On AAA 



BY the time this issue of the 

 RECORD goes to press reports of 

 the com-hog referendum set for 

 October 26 will be trickling in. 



The referendum and the recent corn- 

 hog hearing at Washington were mere 

 formalities. Anyone who has kept in 

 touch with farm thinking knows that 

 farmers do not favor scrapping a plan 

 that has proved its value, despite some 

 complications and petty annoyances, in 

 securing fair prices for farm products. 



How will farmers vote on continuation 

 of corn-hog adjustment? Sentiment in- 

 dicates it will be overwhelmingly favor- 

 able. Indifference because of better 

 prices today probably will hold down the 

 size of the vote. Nevertheless the ex- 

 pression of sentiment will serve a useful 

 purpose in quieting or at least answer- 

 ing the propaganda against this farmer- 

 sponsored program. The processors and 

 the Saturday Evening Post will say, as 

 before, that high pressure methods were 

 used by the AAA in getting a favorable 

 vote. Strange as it may seem, opponents 

 of AAA take their own "price-fixing" 

 for granted but would deny farmers a 

 similar right to influence agricultural 

 prices. 



Illinois farmers generally are firmly 

 convinced that uncontrolled, hit or miss 

 production without any 

 thought to price and mar- 

 kets must be placed per- 

 manently on the shelf. 

 They believe with Senator 

 Capper of Kansas that the 

 farm program should not 

 be made an issue nor a 

 political football in next 

 year's elections. And with 

 this in mind they are say- 

 ing little but reading care- 

 fully and studyii\g the 

 statements of candidates 

 for federal office. 



While corn-belt farmers 

 are not directly interested 

 in cotton, so much propa- 

 ganda has appeared in 

 metropolitan dailies about 

 southern farmers losing 

 their export markets for 

 this crop tnat doubt may 

 exist as to the ultimate 

 value of the program. The 

 charge has been made that 

 foreign countries have 

 greatly increased their 

 cotton acreage and are 

 gradually displacing the 

 United States as export- 

 ers. At the cotton pro- 



COTTON ACREAGE 



Maximum 1923-32 Average 1923-3^ 



1933 



1934 



India 28,403.000 (1925) 



China 5,707,000 (1930) 



Egypt 2.162,000 (1930) 



Russia 5,280,000(1931) 



Brazil 1.941.000 (1931) 



United States 44,616,000(1926) 



Foreign 42,310.000 (1925) 



World 86,700.000 (1925) 



PRODUCTION (Bales) 



Maximum 1923-32 Average 1923-32 



1933 



1934 



India 

 China 

 Egypt 

 Russia 



5.201.000 (1925) 

 2.466.000 (1928) 

 1,768,000 (1929) 

 1,840,000 (1931) 



Brazil 793,000 (1924) 



United States 17.978,000 (1926) 



Foreign 12,189,000 (1930) 



World 27,931,000 (1926) 



4,446,000 



2,097,000 



1.468.000 



1.106.000 



551.000 



14,414,000 



11.195,000 



25.609,000 



4.197.000 



2.726.000 



1.777.000 



1.778,000 



969,000 



13,047,000 



13,478,000 



26,525,000 



3,163,000 



2,800.000 



1,617,000 



1,940,000 



•1.332,000 



9.634.000 



•1^869,000 



22,503.000 



From the above it is seen that foreign countries increased their acreage in 1933 

 and 1934 over any previous year. Their production was also greater in 1933 than ever 

 before, but their production in 1934 was less than in 1933. 



•Preliminary 



gram hearing in Memphis two weeks 

 ago, where the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation (President Edward A. O'Neal, 

 Counsel Donald Kirkpatrick and many 

 other Farm Bureau leaders in the South 

 testified) was active in upholding the 

 program, Dr. Tait Butler, editor of "Pro- 



Wheat Adjustment Safequards 

 Wheat Income 



HIGHLIGHTS OF WHEAT ADJUSTMENT 



1 Adjusts Production to Demand 



2 Increases Farm Purchasing Power 



3 Provides Adequate Supplies 



4 Encourages Sound Farm Practices 



5 Is Based on Voluntary Cooperation 



THIS chart shows how the Agricultural Adjustment Administration 

 wheat program has safeguarded wheat farmers' income. For 1932 

 when there was no program, cash income to farmers from wheat was 

 $196,000,000. For 1934 higher prices and adjustment payments brought 

 a cash income of $391,000,000. The wheat program seeks: (1) to produce 

 wheat for available markets; (2) to increase farm purchasing power; 

 (3) to produce adequate supplies at all times for domestic use; (4) to 

 encourage sound farming through diversion of land to soil-improving 

 and erosion-preventing crops; and (5) to make voluntary cooperation 

 more profitable to farmers than non-cooperation. 



gressive Farmer" and one of the best in- 

 formed men in the south, presented some 

 interesting facts about cotton production 

 and exports. 



While admitting that certain foreign 

 countries have increased their cotton 

 acreage and production during the past 

 two to three years, he 

 showed that production in 

 1934 by these foreign coun- 

 tries was only 680,000 

 bales larger than in 1930. 

 Foreign production during 

 the previous 40 years, Dr. 

 Butler stated, has also in- 

 creased faster than in the 

 United SUtes. 



During the last 12 years 

 five foreign countries: In- 

 dia, China, Egypt, Russia 

 and Brazil, produced 86.49 

 per cent and during the 

 last two years 86.36 per 

 cent of all cotton pro- 

 duced by foreign countries, 

 of which there are more 

 than 50. 



No other foreign! coun- 

 try except these five pro- 

 duces as much as 500,000 

 bales annually, whereas 

 the United States pro- 

 duces from 12 million up 

 to nearly 18 million bales 

 annually. Of five foreign 

 countries. Dr. Butler said, 

 only two, India and Egypt, 



(Continued on page 18) 



NOVEMBER, 1935 



17 



