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September 1. Coincident vith the announcement, Chester Bowles, administrator for Ihe 

 Office of Price Administration, announced ccaaplete removal of point values for all 

 varieties of cheese effective at 12:01 a.m. September 12. The action followed advice 

 from the U. S. Army Quartermaster Corps that some military stocks of Cheddar cheese 

 could be used to fulfill foreign requirements, since present and anticipated reduc- 

 tions in troop strength had reduced military requirements. 



Purchase and loan prop;ram for Irish potatoes . A broadened purchase and 

 loan program for the nation's bumper crop of Irish potatoes was announced today by 

 Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson. The expanded program provides for 

 government purchase in some areas, and for granting government loans in others when 

 the potatoes are held on farms in "bank or pit storage." t 



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The September 1 estimate of the I9I+5 potato crop was U35 million bushels 

 compared with approximately 579 million bushels in 19UI+ and an average of 375 million 

 for the years 195^-^5. The purchase and loan program is designed to help producers 

 dispose of this large crop and to support prices in accordance with government war- 

 time commitments. 



Over-all requirements for civilian consumption, military needs, seed pota- 

 toes and normal wasto^in harvesting and storage are expected to account for about 

 580 million bushels from the 19*15 crop, leaving the rest of the crop for diversion, 

 for government purchase or for storage under loans. Up to September 1 the government 

 had already purchased 5,595 carlc>ads (approximately 6OO bushels to the car). More 

 than l+,000 carloads of these have been disposed of through diversion channels, in- 

 cluding school lunch and other welfare programs, for canning, for starch production 

 and a small percentage for livestock feed. The remainder were placed in storage. 



Commenting on the program. Secretary Anderson said: "The purchase and loan 

 activities will be continued as long as necessary to do the Job. The size of the Job 

 will be lessened if the food distributive trades and the housewives of the country 

 will do all they can to see that full use is made of potatoes in every practicable 

 way. There is a real challenge here to conserve this valuable food crop." 



Number of hired farm workers show increase . The number of hired workers 

 employed on fai^ showed a larger than usual seasonal increase during August, and on 

 September 1 was about the same as a year earlier, according to a U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture report. During the past year the monthly estimates of the number of 

 hired workers have averaged about 100,000 less than for the same months a year ago. 

 Hired workers totaled 2,815,000 this month. Just a little less than on September 1, 

 19^+1+. 



Some workers released from war industries and the armed forces are already 

 returning to work on farms. On the whole, however, few residents and former residents 

 of rural areas discharged from war jobs are now returning to farm employment. Shifts 

 from industries to farms probably will not result in any immediate sharp upturn in 

 farm employment. \ 



OLW:ml 

 9-20-i^5 



