the announcement that the program would be employed on the very day the london conference adjourned jour ned all of the department of agriculture machinery was set in motion that day and it may be added that like the trade treaty situation all of the necessary facts and figures for use in the domestic allotment plan were already compiled and on the seere 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 bushels would be needed out of next years crop the 1934 1034 acreage in addition to the carryover from this and previous years to supply domestic needs accordingly he has sent instructions to farm agents or agricultural extension agents in the various wheat g rowing growing counties to get to work on contracts with the farmers tile the agreements aro are like thos which the cotton farmers were asked to and did sign it is Is a voluntary proposition if the farmer signs the contract to withhold some of his normal acreage from planting ting next nest year he will benefit by the receipt ot of cold cash to the extent of 23 cents a bushel out of the sum which the government collects as a processing tax tar I 1 am told that secretary wallace Is about ready to announce how much the acreage will have to be reduced in the 2 2233 counties in 42 states where wheat is 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 farmers average acreage over the past five years but my information indicates the reduction will be considerably less than the maximum 0 0 if a all 11 of the farmers agree to reduce their acreage the cash paid out this fall and next farmers to get spring will total an addition to the purchasing power of the wheat counties that cannot be ignored under tile 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 wheat production control associations ciati clat ions ons can be organized and the individual allotments completed the second payment constituting the remainder mal roder of the sum due will be pal paid d the farmers next SP spring ring when they will be asked to submit proof that they have reduced the acreage as agreed in their contract the secre allotment program was broken down into allotments for each county to which it Is applied county control associations will be supplied with the total estimated to be produced in their respective counties and the department of agriculture expressed the hope that farmers would not grow impatient if they were unable to learn the figures for the home areas immediately the job will be done as fast as it Is humanly possible to do it in fixing tile the size of the wheat crop next year the government calculators took into consideration cery known radar factor but they had to make a guess on one thing the weather they assumed that the weather was going to be normal norm nl next year and that there would be a normal crop that Is they figured the weather neather conditions would be such as to produce a crop equivalent to the average of tile the last live five years I 1 have been unable to learn what the allotment plan contemplates in event there should be a widespread droli drought gilt or how bow the acreage would be treated it if there happened to be a bumper crop 0 0 the government divided up the bushels which it figured should be grown next year on the basis of the percentage each of 0 the 42 states had grown of the total crop in the last five years the total of bushels to be produced next year appears to be bout about 55 per cent of the average amount of 0 the crop in the last five years vestern nippy illon |