GENERAL FARM PROGRAAI 527 



On the other hand, if some do too little, or receive too much, others 

 will suffer; the purchasing power will be curtailed; and our whole 

 economy will suffer in proportion to the inequities which exist. 



There can be no exact rule of measurement, nor any completely equi- 

 table means of determining what each contributes to the welfare of 

 this complex society, but we believe that agriculture has a duty to clo 

 its share in provicling ample production, and a right to expect fair 

 and reasonable compensation for the service it renders. Farmers 

 want to work for what they get and get what they work for. 



The most vulnerable spot in our farm economy lies in tlie lack of an 

 efficient and equitable marketing system. Agricultural production 

 cannot be controlled with exactness. Even if 6,000,000 farmers 

 could be compelled to plant or sow exactly what some official would 

 prescribe, the uncertainties of weather, pests, and other uncontrolable 

 factors would produce widely variable results. If we produce the 

 abundance our people need, there will always be many surpluses, and 

 farmers are entitled to protection against the impact of such sur- 

 pluses in breaking the market to ruinous levels. On the other hand, 

 farmers who deliberately and chronically produce more than the mar- 

 ket needs should not expect tlie public to foot the bill. 



In bi-ief. if depression and collapse are to be avoided, the Congress 

 has the responsibility of taking the necessary steps to avoid the errors 

 of the past, and assist in attaining that breadth of income which will 

 make possible the consumption of a fully employed and gradually 

 expanding economy. If reasonably equitable compensation for serv- 

 ices rendered can be attained, our constantly increasing capacity to 

 produce tlie things people need will assure a stable prosperity far 

 beyond anything the world has ever known. 



These are high stakes, but not too high. In fact we are almost 

 compelled to reach the goal if we are to avoid depression. Agricul- 

 ture cannot do it alone. Industry, finance, and labor have very defi- 

 nite obligations to meet if we are to siJcceecl, but this committee is con- 

 cerned particularly with agriculture's part. 



In seeking practical stejjs to attain such a goal, the first problem 

 is to determine what is a fair and equitable income or price level. 

 Agriculture has led the thinking of the Nation in its search of a quar- 

 ter of a century for an honest answer to this question. "We developed 

 a rather crude formula based on measuring the purchasing power of 

 farmers as compared with nonfarmers. We used as a base the last 

 normal 5-year period under a wholly free economy (1909-14) which, 

 it may be noted, were 5 years of relatively high prosperity for our 

 economy as a whole. This formula proved too rigid, for it gradually 

 got out of kilter as our production and consumption habits changecl. 

 The new modernized formula as enacted by the last Congress greatly 

 improved the formula but left much to be desired. There are two 

 major defects. As long as the parity price level is to be measured 

 by production costs, all significant costs should be included in the cost 

 index on a properly weighted basis. The formula omits agriculture's 

 largest single item of cost — hired labor. The formula will continue to 

 register a false level until this item is included. 



We recommend an amendment providing that hired labor, properly 

 weighted, shall be included in the cost index. 



The formula is further defective in that it selects a static period as 

 the base for establishing the relationship between agriculture and 



