Show 0 topics interpreted by william washington chester 0 davis the agricultural adjustment administrator in a conversation I 1 drouth had with him the relief other day uttered an observation w which h I 1 c h teems seems to be decidedly worthwhile and one which because of the assurance and contents ought to be repeated here my conversation with mr davis had to do with questions concerning drouth relief arid and I 1 want to quote his remarks because of the widespread destruction st of the current period when rainfall has been nil in so many communities muni ties it Is 13 as unsafe and unjust to me measure asure the true potentialities of this country mr davis said by the extreme drouth conditions of this year as it was to measure them ty by the bumper crop years which happened to coincide with high prices so that everybody felt sudden riches were in sight the one extreme Is just as deceptive as the other sir mr davis outlined what the government was attempting to do since its policy has been changed and since individuals divi duals no longer are required to fend for themselves lie declared the changes in policy that have been taken represent a frank recognition of responsibilities by the present leadership and it was his conviction that more has been done in the face of similar conditions than ever has been done before to relieve human distress lie added that it had been found difficult of course to meet and solve many of the problems and that there is not sufficient prowess even in our national government to counteract all of the effects of such a calamity the administrator holds to the belief however that the steps taken by the administration constitute the beginnings of a national program from which apparently patently ly it Is proposed eventually to develop national policies for dealing with all kinds of distress 0 obviously mr davis did not touch on these phases because his bis job Is to deal with agricultural situations and he has hag not gone beyond them calling attention to the tact fact that the drouth relief program Is the greatest ever undertaken in this or any other country mr davis summarized the joint activity of the several government agencies in the following language the purchase of surplus cattle with the processing of meat tor for relief distribution encouragement of production of forage crops co ordina dign tion of seed purchase human employment y relief purchase of adapted feed grain forestation forest atlon and other measures to conserve moisture prevent wind erosion and minimize the effects of future drouth and in addition such crop benefit payments as have been made and which now turn out to be in his opinion crop insurance 0 mr davis Is optimistic concerning the future of the american farmer despite the hardships optimistic of the current drouth as to future ne ile suggested however that it was necessary to face the facts of the current drouth but also to resort to the language of the street the administrator thinks the country must not allow the current problems to knock it down it if the doubts and fears lately expressed had been heeded mr davis added the great plains never would have teen settled the troubles of today are but repetition on a less fearful scale of the obstacles encountered by the early settlers but instead of turning back in the face of hardships those pioneers established their homes and did not let drouth hood flood hall or indians stop them instead the pioneers and their sons searched the world for drouth resistant wheat and grains which would mature in season they bred up the drouth resistant forage crops and planted them they built a civilization on an expanse of the map once was wag labeled the great american desert the droutha we have lived through in the past did not conquer the spirit nor stop the development of the west the drouth of 1834 1934 will not stop the men of 0 the west in their forward march to conquer nature the thing about the remarks which mr davis uttered that appealed to me and to numerous other washington observers was the candor with which he treated the problems lie he made no attempt in this conversation nor has he done so in several speeches be has made lately to use language that was hysterical for an example of what I 1 mean dispatches coming ironi from president Roosevel ts train on his h homeward ome ward trip across the northern half of this country gave various figures as to the loss occasioned by the drouth one of these dispatches credited an emergency relief official with the statement that the drouth had cost the farmers five billion dollars another dispatch placed the figure somewhat lower and gave cave no authority for the estimate but the point Is that while mr davis dails recognizes the desperation of the farmers and the necessity tor for their relief there was nothing sensational in his discussion it Is to be remembered that the total farm income of 1933 19 3 was only a little more than six billion dollars and it Is hard bard tor for observers here to believe that the drouth has destroyed five siahs fajth of this count rys agricultural in come this year in the light of this facts fact the tempered remarks by mr davis take on added significance and weight it now seems certain that when the CUD congress gress returns to washington next nest january it will be will ask called upon immell more funds abely by the administration to vote more funds for relief of the drou drouth th victims until later late r however the extent to which the administration will seek to go in this direction cannot be foretold it Is evident that having seen the circumstances first hand mr roose belts entire sympathy will be behind whatever proposal he makes observers here however foresee some dangers as a result of the present desperate conditions they know that mr roosevelt will as he has frequently stated go th the e limit with federal funds but the danger foreseen by astute observers here Is that some of the members of the house and senate will attempt to go beyond all reason in preparation of relief plans during next nert winter it Is not unusual as the records show that on every occasion when the federal treasury doors are opened senators or representatives will come forward with scores of plans under the guise of human relief to get their hands bands on government money for their constituents it Is fair to say that some of these will be sincere it Is equally fair to say that as in the past some of them will have been misguided the conversations one hears bears around washington therefore indicate that those charged with government responsibility must be on their guard if vast sums are not to be wasted under the guise of exten extending aing relief to needy victims of natures pranks this year some of the brain tr usters already have developed far flung plans for the physical transfer of thousands of farm families from the drouth stricken districts into other areas where they can get started again while generally speaking I 1 believe sentiment in the government favors doing anything that will afford relief next winter a good many of the higher authorities in the ad administration M in I 1 s t r a t I 1 on po point in t out that the scheme of transposition of w whole hole families and their belongings pr presents eserts grave problems without attempting to discuss the merit or demerit of the scheme it seems to me that attention ought lit to be called to the tact fact that human beings just cant agree to such programs 0 0 there was a cartoon in one of the eastern metropolitan newspapers the other day that deprice plated uncle sam situation begging a small boy labeled rr prices icee to grow up so that he could reach his height of 1926 1920 beside it was another caricature which showed uncle sam warning the same boy to stop growing and announcing that it if he be the prices of food grows too much 1 I will crack down I 1 refer to this cartoon because most washington observers see the price situation in this country to be quite confusing it Is to be recalled that throughout last year and early in 1934 1034 the administration predicated all of its actions on a desire to raise prices now however the effect of the prolonged drouth in the agricultural areas Is being felt in the cities and president roosevelt announced his bis fear that profiteering in food prices is likely to result and made known that the administration has definite plans to curb any undue rise to in prices thus far it has not been made clear what Is considered an undue price rise under present conditions but the president stated with emphasis in a press conference that he would not permit profiteering to take place in the coming fall and winter because he indicated he thought the price increases would be unjustified the president and secretary wallace of the department of agriculture are working hand in hand in the development of machinery which they intend to use to protect consumers from profiteering mr roosevelt asserted he had bad plenty of power with which to do this job mr wallace speaking later said the first check that would be placed on an undue rise in prices would be closer supervision of the die grain markets any indications of manipulation in those markets will be dealt with summarily according to mr wallace the circumstances surrounding price questions however have caused many observers to ask for further exposition of 0 the administrations policies in n this regard As far as I 1 have been able to learn none of the administration spokesmen are willing at this time lime to go go beyond the threat to crack down it if there Is profiteering it must be as fumed therefore that moderate price increases will be tolerated it if they are not it Is made to appear that the poll cles cleg upon which the tha agricultural ad administration have been op crating and those that have served as a the guideposts gulde posts for NIRA in its code malting making are no longer holding favor with the administration in other words there Is profound confusion over the question of price increases at this time I 1 Kw News Dr caver ua acua |