THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Fifteen 



True, the Federal Farm Board was 

 created by political means — but it is 

 designed to take farm problems out of 

 the realm of politics and find solutions 

 in the realm of practical economics. 

 The board is designed to help American 

 agriculture to help itself. True also, 

 the tariff was enacted by political agen- 

 cies, and it is the best tariff agriculture 

 ever had. But agriculture does not 

 have the full benefit of the tariff, and 

 never will have unless agriculture brings 

 itself within the protection which the 

 tariff wall ' sets up. To get that pro- 

 tection agriculture must bring its pro- 

 duction within the domestic require- 

 ment. 



The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh 

 away. So runs THE BOOK. The same 

 power which can grant subsidies can 

 take them away and leave the industry 

 stranded. In controlling production 

 agriculture has an economic remedy 

 which is not only effective and certain, 

 but one which cannot be repealed by 

 any act of the legislature. 



How? By regulating production of 

 farm products to the limits of market 

 demands. By balancing production and, 

 therefore, supply against and within 

 probable demand. By limiting acreage 

 planted to such as will under normal 

 conditions produce all the foods and 

 fibers as are needed, plus a reasonable 

 carry-over. 



Averages Tell Story 



But, someone objects, you cannot 

 control production by controlling the 

 acreage. The seasons, weather condi- 

 tions, storms, insect pests, plant dis- 

 eases, not the acreage, they say, control 

 farm production. It is perfectly true 

 that the production of any piece of 

 land varies with the season. A forty 

 acres of wheat may produce 1,000 

 bushels of wheat one year and 100 

 bushels the next. But that is local. 

 Take down the statistics on crop pro- 

 duction for the whole country and 

 average the production per acre over 

 25 years. You will find the yielcT per 

 acre for the whole country to be sur- 

 prisingly uniform. 



On wheat, for example, during the 

 last 25 years, the average yield per acre 

 has been l-'.5 bushels. The highest 

 yield was iu 1915 at 17 bushels; the 

 lowest in 1916 was 12.2 bushels — a 

 variation above average of only 17 per 

 cent and below average of only 13 

 per cent. .■ ,v '•.,':•':;'• ^; ■. ■ 



Have Accurate Knowledge 



We now have a fairly accurate 

 knowledge of market demands. We 

 have also an average yield per acre 

 which is substantially accurate. If the 

 acreage be limited to such an area, as 

 under normal conditions will bring pro- 

 duction within the market demand, we 



shall be on a sound actuarial basis. A 

 surplus due to favorable seasons would 

 not be of ungovernable proportions. It 

 could be carried over. In such a case 

 the Federal Farm Board could render a 

 real service. 



Acreage is therefore the basis of any 

 program for bringing agricultural pro- 

 duction within the operation of the law 

 of supply and demand. 



Not ordy would the reduction of 

 wheat acreage have a favorable effect 

 upon next year's prices, but it would 

 majterially increase the price of this 

 year's crop. When the country under- 

 stands that the farmer is going through 

 with a definite program of reduction, 

 the market will be relieved of the con- 

 tinuing threat and there will come an 

 immediate increase in the price of the 

 present crop. Vigorous, co-operative 

 action among farmers to decrease acre- 

 age for the coming year should increase 

 the gross value of the present wheat 

 crop by a sum much larger than the 

 loss on the reduced acreage. 



But you say, shall we abandon sci- 

 entific methods, scrap our machinery 

 and let our lands lie idle while interest 

 and taxes eat them up? Certainly not. 

 Let us not forget that scientific prin- 

 ciples and mechanical fanning should 

 apply to the method and the per acre 

 cost of production. By limiting acre- 

 age it is {)Ossible to use the best methods 

 and also to regulate the size of the crop. 

 Let us produce what is necessary as 

 cheaply as possible, but let us limit the 

 amount of that production to the mar- 

 ket needs. Profit, not surplus products, 

 will determine prosperity. Interest and 

 expenses are met out of surplus profit, 

 not out of surplus production. Profit, 

 not quantity of crop, determines the 

 standard of living, and supports civic 

 enterprises. 



If One Man Owned 



If all the wheat land in America were 

 owned by one man, the problem would 

 be absurdly easy. That man would 

 plan his production. He would limit 

 his crop to the amount which the mar- 

 ket needs. He would reduce his acre- 

 age. He would by no means abandon 

 scientific methods or the use of ma- 

 chinery. He would produce wheat as 

 cheaply as possible but he would hold 

 the volume of production down imtil 

 the market catches up; until his wheat 

 could be sold at a price which would 

 pay him a profit. 



Of course, the American wheat acre- 

 age will never be owned by any one 

 man. But the problem is the same as 

 if it were. And the solution is the 

 same. The millions of American farm- 

 ers who do own the wheat lands have 

 the same reason fot applying that solu- 

 tion. That is, they have the same rea- 



son as the one man would have, except 

 that their reason is multiplied by the 

 needs of the millions of farm families. 

 Those millions of families are now 

 engaged in destructive competition with 

 each other. Each is engaged, by his 

 surplus production, in beating down 

 the price of the commodity for all. 

 Each family strikes something off of 

 the living standards, the educational 

 opportunities and the welfare of every 

 other. Yet they are not enemies. They 

 are neighbors and friends, having the 

 same interests, the same ambitions, the 

 same rights to an American opportunity 

 and an American standard of living. 



National Grain Corp. 



(Continued from ptgt 10) 



very large business. Large quantities of 

 soft red winter wheat were handled by 

 the St. Louis and Indianapolis branch 

 offices. 



"On the early crop movement in the 

 Pacific Northwest and in the Inter- 

 mountain territory we are handling a 

 very fair share of the wheat marketed," 

 says a late report from the National 

 Co-Operative. "Movement in the 

 spring wheat territory, just starting, 

 finds the corporation's St. Paul office, 

 with branches at Minneapolis and Du- 

 luth, and Great Falls, Mont., well or- 

 ganized to handle all grain members 

 offer for sale in those markets. 



Exports Good 



"Export business continues good, the 

 corporation handling wheat direct from 

 member co-operatives to millers and 

 other buyers in foreign countries. 



"Memberships are maintained in 

 boards of trade and exchanges on the 

 principal markets, and unsold stocks 

 are being fully protected by hedges. 

 Our main hedging office in Chicago, in 

 charge of William C. Engel, is glad to 

 co-operate with members at all times. 



"The Grain Stabilization Corporation 

 is co-operating with the Farmers' Na- 

 tional Grain Corf)oration in every way. 

 The large stocks of wheat owned by 

 the Stabilization Corporation, withheld 

 from the market under the corpora- 

 tion's previously announced policy, 

 have been so handled and stored as to 

 keep them out of the way of the new 

 crop movement. TTie result has been 

 than in the southwest, where the wheat 

 movement now has passed its peak, 

 there has been less congestion than 

 usual and members have experienced no 

 serious difficulty in having their grain 

 promptly handled, whether they wished 

 it stored or sold. 



"There has been practically no con- 

 gestion at seaboard or gulf ports, quite 

 in contrast to conditions prevailing a 

 year ago, when neither of the corpora- 

 tions was in operation. 



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