Agriculture
One feature of the 1938 farm bill
calls for U. S. loans on crops af-
fected by falling prices. When crops
are sold, loans must be repaid. Due
November 1 are repayments on
loans covering 48,000,000 bushels of
corn. But by mid-October, with corn
selling on the farm from 33 to 38
cents, and at market for 44 cents,
disgusted farmers saw they would
be money ahead to default on loans
and give Uncle Sam their corn.
Thus, overnight, the U. S. govern-
ment became the world’s largest
corn broker.
This is but one phase of a Chinese
puzzle known as the American farm
problem. Since 1933 it has been the
personal headache of Iowa's Henry
A. Wallace, secretary of agricul-
SECRETARY WALLACE
Poor people are also a problem.
ture, who can remember the halcyon
days when all surplus wheat and
cotton—the two basic crops—were
bought readily by foreign nations.
But foreign markets are now glut-
ted. American farm surpluses must
either be dumped abroad at any
price foreign buyers are willing to
pay, or be left to rot in U. S. gran-
aries. Most people have favored the
latter policy, meanwhile deploring
the economic unbalance that allows
many U. 8S. citizens to go hungry
despite bountiful crops.
The easiest remedy would be to
let low prices drive American farm-
ers off the land, but this is socially
inhumane, politically unsound and
economically foolhardy. When the
New Deal started in 1933, AAA was
formulated to pay farmers for lim-
iting their acreage. Funds came
from processing taxes levied against
manufacturers, but ultimately paid
by consumers. When the Supreme
court ruled processing taxes invalid,
a “soil conservation’ program was
sent up to pay farmers for retiring
their land, ostensibly to give it a
rest but actually to limit produc-
tion. Thirty per cent of customs
receipts were set aside to pay for it.
Last spring, with surpluses still
piling up, congress passed a new
farm law, too late to limit produc-
tion this year, which partially ac-
counted for its failure. Under it the
government may (1) control produc-
tion with consent of a majority of
farmers; (2) make payments for re-
tiring land; (3) make additional
“parity” payments as a protection
against less - than - production - cost
prices; (4) loan money against
crops. If compulsory control is en-
forced next year — as provided—
wheat and cotton acreages must be
reduced one half. Agricultural re-
bellion would result.
Still seeking the answer, Secre-
tary Wallace recently tried export
subsidies, which the state depart-
ment’s Undersecretary Francis B.
Sayre condemns as ‘‘the uneconom-
ic giving away of our substance to
foreign nations.” Though U. 8S.
farmers are being subsidized the
difference between export prices
and the domestic market price,
many observers consider it ridicu-
lous to sell surplus foodstuffs abroad
at a loss when several million
Americans are going hungry. Con-
sequently next winter's congress
will ba asked to adopt still another
farm bill, the most far-reaching at-
tempt yet made to kill two birds
with one stone. The birds: farm
problem and poor relief, The Wal-
lace plan: surplus farm products
would be distributed to U. S. low-
income groups instead of being
dumped abroad.
Though the federal surplus com-
‘Quotes’
JOSEPH P, KENNEDY, U. S.
ambassador to Great Britain,
on democracies versus dicta-
tors: “Instead of hammering
away at what are regarded as
irreconcilables they could ad-
vantageously bend their ener-
gies toward solving their com-
mon problems.”
8. SEN. ARTHUR CAPPER
on government regulation of
business: “We in America
must see to it that necessary
regulation be thoroughly dem-
ocratic in form and essence.
Else it will be despotic, op-
pressive and destructive of
our very life.”
modities corporation already dis-
tributes potatoes, prunes, milk and
other minor products not affected by
AAA, the new plan would include
beef, pork, wheat, corn and cotton.
Broadly, it would follow New York
city’s method of selling milk to re-
lief families for eight cents a quart,
the city paying the difference. If
expanded to a national proposition,
the U. S. would pay retailers the
difference between standard price
and cost price.
