I. 



EDITORIAL 



AAA Goes Forward 



^S WE go to press, news reports from Wash- 

 / l ington show that the House and Senate con- 

 ^ ^^ f ferees have reached an agreement on the agri- 

 cultural appropriations bill. The House has accepted the 

 Senate amendments providing for $225,000,000 parity ad- 

 justment payments for the 1940 AAA program. Still 

 open for debate is $140,000,000 of additional items in- 

 cluding $113,000,000 to supplement funds available under 

 section 32 for disposal of crop surpluses. 



This news assures that the crop adjustment program 

 will go forward uninterruptedly next year. Something 

 additional will be done to bolster prices by the disposal of 

 crop surpluses. The action, in the face of a bloc deter- 

 mined to defeat the parity payment appropriation and to 

 slash other appropriations right and left regardless of their 

 merit is a victory for statesmen who know that sound re- 

 covery depends on raising farm prices and reestablishing 

 the buying power of the American farmer. The achieve- 

 ment is a victory for organized farmers of state and nation 

 led by the American Farm Bureau Federation. 



plied with commission reductions whenever ordered. The 

 Kansas City case is another illustration that the slogan 

 "In the hands of a friend from beginning to end," repre- 

 sents more than a mere collection of words. 



The Kansas City Case 

 C'*^^ HE Supreme Court of the United States has ruled 

 ^--^that Secretar)' Wallace shall keep in escrow $586,- 

 ^^ 000 of excess commissions, collected from farmers 

 by Kansas City livestock commission men, pending the 

 conclusion of new proceedings to determine if lower rates 

 ordered by the Secretary some time ago are just and reason- 

 able. 



This case is of interest to Illinois farmers, first, be- 

 cause the cooperative commission agency at Kansas City, 

 the Producers, immediately complied with the order and 

 lowered its rates. Thus, it has no part in these proceedings 

 and its patrons have had the benefit of the saving. Second- 

 ly, farmers are interested because the Packers and Stock- 

 yards Act, by which authority the Secretary fixes commis- 

 sion and yardage rates, was sponsored by and enacted with 

 the support of the Farm Bureau. 



The commission men, of course, have a right to resist 

 an order for lower rates if they feel that the reduction does 

 not represent fair and reasonable compensation for the 

 service rendered. Farmers would not deny them that right. 

 But at the same time it is obvious that without govern- 

 ment regulation, which was not had until organized farm- 

 ers demanded it, the livestock growers would be at the 

 mercy of the commission men and owners of terminal 

 stock yards. 



Thinking farmers will support commission rates that 

 are adequate to employ competent and capable workers and 

 salesmen to handle and sell their livestock. But when live- 

 stock is selling at abnormally low prices as was true several 

 years ago, producers have a right to expect the commission 

 men, the stock yards and transportation agencies to bear 

 with them and suit their fees and charges to the situation. 



Livestock growers should not forget the fact that their 

 own cooperative agencies have willingly and readily com- 



Some Bad Bills 



yr hh. opposition has been largely responsible for the 

 l)l defeat of the painter's license bill, the pharmicist's 

 \^ bill and the veterinarian vaccination bill in the cur- 

 rent session of the Illinois General Assembly. All of these 

 measures would have increased the farmers' costs of carry- 

 ing on his business. The painters bill would require a 

 farmer or home owner to hire licensed painters who pre- 

 sumably belong to the union and draw the union scale of 

 $1.66 an hour. The pharmacist's bill was a measure which 

 would have put tlie farmer and his organization out of 

 business in handling biologies such as anti-hog cholera 

 serum. The veterinarian vaccination bill is another edition 

 of the biennial effort to prevent farmers from vaccinating 

 their own shoats. 



Meantime the organized plumbers are fighting to 

 defeat the lAA sponsored measure to exempt farm opera- 

 tors from the requirement of hiring a high-priced master 

 plumber every iime they want to add a few feet of pipe to 

 bring water into the kitchen, or carry it out to the livestock. 



These bills may not compare in importance with oth- 

 ers that seriously affect farm taxes, roads, and prices, for 

 example, yet they illustrate why organized farmers need 

 a powerful organization that is constantly alert to protect 

 their interests before legislative bodies. 



' Fruit Growers Organize 



^^^ HE average cost of producing apples on 28 II- 

 ^— ^ linois fruit farms was 99 cents a bushel according 

 ^J to a new bulletin just issued by the University of 

 Illinois. Last year apple growers averaged much less than 

 this amount. Faced with a similar situation, pear growers 

 in the Santa Clara Valley of California recently voted (83 

 per cent) to come under an AAA marketing agreement, 

 submit to regulations by a Control Committee of Seven, 

 limit shipments, control grade and size, and take such 

 other steps as seem necessary to get a fair price. Fruit 

 growers, like other producers, are faced with mounting 

 fixed charges and costs. In more effective organization and 

 selling alone lies their hope of securing a reasonable return 

 for their products. 



More Thorough | 



>^T MAY not be economically sound for organized 

 f)l industrial and labor groups, with or without gov- 

 \Jy ernment aid, to fix prices and hourly wages at high 

 levels but they are doing it nevertheless. So long as this 

 situation continues the course farmers should adopt is clear. 

 Agriculture must do a more thorough job of controlling 

 surpluses to secure fair minimum prices until the pre-war 

 exchange value between farm and industrial prices is re- 

 established. 



L A. A. RECORD 



