540 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Why do farmers earn only two-thirds as much on an average as do 

 wage workers? And why does this percentage of farm earnings to 

 wages vary all the way from lows of (> percent in 1921 and 12 percent 

 in 1932 to as high as 101 percent in 1917 and 98 percent in 1947 ? (See 

 table 1 in appendix for details. ) Some of the answers lie in the nature 

 of farm production, in its stability; some of the answers lie in the 

 constant surplus of farm people; and other parts of the answer lie 

 entirely outside agriculture, that is, in the nature of industrial 

 production. 



■ Some contend that farmers receive a lower income because they are 

 a less competent worker than the average factory laborer. Others 

 say intangible values of farm life cause the farmer to be satisfied with 

 a low relative income. I personally think that when all family-living 

 values from the farm are included farmers should receive incomes on 

 a par with industrial wage workers. Time does not permit detailed 

 justification of this belief. 



Six hasic reasons for low fariri 'prices and incoTne 



We believe the following six basic reasons cover the most important 

 phases of the farm-price problem and that programs which overcome 

 these causes of farm disparity will cover the essentials of a sound farm 

 program. The six causes of low prices are : 



1. Low farm prices that arise out of the general failure of the non- 

 agricultural parts of our economy to maintain physical outputs at a 

 high steady level comparable to, and in balance with, the high stable 

 over-all output that comes from the farming industry; 



2. Low prices caused by temporary surpluses, favorable weather, 

 and abnormally high yields; 



3. Low prices that result from unsound year-to-year shifts from one 

 crop to another by farmers due to relatively high prices the previous 

 year for some crops and low prices for other crops ; 



4. A generally chronically lower level of farm prices and farm 

 income than prevails in the nonagricultural section of our economy. 

 This disparity arises mainly out of uninterrupted pressure of surplus 

 farm population on land use which is caused by high birth rate on 

 farms and increased per capita productivity. It also arises (and is 

 especially accentuated during periods of general depression) out of 

 the constant full output nature of the farm; 



5. Inefficient farm marketing machinery and unjustified spread 

 between the prices of producer and consumer ; 



6. Finally, low price difficulty since World War I arising out of dis- 

 rupted international trade relations that are so vital to some of our 

 major export crops. 



We believe that the solution of almost every important economic 

 farm problem that confronts us can be found in measures dealing 

 with these six causes of low farm income and prices. Obviously if 

 the farm problem encompasses these six causes it is a problem of great 

 complexity. 



These six causes of low farm prices and income, as Mr. Goss has 

 so repeatedly said, indicate that a cure-all for farm woes is not to be 

 found ; that the farm problem cannot be solved exclusive of important 

 necessary corrections in the whole economy of the Nation and the 

 world ; and that the best and most practical approach requires a large 

 number of means ready for use in dealing with the numerous and com- 



