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Show New U. S. Farm Policy Aims at High Production Latest Campaign Represents Definite Shift From 'Plowing Under' Plan; Powder Makers Need Cotton Linters. r - 7 By BAUKHAGE National Farm and Home Hour Commentator. VTSV Service, 1343 H Street, N. W Washington, D. C. "This year and next the farmer is going places. There are certain indications that he will continue to see considerable new money: Indications In-dications based on conditions that affect af-fect the farmers' general outlook on life, as well as his cash income." That statement did not come from 'official sources" it didn't even tome from a farmer, although he used to be one. It was made in my office by square-cut, square-Jawed square-Jawed Conklin ("Pop") Mann, an I editor and advertising man, keen student of rural matters, and a longtime long-time friend of mine. Mann was down from New York bursting with enthusiasm for his favorite theme assured prosperity on the farm. Mann believes that business has a Job ahead to interpret and readjust its marketing to meet the sweeping economic changes now taking place in American agriculture. The farmer is now becoming a far more important factor in the distribution dis-tribution of both consumable and capital goods than ever before. That rise in the farmers' economic importance isn't just a matter of great cash income, according to Mann. It is due, rather, to the fact "that the farmer now has a sound business platform under him and an plan and work on a basis comparable com-parable to any other business man. "Farmers," says Mann, "are both !oing well and experiencing a new sense of economic security because of parity and guaranteed prices for farm products. There is a definite psychological response to their feeling feel-ing of increased safety. When ,a farmer is doing well, and feeling secure, look for a strong upward surge in his buying psychology." Mann interprets the farm in terms of modern industry he sees the farm as a manufacturing plant, producing produc-ing the raw materials for food, clothing and numerous other products. prod-ucts. "Evolutionary changes, deep down in farm economics," says this agro-idealist, "have taken place which give the farmer a stabilized economic base from which he can plan and work with a sense of security he never had before." Farmer Psychology I like the way this hard-hitting, successful business man and writer describes the psychology of the farmer as he grew up with him in other days. He asks this question of the industrialist: "How would I feel about buying anything but necessities if my whole economic structure was a gamble? Suppose I owned a ten or fifteen thousand-dollar plant and a lot of livestock, and, once a year, I planted plant-ed crops, not knowing if the price would make them worth harvesting; how would I feel?" Mann has a deep inherited kinship kin-ship for the man who works close to the soil and you cannot doubt his sincerity when he adds: "Some day a saga will be sung about the courage that kept the farmers going through their darkest days." I wish I might write that saga for I know it from brave letters that poured into me from radio listeners all through the worst of the depression. depres-sion. I can tell you that they gave me a renewed faith in America that has kept me from being cynical through these days of distrust and doubt. By the time this column is read, the greatest concentrated drive to increase farm production, to assure the farmer a definite price for what he produces will be on. For the first time in history, milk and poultry poul-try producers will be asked to pledge themselves to raise as much of their product as they possibly can and they will get all the cooperation, co-operation, advice and assistance that the government can give them. Quite a different picture from "plowing under." Cotton Linters And Powder Making Cotton linters, vthe hair-like fibers that cling to the seed after the long, staple cotton is removed in ginning, is a vital ingredient in the manufacture manu-facture of smokeless powder. Army officials are checking to see whether or not there is going to be a shortage short-age of this product that will seriously seri-ously interfere with the defense program. pro-gram. They have ringing in their ears the solemn warning of Rep. Wright Patman, of Texas, in the house of representatives, that there will be a linters shortage by the middle of 1942 or even as early as next February, depending upon bow much the defense program is expanded, ex-panded, or whether or not the United States becomes involved in a "shooting war." At any rate, three plans are being be-ing considered in order to meet such an emergency. First, there is the substitution of alpha pulp. This is the wood product prod-uct that Germany has been using in its smokeless powder since cotton imports have been shut off as a result re-sult of the war. This is the same ingredient, in-gredient, too, on which rayon and cellulose industries depend. Second, the department of agriculture agri-culture is experimenting with a machine ma-chine for chopping up staple cotton into short lengths and breaking down the fiber so as to make it usable in place of linters. Within the near future the machine will be given a trial run at the Hopewell bleachery. Third, a process has been developed devel-oped for making wood linters out of the southern gum tree the familiar sweet gum, black, or Tupelo Tu-pelo gum. Already one plant in the Midwest is turning out these wood linters which are being used interchangeably inter-changeably with cotton linters in powder which is going to England. Washington Residents And Car Luxury Midtown Washingtonians that's most of them provide no sheltering rooftree for their servants, either human or wheeled. And so, early in the morning, nose to tail, the parked cars patiently hug the curb, awaiting await-ing their masters' will. As the day begins, there is a little knot of colored col-ored girls and other servants who are on their way to wake the missus and get breakfast, lunch and dinner din-ner and then depart for their own mysterious habitations. Of course, there are more cars than girls, for, here as elsewhere, the car is the No. 1 luxury. Better walk up three flights to a hall-bedroom than be car-less. Of course, there are many government gov-ernment employee families which have settled down as contented bourgeoisie, the unambitious but secure beneficiaries of bureaucracy. They eventually own their own neat homes, on which there is plenty of time to work, after four-thirty. There is the 26-day leave each year and 14-day sick leave, occasional furloughs fur-loughs (without pay), retirement and pension to which to look forward. for-ward. And there is always that semi-monthly salary check, not high in proportion to commercial wages but always there, in good times or bad, for the classified civil servant In boom times the salaries of government gov-ernment workers do not go up along with prices, and you cannot strike against the government. Prices are high in normal times in Washington, Washing-ton, compared with other cities of its size; clerks and shopkeepers tend to be a little bored and snooty in the capital,' and collectors are relentless. But Uncle Sam's pay check is always there, even if, in days of depression, a sizeable share may have to be mailed back to rugged relatives at home who are out of jobs but even so there is usually enough left for the garage-less car. Filing of Documents Is Serious Problem In the public mind, the word "waste" is frequently associated with the word "government." If you will look up the word "waste" in the dictionary, you will also find that it is connected with the word "vast" (the Latin "vastus"). There is, of course, a vast waste in all governments and not the least is waste paper. As a matter of fact, the Congress of the United States recognizes this fact for it has created a joint select committee com-mittee on the disposition of papers in the executive departments. Before Be-fore papers and documents of any department can be thrown away, the Archives Council passes upon whether or not they have historical value. If not, the council advises the joint committee, which in turn reports to congress on what action that body should take in disposing of them. The question of storing papers in Washington, the filing case for the emergency, to say nothing of the office, is becoming as serious as the need for providing space for human beings. Documents of historical value are kept in the great Archives building on Constitution avenue where moth and rust do not corrupt nor can thieves break through and steal. Papers of no historical value can be sold for waste, on direction of congress, and the money received therefor turned into the treasury. |