—-
r
-
Remember the days of the blowing j
chaff, the pounding separator and the |
chuffing steam engine? And the whistle J
that indicated it was time to start or stop? ?
(Continued from page 12)
and cotton But acreage diverted
out of these crops threw others
into surplus. Feed production
v as increased and stimulated
ovei expansion of livestock
and so the problem spread un
til almost every farmer, regard
less of what he produces, is ad
veisely affected.
2 Whose surpluses are they?
1 raise this question only be
cause some of my political -op
ponents have been blaming this
Administration.
When we took office in Janu
aiy 1953, the inventories and
loans of the Commodity Credit
Corporation were about $3 bil
lion But our predecessors had
left a time bomb. Prior to In
auguration Day, they already
had announced unlimited pro
duction of wheat, corn and cot
ton for 1953. Before we could
do anything about it a year
later government-held sur
pluses had increased to $6-5 bil
lion. As provided in the law,
we had to subject farmers to
acieage and marketing controls
in 1954. This was done with
gieat regret because I was well
aware of the hardship it would
woik on farmers. But it was
necessary and unavoidable be
cause the rigid wartime price
supports were still in effect ior
the basic crops. Even with the
controls, the surplus stockpiles
mci eased to well over $7 bil
lion by the end of the 1954 mar
keting year.
While it was a time-bomb
that our predecessors left for fls,
it was farmers and the public
pai ticularly farmers who got
hurt ' -
3. What are the surpluses doing
to farmers?
What are the costs involved in
these government-held sur
pluses? First, the storage costs
alone on the 1 $8.5 billion stock
pile we now have are more than
a million dollars a day. Then
there are administrative costs
and interests costs on the money.
Deterioration costs are small,
hut some are unavoidable. There
dle losses when these products
aic sold for less than the gov
ernment paid.
These are costs to taxpayers
~~ to the Nation as a whole.
They are small compared to
other costs which fall upon you
as> farmers.
The reason is that no one can
Pi event the surplus stockpiles
ii orn having a price-depressing
effect upon your markets. I
cannot emphasize too strongly
hat produce taken over by the
government for price support
P UI poses has not actually been
It is merely held in a
government warehouse await
a use. It is still part of
e domestic and the world sup-
P' Hovp/ei c’osely it may be
guarded from the market, svery-
? ne t'nt sooner or later,
01 on" 1 r i r»-n or another —•
Remember Those Days?
r i« *
even to meet one emergency or
another it will sometime be
used. And when it is used it will
add to market supplies Conque
ntly, the very existence of such
stocks always has its depressing
effect on market prices.
Department of Agriculture
economists estimate that oui
net farm income last year was
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{ *
Many of these memories were recalled on
the Abram R. Herr farm in Colerain
township at a recent old-time threshing
bee. (Lancaster Farming Staff Photo) •
reduced, at least 20 per cent
at least 2, billion dolars by
the price-depressing effect of the
surplus stockpiles. This stagger
ing sum is about 5.5 million dol
lars a day that the surpluses are
costing farmers 5.5 million
dollars a day in reduced net in
come Such tragic losses must
be stopped. The cause must be
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corrected because agriculture
| cannot be free and prosperous
until it is.
. Why have we not disposed
• of the surpluses more rapid
ly?
Ladies and gentlemen, I can
jport to you that we have work-
J agressively at disposal and
ave used every means \ve could
avise. During the last fiscal
jar 2.7 billion dollars worth ol
overnment-owned stocks were
loved into use at home and
jroad in the last three years,
jout $6 billion worth. We have
ild into the domestic market
hen we could. We have sold
oroad for dollars' or for lor
gn currencies if dollars could
ot be had. We have bartered
l we could not sell and we
ave donated for relief purposes
nd for other worthy causes
oth at home and overseas.
I must call your attention to
le fact that the disposal alter-
latives open to your govern
ment do have limits In tact, we
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Friday, Aug. 31, 1956
have only three alternatives. We
can move the surpluses at home.
Or we can move them over
seas. Or well, the third is
not even an alternative. It
would be deliberately to de
stroy food and other farnj, pro
ducts and that would be im
moral and unthinkable.
Then think a minute about
the other alternatives.
When the surplus stocks are
sold or given away in the domes
tic market, there is always the
risk an ever-present risk
of lowering the prices for what
you and other farmers are pro
ducing currently. Thus we have
to proceed cautiously for youc
protection
And while the surplus stocks
are sold or given away overseas,
except in carefully controlled
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Lancaster Farming—
(Continued on page 14,)
13