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Show Agriculture Has a Role In Post-War Planning Government Gives Serious Consideration to Problems of the Farmer When 'Reconstruction' Period Begins. . i By BAUKHAGE National Farm and Home Hour Commentator. WXO Service, 1343 H Street, N-W, Washington, D. C. The people of the United States, through their representatives in Washington, have just begun spending spend-ing another six billion dollars for tanks, guns, shells, and ships. When these products are used up for the purpose for which they are produced, pro-duced, what will the world have to show for it? Just what the farmer has when he is done fighting a blitz of grasshoppers, beetles or other varmints a lot of ruined property and a lot of dead things to bury, burn, or plow under the result of wholesale destruction. But along with all this spending to kill and destroy, the nation is also planning to build and create. Currently thousands of Americans are gathering in state capitals, county seats and rural communities to talk over some brass-tack ideas for reconstruction after destruction. Post-war planning, it's called. "We visualize a post-war world," says Secretary of Agriculture Wick-ard, Wick-ard, "in which we will make full use of our manpower and our resources re-sources for the benefit of the American Amer-ican people." That's a nice visualization. What's being done to make the vision real? The National Resources Planning board in Washington is centralizing post-defense planning efforts, not only of the federal government but of the country as a whole. In September Sep-tember Secretary Wickard set up an inter-bureau committee in the department de-partment of agriculture on post-defense post-defense problems to help work out some of these plans. The committee commit-tee has three jobs: 1. Keeping in touch with and making mak-ing what contribution it can to the developments that affect the national nation-al economy as a whole. 2. Developing rural works pro- Many of the suggestions which the inter-bureau committee is throwing out for consideration are not new. Under the head of improving the farm plant, and back of it the resources re-sources on which the plant has to draw are the well-known activities in soil conservation, flood control, water development. Many of these activities are now being carried on but, says Secretary Wickard, "not on a scale commensurate with the need." These are the things that can be done. The defense effort has demonstrated dem-onstrated here, as it has in England, that the United States has today a potential national income much greater than ever achieved before. It is stimulated by the forced creation crea-tion of destructive products. There is no reason why the resources of this vast and rich nation cannot be utilized to create just as large an ! income derived from constructive endeavor whose benefits can be shared by all. I If it is not, then we servants of democracy have buried our talents and we may as well get ready to be banished, along with another certain cer-tain "wicked and slothful servant," I into outer darkness where, it is said on excellent authority, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A Message From Hitler The other day my boss handed me a note from Hitler. Not, of course, direct from the trembling hand of the fuehrer himself, but just a little reminder of what the Nazi Number One was doing to me. As I scanned the formal note a picture came before me. I shall never forget it but when I see it in my mind's eye I see it always like a scene from some exotic play no nart nf thf. wnrlH in whiph up livp grams in the capital improvement field. (That means improving the farmer's "plant.") 3. Developing publicly sponsored programs of rural welfare ("services"). ("serv-ices"). Mediums of Action How does this committee get action? ac-tion? Through state and local land-use land-use planning committees already set up, with the co-operation of department field representatives. These are state committees, county committees and committees of neighborhood groups. The latter are made up of farmers; the others are mixed farmers and federal and state officials. What are the general problems the American farmer has to face in the post-war world as the department depart-ment of agriculture sees them today? to-day? First, there is likely to be a great demand for foodstuffs as the United States feeds a starving Europe after the war. Secondly, there will be an effect on the domestic market when military mili-tary service and defense work ends, for the farmer's income swells and shrinks in direct proportion to the size of the employee's pay envelope. Of course, every effort will be made to create jobs on public works projects while industry is changing over from defense to civilian production. pro-duction. But it is freely admitted that the tremendous defense effort in the industrial world cannot be duplicated du-plicated by "made" work. Therefore, There-fore, the emphasis in planning is to be placed on jobs that will produce jobs, and agriculture must expand to carry its share of the effort, say the planners. Rural Works' Program The first job which the department depart-ment of agriculture is concerned with right now under "capital improvement" im-provement" is a rural works program pro-gram which will provide work in rural areas to improve the farmer's physical plant. And that is what the committees are now considering consider-ing "rural housing." When these committees have studied the question ques-tion and given their suggestions, they will be reported back to the inter-bureau committee and the department de-partment will build its policy under the influence of these suggestions. Then the department will report to the Nat1 nal Resources Planning board winch in turn will submit its program to congress whose duty it is to carry out the wishes of the people. Thus the democratic cycle is completed. It is the picture of a little man, pale, determined, wearing a field gray tunic. He stands on a platform, plat-form, his hands grasping a lectern, against a gaudy background of brilliant bril-liant uniforms and red the high priests of Nazidom. Before him is a sea of brown the members of the puppet parliament. "And I shall not take off this uniform" uni-form" (or words to that effect), he is saying, "until victory . . ." Hitler, it was, addressing the Reichstag on that day in 1939 when he launched his legions into Poland and started the war. But how could it affect me? Well, this was the note the boss put on the bulletin board the other day for me and the other staff members: "The paper, paper clip, rubber rub-ber band, and staple situation is becoming serious. May we ask that all of you conserve these items as much as possible because be-cause under the new priorities setup these supplies are going to be very difficult, if not impossible, im-possible, to secure . . ." That scene I had witnessed in the reichstag two years ago struck home for the first time. It had seemed very far away until now. True, I had had a moment of apprehension appre-hension earlier lest Hitler get our Clipper. But I never dreamed he would get our clips. Carrier Pigeon Useful in Emergencies In a world where aviation has developed de-veloped so rapidly that a plane is often obsolete before its construction construc-tion can be finished, one type of flier, which is the oldest of all, remains supreme in its field. The carrier pigeon is still considered the best means of emergency communication. communica-tion. Recently a new set of these feathered recruits started training for service with bombers at Mac-Dill, Mac-Dill, Fla. They are expected to prove useful in case of emergency landings that is, if the pigeon can be released unscathed with a message mes-sage it could guide rescuers to the scene of the crash. The officer who is training them is Lieut. Thomas Fulton. He is the man who received the message, borne by a pigeon, which caused the rescue of the famous fa-mous Lost Battalion in the Argonne forest in the last war. When the birds now training are grown they will be able to fly 60 miles per hour and keep it up for 600 to 700 miles a day without landing. |