To pay for it, Secretary Wallace
asks restoration of processing taxes,
which theoretically fall on manufac-
turers but ultimately strike the con-
sumer. Opponents argue that re-
tail prices would rise, that consump-
tion would drop and substitutes
would be encouraged, thereby hurt-
ing the farmer.
ernment hopes to stabilize farm
prices, its counter-argument is that
producers would have steady in-
come and increased purchasing pow-
er, thereby boosting U. S. prosper-
ity. These are the arguments next
winter's congress will hear.
Business
Even as U. S. business has been
busy reporting declined profits dur-
ing its third 1938 quarter, neighbor-
ing: A business upturn.
while granting 10 per cent pay
boosts to all employees making less
than $300 a month. Chrysler was a
close second, announcing recall of
34,000 men since August 1.
The reason was a double one. Oc-
tober, November and December are
normal upturn months, especially in
the automobile industry where new
models begin coming off assembly
lines. The other reason, one that
made business hold its tongue in
cheek, is that the full force of U. S.
“pump priming" is just beginning
to take force. Whether this com-
bined natural - artificial stimulant
will keep business going uphill after
January 1 is anybody's guess,
If it accomplishes nothing else,
the upturn has brought a measure of
industrial peace. Where a month
ago new strike waves were sweep-
ing the nation, sudden calm has now
descended as industry's wheels
again start turning.
Religion
Had October's national Fucharis-
tic congress gone searching for a
discussion theme, it could have
found none better than that which
Nazi Germany tossed into its lap a
fortnight earlier. In Vienna, Theo-
dore Cardinal Innitzer's St. Ste
phen’s cathedral had been mobbed,
his palace invaded in protest against
the cardinal's strong anti-Nazi
stand. By the time 100,000 U. S.
Roman Catholics assembled in New
Orleans, enough sentiment was
crystalized to make the Eucharistic
congress a stomping ground for de-
mocracy and an unpopular place for
dictators,
Messaged Franklin Roosevelt:
“We still remain true to the faith
of our fathers who established re-
ligious liberty when the nation be-
POPE PIUS XI
He slapped at Dictator Hitler,
gan . I doubt if there is any
problem in the world today that
would not find happy solution in the
spirit of the Sermon on the Mount.”
But the keynote came from Pope
Pius XI, whose six-minute broad-
cast from the Vatican was a direct
slap at Dictator Adolf Hitler, whose
lieutenants had tolerated the Vienna
outrage. Said the pontiff: “We see
many men who hold as valueless
and reject and spurn those divine
precepts of the gospel which alone
can bring salvation to the human
race. Scarcely can we refrain from
a tear when we behold the eternal
majesty of God himself set aside
and outraged, or with unspeakable
wickedness held up, as an enemy,
to rewiling and to execration.”
Sharpest words of all came from
Auxiliary Bishop Bernard J. Sheil
of Chicago, who charged “isms”
(fascism, communism, paganism,
materialism and naturalism) were
the sources of world woes. As dele-
gates headed for home, it was clear
that U. 8. Catholics will line up vig-
orously behind German-Austrian
Catholics in the inevitable battle be-
tween Naziism and the church.
Defense
Though the Munich agreement
was aimed to preserve Europe's
peace, its immediate result has been
feverish rearmament. Great Brit
ain has made plans for conscription
and new airplane factories: France
has appropriated 1,320,000,000 francs
for military spending and 887,000,000
more for her navy; Germany is
rushing fortification of her Belgian
frontier; Italy speeds barriers in the
Alps.
Few Americans have hoped that
the U. 8S. can avoid similar prepara-
tions. Loudest persuasion of all has
come from Britain's Winston
Churchill, whose short wave broad-
cast urged the U. S. to take a com-
manding lead against dictators, to
join Britain in stopping “isms’ be-
fore it is too late.
has come from current U. S. espion-
BERNARD BARUCH
He wanted billions for defense.
Growing louder, this voice finally
reached White House ears, coinci-
dentally bringing comment from
Capitalist Bernard Baruch who
chairmaned the war industries
board in 1917.
Emerging from a White House
conference, Mr. Baruch started ob-
servers thinking by warning that U.
S. defenses were inadequate. Though
most Americans regard ‘defense’
as successful repulsion of a North
American invasion, a broader con-
ception calls for protection of the
entire Western hemisphere. Mr.
