roL 18 No. 21.
r ould Have Pushed Food Prices Back to
Congress Abandons Rollback
Livestock farmers here and across the
ountry breathed a sigh* of relief Wed
esday when they learned that Congress
muld not be acting to roll cifl prices back to
he January 10, 1973 level. House Bill
1168, drafted by the House Banking and
lurrency committee, bogged down in the
Jules Committee Wednesday afternoon,
he controversial measure was expected
o be on the House floor by Thursday, and
nany of its backers thought its chances for
jassage were good.i
If it had passed both the House and the
senate, prices, interest and rents would all
lave been rolled back to the January 10
evel.
The bill was actually an extension of the
'resident’s authority to control prices,
hat authority expires April 30 under the
resent law. The House instead, by voice
ote, agreed to’ extend.
ontror authority another 60 days. If the *
senate goes along with that action, the
Twelve Lancaster County DHIA
supervisors received awards of merit
Thursday afternoon at an annual
Southeast Area DHIA meeting. Shown left
to right are: first tow - Jay Mylin, Joan
Snyder, Lee Landis; second row - Clarence
23
Win Awards of Merit
Awards of Merit were
presented to 23 Southeastern
Area DHIA supervisors Thur
sday afternoon during a meeting
at Ifae Bird-in-Hand Restaurant.
The awards are presented an
nually to qualifying supervisors
on the basis of efficiency,
DHIA Supervisors
cooperation and completness of
work.
In order to receive the award, a
supervisor must have been on the
job at least two years, and he or
she must be recommended by his
DHIA board of directors.
Twelve of the 23 award winners
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 14, 1973
the administration would then have power
to control prices until the end of June.
There is still some possibility that the bill
with the rollback clause will be introduced
at a later date. Most observers expect,
though, that the Banking Committee will
produce a bill different from this one which
was heavily opposed by business and farm
groups.
Livestock producers were especially
concerned about the threat of a rollback
because of the recent public furor over
meat prices. There was some concern that
prices paid to farmers would be rolled back
much fasten than prices paid by farmers.
Robert Walker, from Congressman
Edwin Eshelman’s Washington office, told
LANCASTER FARMING that his boss feels,
“....if we're going to roll prices back, why
not roil them back to 1935, when they were
really low? Congressman Eshelman
doesn't agree with a roil back. It looks like a
political ploy by the opposition. They want
v" 1 Vut
Crider, Harold Undecamp, Harold Probst,
Moses Martin; third row - Wilbur Houser,
Daivd Harnish, Jay Risser. Absent at the
time the photo was taken were Owen Etter
and Harold Breneman.
were from Lancaster County,
four were from Berks, Mon r
tgomery County had three
winners, and Chester and
Lebanon Counties each had two
winners. The winners names, and
T an. 10, ..
(Continued On Page 14)
Food Prices -
Pays The Piper?
By Jim Mills
Director of Communications
National Agricultural
Chemicals Assoc.
Largely overlooked in the
current hassle over food prices is
a series of events which have
taken place since the days when
the population of this country got
its “store-bought” goods at Mom
& Pop’s old country store.
Saturday was' the day most
everybody “went to town”, a
pleasant blend of necessity and
socialbility. Most folks knew how
to tend a garden from first-hand
experience; fruits and vegetables
were cold packed by the women
in preparation for the long winter
when little or no fresh produce
was to be had. Root cellars were
used for storage of some items,
but spoilage was high.
Butchering day usually came
on a frosty morning, not by
chance, but by design to provide
for quick and thorough codling o!
the meat. Mechanical
refrigeration was not available in
those good old days.
It was a well known tact that
steaks made up a very small
portion of a beef carcass; most
beef was canned or dried to
preserve it. Bone casing knives
were commonplace and people
knew how to use them to prepare
for stuffing sausage.
Smokehouses and home curing
recipes for pork products
abounded, and it was an accepted
fact that bacon was more fat than
lean simply because that was the
nature of hog bellies.
People “ate high on the hog”
for a few days after butchering,
but most of the animal was sugar
cured, salted down, ground into
«:I.IMI 1 « H m M t
this bill vetoed so the administration will
be blamed for not lowering prices.
“The farmers who've been calling here,”
Walker continued, “have been saying that
if a rollback does go into effect, it’s going to
wreck this country’s food supply.
They say we’re going to have
shortages and hungry people and black
markets. And most Lancaster County
livestock producers aren’t worried about
selling their output. They say they’ve got
good markets for beef and gram jn Europe.
And Japan is buying tremendous quan
tities of pork. A rollback will hurt the far
mers, but it’ll hurt the American people
even more."
Walker also pointed out that during
Phase II of the administration’s price
controls, food prices had actually been
about two percent below the prices set
forth in the guidelines. Food prices went up
so fast in the past few weeks not so much
(Continued on Page 1,2)
sausage which was stuffed into
natural casings to be fried down
and covered with lard in large
crocks for storage. Cracklins
were a tasty residue from the
lard rendering; feet and knuckles
were pickled, and gelatinous
head cheese concocted. Only the
squeal escaped.
That’s the Vay it used to be.
But in the past 25 years or so,
most of our society has become
city oriented. And in the process,
they have lost touch with the
realities of food production and
pricing, and with the economics
of agriculture.
Our nation has been committed
to a plentiful food supply and is
the unchallenged world leader in
the production of an abundance of
wholesome food. This abundance
has benefitted not only our own
population, but has also played a
significant role in alleviating
suffering in less fortunate areas
of the world through aid
programs, and sales have been a
positive factor in our balance of
trade position.
Most people would likely be
surprised to learn that the farmer
is powerless to set a price on his
commodities, but rather has to
(ContinuedOn Page 15)
Form Calendar
Monday, April 16
7:30 p.m. - New Holland Baby
Beef Club meeting, farm of
David Bowman, Ronks RDI.
Lancaster Comity FFA executive
meeting.
Tuesday, April 17
FFA Co-op Careers Day, Farm
and Home Center.
Friday, April 20
Good Friday.
i f * * 9 ******
$2.00 Per Year
Who