EDITORIAL 



The Corn Loan 

 C^V i ITHIN the next few weeks the loan price on the 

 ^.^yi/ 1939 corn crop will be determined. The Agri- 

 Q g cultural Adjustment Act directs that loans shall 

 be made available on corn when the November crop esti- 

 mate plus carryover exceeds a normal year's domestic con- 

 sumption and exports, or in any marketing year when the 

 Nov. 15 price of corn on the farm is less than 75 per cent 

 of parity. 



At this writing No. 2 corn on Illinois farms is selling 

 at 40 to 4lc per bushel. This is about half the parity price 

 which at the last reporting data was 80.2c. How much 

 the November crop will exceed demand in the next year 

 is anybody's guess. The figures can be shifted up or down 

 and with good reason, conditions being what they are at 

 home and abroad. 



It now appears that the loan price will be about 70 

 per cent of parity. With more than 80 per cent of cornbelt 

 farmers eligible for loans a larger demand for sealing than 

 heretofore is likely. A sharp speculative increase in prices 

 can change the picture but the outlook for the immediate 

 future is not so bullish. 



Obviously the government cannot and will not go on 

 indefinitely loaning substantially more than the market 

 price on farm commodities. Touching on this point at the 

 Illinois Grain Corporation annual meeting recently, Pres- 

 ident Earl C. Smith emphasized that it is the responsibility 

 of farmers to make the corn loan good. This may mean 

 further adjustment in acreage next year. 



The problem in agriculture, of course, is to determine 

 that price and quantity of farm products which will bring 

 farmers the most money. Judging from past experience a 

 volume of corn and livestock substantially less than that 

 available for market at this time will net the producer 

 more dollars. Farmers still pay debts and taxes, and buy 

 industrial goods with dollars. Bountiful crops cease to 

 be a blessing when they result in substantial deficits for the 

 farming industry. 



Hog Outlook 

 C""*^. URING a press conference at the Illinois Farm 

 ^vy\ Supply meeting in Peoria, Henry Wallace, Sec- 

 _ ^ y retary of Agriculture made it a point to caution 

 livestock growers against increasing hogs in 1940. 



The Allies, he said, would probably take between 

 100 and 200 million pounds more of lard next year than 

 they imported in 1938. They might be expected to buy 

 quantities of hams and side meat to replace imports nor- 

 mally obtained from the Baltic countries which have been 

 shut off by Germany. But these anticipated markets, he 

 said, would still, fall short of absorbing the big increase 

 in swine production this year over last. 



Hogs are selling currently about $2 per cwt. under 

 the parity price. The corn-hog ratio is still favorable to 

 marketing corn through hogs but whether this will con- 

 tinue when the big runs start in late fall is a question. The 

 foreign outlook is uncertain. This word of caution at a 

 time when farmers make plans for the spring pig crop 

 should be heeded. 



Apples for Sale 



C^^^ECAUSE the World War of 1914-18 greatly stimu- 

 ^^/J lated exports of American wheat, beef, pork, lard 

 _J J and concentrated dairy products, many may not be 

 aware that war actually destroys exp)ort outlets for countless 

 other goods and commodities. Apples, tobacco, and cotton 

 are examples. 



With one of the heaviest crops in history, American 

 apple growers who normally export around 11,000,000 

 bushels to the British Isles and the Continent are faced 

 with closed European markets. That many more apples 

 are thrown on the home market. Despite rising industrial 

 employment at home, Illinois' commercial apple crop is 

 selling below cost of production. Prices scarcely pay for 

 picking and packing. War means only disaster to the 

 apple grower. 



Here is an opportunity' for Illinois farmers who don't 

 grow apples to obtain a winter store of delicious healthful 

 fruit at bargain prices. There is probably a potential de- 

 mand within our state for all the apples produced in the 

 commercial orchards of southern and western Illinois. 

 Stimulating this demand and then supplying it through low 

 cost distribution are the problems to be worked out. "Buy 

 a barrel of apples" might well become a slogan that could 

 result in great good to producer and consumer alike. 



3 Per Cent Money 



INCE its organization a major plank in the plat- 

 form of the Farm Bureau has been lower interest 



rates and a credit system fitted to farmers' needs. 



In line with this policy there has been a succession of help- 

 ful measures sponsored by the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation and enacted by Congress to lighten the farmer's 

 interest turden. Farm mortgage loans today are available 

 at the lowest rate since the turn of the century. Short time 

 production loans are available through Production Credit 

 Association at 41/2 per cent. Now comes the good news 

 that crop storage loans will be cut to 3 per cent Nov. 1. 

 If all farm expenses including the cost of industrial goods 

 could be reduced comparable to interest rates, parity would 

 be achieved without raising farm prices. For this reason 

 farmers are watching with great interest the results obtained 

 by the Department of Justice in investigating what appear 

 to be industrial monopolies. A succession of acts to re- 

 store competition and parity prices in industry and many 

 branches of organized labor would be a form of relief that 

 would be as popular with farmers as three per cent money. 



Business Revival 



y^^OOD news to farmers is the pickup in business and 

 \^^ industry reported from many sections of the United 

 <^y States. The Oct. 21 business index stood at 120, 

 almost as high as the peak of 1937 and substantially higher 

 than anything experienced in 1938, or '39 up to now. 

 Factory employment determines in large part prices paid for 

 hogs, cattle, sheep, poultry, eggs, milk, butterfat, fruits and 

 vegetables. A sustained business revival will help put farm 

 prices back to parity. 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



