EDITORIAL 



The New Farm Tenancy Act 

 C*^^ HE Farm Security Administration recently an- 

 ^— ^ nounced the opening of its farm tenancy program 

 ^ and the allocation of $9,500,000 for loans to 

 competent tenants, farm laborers, and share croppers for 

 the purchase of farms. This amount of money, and no 

 more, will be available between now and July 1, 1938 for 

 loans at three per cent interest. News reports indicate that 

 the money will be distributed in approximately 300 coun- 

 ties in the United States "according to farm population and 

 the prevalence of tenancy as found by the Secretary of 

 Agriculture." 



The Administration has not announced which coun- 

 ties are to be included in the distribution. Illinois' allot- 

 ment is $311,790, which amount would average about 

 $3,000 per Illinois county. Obviously only a few tenants 

 can expect loans to buy farms from this source. In the 

 fiscal year beginning July 1, 1938 an additional amount of 

 $25,000,000 will become available, and thereafter $50,- 

 000,000 per annum. 



The chief advantage in a loan from this new set-up 

 is the low rate of interest for a possible period of 40 years. 

 Only those actively engaged in farming will be eligible 

 and they must be approved by the county committee of 

 three farmers to be appointed by the government to help 

 administer the program. Preference will be given, the 

 act states, to those who have good equipment, some capital 

 for a down payment and a record of successful farm opera- 

 tion. But tenants and farm workers who can comply with 

 these requirements will find the door already open to loans 

 from the federal land banks and from private sources. 



Worthy as is this program to decrease farm tenancy and 

 promote ownership by those who till the soil, the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association believes that control of farm sur- 

 pluses and stabilization of prices at profitable levels will do 

 far more to help thrifty tenants buy and pay for their own 

 farms. The problem of farm tenancy is inseparable from 

 the larger one of stabilizing the value of the farmers' debt- 

 paying dollar. 



The Meat Strike 

 r~\^ONSUMERS on the Atlantic seaboard who recently 

 jr^ engaged in striking against the high meat prices 

 \^y should look into the matter before taking such 

 drastic action. It is well known that a larger percentage of 

 American workers were steadily employed in 1928 and 

 1929 than at any time in American history. OfiFicial gov- 

 ernment reports disclose that wages in the state of New 

 York during the first eight months of 1937 were 20 

 percent above the standard wages in effect during 1929- 

 The reports also disclose that the average retail cost of 

 food during the first eight months of 1937 was only 80 

 percent of the cost in 1929; that during the same period 

 the retail value of beef was 80 percent, lamb 65 percent, 

 and pork 86 percent of their retail cost in the average of 

 the years 1924 to 1929. 



The great mass of consumers throughout the country 

 should understand that a return to the low prices for farm 

 produce experienced in 1931 to 1934 will again result in 

 a breakdown in employment and standard of wages. The 



general improvement in business and employment experi- 

 enced during the past two years is in large part the result 

 of increased farm buying power. Cit\' people cannot enjoy 

 prosperity very long unless the farmer gets fair prices for 

 his products. 



City vs. Country 



^^ /^ERE'S something for Farm Bureau community 

 ^-^1 1- club debaters this winter on the age-old ques- 

 ^ I ^ tion of city versus country as a place to live. 



Arthur "Bugs" Baer writes in the Hearst papers, 

 "Today is moving day for city people who think they 

 are improving their careers by transferring uncomfortable 

 furniture to another apartment. Nobody moves in the 

 country dn Oct. 1 and some people call farmers hicks be- 

 cause they've got sense enough to stay where they are. 

 The writer always feels a bit gruesome when he ponders 

 over the rent he has kicked forth in New York in 25 

 years. It totals $75,000 as the crow -flies. And all we 

 have to show for it is a collection of old latch keys that 

 we kept for spite. . . . 



"In that quarter of a century we have never spoken to 

 a neighbor, nor seen a landlord. We have developed the 

 community spirit of a porcupine with ingrown quills." 



Life on the farm has its problems but at least you 

 know your neighbors. Nowhere else are you so drawn 

 together by a common bond of interest in your work and 

 your community. The razzle dazzle of fast stepping city 

 life with all its modern gadgets, theatres, and culture of 

 a sort, can never compensate for the love and friendship 

 between good neighbors. City people know it. That's 

 why many of them look forward to the time when they can 

 move to the country where people have time to be human. 



Farmers Are Together 



C*^^ HE "one-gallus farmer," to use Senator "G)tton 

 ^— ^ Ed " Smith's term, is speaking and speaking in no 

 ^^ uncertain terms, according to reports from the 

 Senate Agriculture Committee hearings being held through- 

 out the country. Farmers want some assurance of fair 

 prices for their products. And to get fair prices they want 

 surplus control legislation. 



Senator McGill, in charge of conducting hearings in 

 the Northwest, said recently at St. Paul, that farmers who 

 have flocked to hearings are almost unanimous for curtail- 

 ment of production as a means of regulating prices. 



An observer at the hearing in Grand Forks, N. D., 

 Oct. 12-13, reported that 100 per cent of farmers testify- 

 ing declared that farming is national in character, that 

 agricultural adjustment can be treated only on a national 

 basis. 



There may be some division in the opinions of agri- 

 cultural spokesmen, but there is no substantial disagree- 

 ment among the rank and file of farmers themselves. They 

 know what they want. They are interested in maintaining 

 prices that will give them a fair exchange value for their 

 products when they go to town to buy. They want their 

 representatives at Washington to settle their differences 

 over ways and means of doing it, and get the job done. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



