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EDITORIAL 



Rural Unemployment Grows 



M FARM Bureau member in central Illinois re- 



Jj, ports receiving 64 replies to a want ad for a 



^^y ^ / married farm hand. The ad was published in 



his local daily. A number of letters came from men who 



had farmed for themselves. All had had farm experience. 



This incident squares with a recent survey by the 

 Bloomington Pantagraph which reveals a marked shortage 

 of farms and farm employment as a result of : ( 1 ) retired 

 or unemployed owners moving back to their farms thus 

 crowding tenants off; (2) power machinery displacing 

 farm hands; (3) merging two or more farms into one 

 larger unit so as to force out one or more renters; (4) re- 

 ducing cultivated crop acreage under the AAA program. 



All these factors are the aftermath of low farm prices, 

 depression and reduced income. The farm has always 

 produced a surplus of man power. Normally one or more, 

 if not all the boys in the family, find jobs in the city. But 

 today city jobs are scarce. The old outlet is clogged. And 

 more and more young men are looking to the farm for 

 their future livelihood. 



At the bottom of the present social and economic dis- 

 order is the system of scarcity initiated and maintained by 

 business, industry and organized labor — the theory that if 

 you produce less and less, work shorter hours for higher 

 and higher hourly wages you'll profit most. What little 

 curtailing of production farmers have done under the AAA 

 IS only a drop in the bucket compared to what has been 

 going on in the cities. This philosophy is responsible for 

 most of our troubles — for industry running about half 

 time — the building trades less than that — while farmers 

 are goirjg ahead at a rate close to normal. 



Thus the problem of unemployment in rural com- 

 munities is tied up closely to business and industrial ac- 

 tivity in the centers of population. And only a restoration 

 of something like equity and balance in farm and indus- 

 trial price levels and reasonable wage scales will remedy 

 that. 



Work — The Only Way Out 



^r^V^ HE recent Economic Conference at Des Moines 

 ^'*'— ^^ would be worth while if it did nothing more 

 ^J than reiterate and spotlight the ideas that came 

 out of the AFBF convention at New Orleans in December 

 and the lAA annual convention in Chicago a month ago. 

 More production by industry at lower prices, continuous 

 employment by labor at fair monthly or annual wages 

 rather than exhorbitant hourly wage scales — these are the 

 things needed to balance the present economy. The evi- 

 dence is overwhelming that price and production control 

 resulting from monopolistic practices in industry and labor 

 in contrast with free enterprise, surplus production and bar- 

 gain prices in agriculture have slowed up the economic 

 machine. 



Farm buying power has been seriously crippled. Mil- 

 lions of persons are going without sufficient food, cloth- 

 ing, housing, and industrial goods of all kinds because of 

 price inequalities. Economic barriers erected by short- 

 sighted and selfish group interests, sometimes with the 



sanction of government, are at the bottom of the depression. 

 Paul G. Hoffman, president of the Studebaker Cor- 

 poration, summed up the true situation in a few words 

 when he said: "There is no easy way out of our difficulties. 

 We can't loaf our way out or legislate prosperity — we have 

 got to ivork for it. " He contended that "the area in which 

 free and open competition has been practiced has become 

 narrower rather than wider. There has been an increasing 

 inclination toward price-fixing with or without government 

 sanction; that business and government must unite in at- 

 tacking 'monopoly and monopolistic practices and start the 

 tide flowing in the opposite direction." 



A Good School Bill 



vT^^^ EFORE any changes are made in present rural 

 ^^■/J school laws or in country school districts there 

 J ) should be a thorough investigation and recom- 

 mendations based on sound consideration of all the factors 

 involved. And the survey should not be made by "ex- 

 perts " from academic institutions although their technical 

 advice may be helpful. Residents and taxpayers of the 

 communities to be affected should not only be consulted 

 but they should be liberally represented on the investigat- 

 ing committee. 



The principles of a bill providing for a county school 

 survey committee in each county of the state were approved 

 by the lAA board of directors at its February meeting. The 

 Legislative Committee was authorized to support such a 

 bill, which coincides with action at the recent lAA conven- 

 tion, when introduced in the General Assembly. 



The bill would provide for a committee of five mem- 

 bers, three of whom are to be residents of rural school dis- 

 tricts and two from urban districts. The county super- 

 intendent of schools would serve ex-officio as executive 

 secretary of the committee. Each committee would have 

 authority to study the school organization in the county, to 

 confer with school authorities, hold hearings, and make 

 a report. 



The recommendations of the committee would be ad- 

 visory only. It would have no authority to compel com- 

 pliance. A small appropriation for each committee would 

 be made by the state to reimburse members for necessary 

 expenses but to provide no compensation for time. 



Unquestionably there are rural communities in Illinois 

 where schools can be greatly improved by consolidation. 

 Conditions surrounding the school question vary widely 

 from county to county. One county may have all-weather 

 roads which would make transportation of school children 

 a comparatively easy matter. Another county may have 

 mostly dirt roads which are impassable during the spring 

 months. There are also wide differences in taxpaying abil- 

 ity between communities. 



Obviously such problems should be worked out on a 

 county and community basis with the consent and support 

 of the local residents. No one is wise enougl\ to enact state 

 legislation that would fit the peculiarities of rural school 

 needs and possibilities among the state's 102 counties. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



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