Baruch's defense program includes:
(1) immediate construction of a
“two ocean navy": (2) increased
air power; (3) better equipment for
400,000 regular soldiers and the na-
tional guard; (4) subsidies to pro-
tect U. S. trade interests in South
America; (5) industrial and milita-
ry mobilization law; (6) a special
tax to pay for these expenses.
Though it lacks official confirma-
tion, President Roosevelt plainly fa-
vors the Baruch program. The sug-
gested tax boost comes dangerously
near election time, but administra-
tion leaders minimize this political
hazard because: (1) most Ameri-
cans regard democracy’s security
as more important than financial
security or political partisanship ;
(2) a speeded-up military and naval
program, financed by special tax,
would decrease relief rolls and pos-
sibly create what Germany has
been facing, an actual shortage of
labor. Thus WPA and PWA costs
could be slashed and the budget
balanced.
Domestic
Inescapably connected with the
government’s new emphasis on mil-
itary defense against Nazi-Fascist
world powers is President Roose-
velt’s interest in espionage. For 20
years the U. S. has disregarded
spies, though the increasing fre-
quency of arrests has made Amer-
icans fearful of Germany, Italy, Ja-
pan and Russia. Heightening the
tension have been: (1) the Munich
agreement which placed democra-
cies on the defensive: (2) arrest in
mid-October of four Germans tak-
ing photographs in the Canal Zone:
(3) trial in New York of four al
leged Nazi agents, with coincident
efforts to prove indictments against
14 others who escaped the spy net
and fled to Germany.
Greatest interest in the espionage
trial lies in red-haired, 26-year-old
Johanna Hoffman, who reportedly
transported spy messages from New
York to Germany while serving as
hairdresser on the liner Europa.
Second interest lies in Guenther
Gustav Rumrich, former U. 8. army
sergeant who deserted and made a
blundering attempt to secure 35
passport blanks last June. Legiti-
macy of U. S. fears was verified
when Rumrich pleaded guilty and
turned state's witness.
Though New York’s spy trial ap-
pears commonplace, its significance
is tremendous. Not only does it
mark an emboldened U. 8S. defense
attitude, but legal experts also ex-
plain it is the first time America
has named a supposedly friendly
power (Germany) in direct charges.
Since indictments are filed against
heads of the German secret service
and naval intelligence, the trial is a
potential international dynamite
keg.
It may be predicted that next win-
ter's congress will co-ordinate and
tighten the government's outmoded
anti-spy regulations, including the
espionage act of 1917 which applies
only to individuals and carries no
teeth against spy-inspiring organiza.
tions. Although the U. S. has never
indulged in peacetime spy activities,
there is speculation whether con-
gress may adopt this activity which
has been an important European
governmental function for 300 years.
WASHINGTON. — 1 just cannct
history is going to be, say 50 years
in the future, concerning the pres-
Mr.
From a current
that Mr.
perspective, it appears
He seems to have
a penchant for jumping from a fry-
ing pan into the fire, as we see the
This capacity for jumping here
and there has placed the head of
This time, as has
at least that is what tens of thou-
sands of farmers think-—of efforts to
He and his window box farmer-
aides are seriously considering es-
in this country. That is, they are
that agricultural sur-
pluses should be sold to “ordinary”
consumers at one price and that
sold to “lower income” persons at
a lower price. The federal govern-
ment would make up the differ-
Opens the Road to More
Graft and Corruption
The thing is so cock-eyed that it
seems strange it would be given a
tion than can be measured, more
pressure and regi-
mentation of people, more vote buy-
ing. But my objection goes deeper.
I object, and I think the plan ought
to be laughed out of the window, be-
cause it is proposing to destroy the
system. Other reasons expanded the
that
brought colonists to American
The current
thought, advanced by Mr. Wallace,
country-—and no one can tell where
I suspect this new limb on to
Wallace and his crew
ure of some of the other visionary
schemes tried by the professional
farm planners. It is unnecessary
for me to recount the numerous
that
as ‘“‘the more abundant life’’ and
that brought various and sundry de-
lightful outlooks. Rain clouds blew
up, however, and the schemes that
were like the letters in a leaky mail
box after a downpour. But always
there were checks, government
I believe
the department of agriculture, de-
manding fair treatment.
