Show ela america ameria may face loss of farm export market IV ickard finds USES less production no So solution ution army U darta cs to build morals Plora among a jig f cw recruits ry r ini aar r arrn n and hour commentator wj u korv c natira nati nat ra ral press E ff V a U D C washington few gerpe peep c rell realized how much dynamite amite thare VT ka in that speech on en a agriculture 1 l pre par cAness which S secretary acre tary of agriculture delivered at his od n d alma mater purdue university the other day while he come right out and say so in so many words the secretary sounded the knell of hope for a foreign market for farm surpluses that speech marked the beginning of a new farm policy in the united states based on what is believed by officials here to be a permanent and not a temporary loss of export trade the facts are said the secretary that the trend of american farm exports has been downward since the turn of the century now I 1 dont mean to say that the decline has been constant you know better than that it has been by fits and starts exports shot up tor for 15 years exports tell fell off like a stone dropped from a tower after the smoot haw ley tariff act of 1930 in that paragraph is the secre hypothesis from which he draws his conclusions SURPLUS statistics according to the best statistics available here there are two bales of cotton on hand in the world today tor for every bale that will probably be used in the current marketing year and there are at least bushels of wheat in the world today tor for which no market exists and a similar situation exists in the lard and tobacco markets the secretary says that the answer to this problem of farm surpluses cannot be solved with the two words reduce production because we cant reduce the number of people who live on cotton farms or wheat farms or tobacco farms in the same proportions which we can reduce the of these commodities modi ties those are the secre words but folks with a good pair of glasses have been busy reading between the lines and this is what they say he means when the war Is over our exports of farm products even it they increase tor for a while are going to decrease in the long run and veve got to take steps right now to make adjustments in the country adjustments is the secre own word tor for it OTHER PAINFUL POINTS more reading between the lines reveals a number of interesting it if somewhat painful points one not only must the amount of farm products be cut down but the number of people on farms has to be cut down i e othir other means of income found for them two not only must the unsuccessful farmer adjust himself to this situation by raising stuff that he can eat himself or by getting some other work but the successful farmer will have to make some adjustments for instance he will have to expect a certain amount of interregional competition concretely that means behns that the cotton farmer will be raising more of his own meat poultry and corn some of this will spill over and compete with the corn belt and dairy farmer it also means that in self defense the successful farmer will have to operate cooperate co in supporting economic and political effort toward raising the income of the unsuccessful farmer and the whole low income group this will mean that the big farm organizations which hitherto have used most of 0 their influence in washington dashington Nas hington to get better prices for farm products will have to use some of their influence to raise these low incomes so there will be a bigger home market for the farmers products at least the way washington officials look at the farm situation today 0 0 0 army Is busy building morale napoleon said an army moves on its stomach he was right and it cannot be an empty stomach either why in uncle sams new army a cook is a cook and not just somebody who says he is because he thinks its easier to be a doughboy than a doughboy but a full stomach is not all it takes to make a fighting man it takes morale and this time the government has done two things to build that highly necessary factor it has begun early before there is a war it has taken over the whole job to itself instead of farming it out as it did in the last war to civilian organizations like the YMCA and its a big job under the office of the adjutant general the division in the long west wing of the munitions building in washington has 50 clerks and 15 officers just to take care of the washington end in the various camps and posts are the many morale services all under this division the army motion picture service the camp publications post exchanges service clubs guest houses and even entertainment for soldiers in towns near the training areas As major general bell said in the last war A singing army is a fight ing army arai and singing will be a part of the show the arm army y has its own song book and mass singing will be enczur encouraged aged the post exchange which is sort of oan army general store is a business in itself to get an idea of how much of a business a post exchange can be the one at chanute field rantoul Kan toul ill took in nearly in one month last tall fall already a number ot of camp publications licati ons have started I 1 looked over several ot of them at morale head quarters and some are exceedingly businesslike looking sheets I 1 noticed in the office was a file of the stars stripes the famous newspaper of the american expeditionary force in france harold ross who edited it in paris is now the highly successful head of the new yorker magazine alexander who was on the staff is one of americas best known writers and story tellers it was my privilege to serve on that paper after the armistice and I 1 covered the peace conference under the able direction of john then a rear rank private but news editor of the paper he is now major attached to the office of the assistant secretary of war probably many famous journalists of coming generations erat ions will get their training on some of these newspapers run under the au auspices of the new morale division another highly publicized group of this new division are the hostesses but their job has been largely misunderstood let me quote from col harry terry writing in the commerce magazine the term hostess for these business women is a misnomer they might more properly be called secretaries which in fact they are they are the assistants of the division commander and carry out his wishes in conducting their various duties providing social entertainment running dances and other entertainment for thousands of men is no night club job it will require a high degree of organization ability and no mean attainment in social arts and graces operating a cafeteria to meet the requirements of both visitors and troops in such a manner as to build the morale of troops and convince the mothers sisters and sweethearts that their men are being adequately cared tor for requires a high degree of technical knowledge and immense tact finally to supervise all these activities as well as the buying of food and supplies will need a person of more than good looks and a pleasant smile |