Farmers Raise Voices as
Schemes Prove Unworkable
As the latest schemes from the
department have proved unworka-
ble, the farmers with their better
knowledge of what is good for the
industry have raised their voices in
objection, notwithstanding the
checks. Mr. Wallace and his the-
orists have had to look quickly for
something new. They have hit upon
the two-price system, largely in a
hope that they can stall off a gen-
eral farm uprising, but also because
the idea of governmental purchase
of farm crops has piled up such tre-
mendous stocks that the boys are
afraid their lives will be snuffed out
by cave-ins. In other words, the
small houses they were building
have turned out to be skyscrapers.
It is not only my conclusion that
such things as the recently tried ex-
port subsidy idea have failed. An-
other, and very important, agency
of the government apparently has
reached the same conclusion. Only
recently, the department of state
took a slap at the Wallace policies
on export subsidies. Assistant Sec-
retary Francis B. Sayre was the
voice of the department of state in
this instance, and he said in a New
York speech:
“In many minds, export subsidies
offer a plausible solution; but such a
method is as unsound at bottom as
it is plausible on its face. Practi-
cal experiences in numerous coun-
tries have shown that this method
creates more problems than it
solves. Export subsidies are pow-
erless toy move exports in the face
of foreign quota restrictions, li-
censes, etc.”
And so forth. Now Mr. Wallace
said that quotas, licenses and that
sort of thing had forced the export
subsidies, but apparently the depart-
ment of state thinks it is the other
way ‘round. Mr. Sayre, of course,
was supporting the reciprocal trade
agreement program that is fostered
by Secretary Hull, and whether you
believe in that idea or not, you can
hardly dodge the fact that trade
treaties at least seek to put a stop
to the building of more trade re-
strictions. Mr. Wallace's export sub-
sidies invite new action against our
shipments. Department of state
plans consider the world market and
hope for American entry into them;
Mr. Wallace apparently is willing to
destroy them by using up our re-
sources to undersell the others, thus
giving foreigners the benefit of low
prices which consumers of America
cannot have.
Buying Surplus Products
To Care for Destitute
Again, assuming that it is neces-
sary to care for the destitute—and
nobody can deny that either the
states or the federal government
nmiust do so—why is it necessary to
further complicate the present prob-
lem of feeding the poor by this half-
baked scheme? The surplus com-
modity corporation has been buy-
ing surpluses from the open mar-
ket. The purpose was to take off a
price depressing influence. It was
designed to make a price for the
farmer somewhat higher than would
complished that end or not. In any
event, the surplus products that
were used to feed the poor were giv-
en to them and that action has had
very little effect upon the stability
of prices.
But Mr. Wallace is not satisfied
with that arrangement. Why? Well,
the huge piles of government-owned
fuzzy character of his earlier prom-
democracy, or the New Deal, or
something.
the United States had an “adequate
al states of the size of Iowa.
everyone about them.
is an adequate diet?
reason. But the more
question is:
in my humble mind.
How Will History Regard
Policies of Wallace?
own policies doing a contradictory
loop-the-loop; when we find him try-
ing to promote foreign trade by kill-
ing the goose that laid the golden
egg, and when we find him turning
to the development—or, considera-
tion, at least,—of a scheme to cre-
ate class feelings within our own
population, I wonder what the end
will be. To repeat, I cannot help
wondering how history will regard
him and the policies he is now seek-
ing to carry through.
Mr. Wallace made a speech to a
group of Washington women the oth-
er day, in which he said that the
Democrats were now paying off the
debt to the population which the
Republicans had created. The farm
benefits that are being paid out un-
der the New Deal were held to be
liquidation of obligations which the
Republicans caused to be estab
lished by their administrative fail-
ures.
The Republicans were in power
for 12 years preceding the New
Deal. 1 had the privilege of watch-
ing them ball up the farm problem.
They played politics with it, too. 1
think that probably about the only
difference in the situation, by and
of the treasury as Mr. Wallace has
done and they did not try as many
assinine schemes.
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