FARM BOARD TO FARM STRIKE 4*9 



farms and in their own bins. Particular attention was called to the legisla- 

 tion enacted in Montana and North Dakota the past year, through the 

 influence of the Farmers' Union, which had made possible advances run- 

 ning into the thousands of dollars on wheat that was stored on farms. 51 

 Still others proposed finding Oriental outlets, because the resistance to 

 wheat imports in Europe was great. 52 



By early 1930 it was apparent that the Board was going to urge volun- 

 tary acreage reduction as a means to relieve the storage situation and raise 

 prices. Since the winter wheat growers and those in the Pacific Northwest 

 had already planted theirs, it was plain that the spring wheat growers 

 were going to be the first to be asked to reduce their acreage. 53 Secretary 

 of Agriculture Arthur Hyde, in facilitating this move, pointed to the 

 evils of blind overproduction and the results of "competitive selling by 

 6,000,000 individual farmers," which gave the purchasers "a great advan- 

 tage and the farmers a disastrously low price." The farmers were told in 

 no uncertain terms that unless they curtailed their acreage there was very 

 little that could be done by the Board about prices. 54 



One of the first problems posed by this drive for acreage reduction was 

 the rivalry of the various wheat-growing sections. The protests of the 

 spring wheat country called attention to this rivalry. Senator Peter Norbeck 

 of South Dakota was skeptical of the proposal, as were others, and Brook- 

 hart of Iowa said that the Farm Board would "pretty near have to kill 

 off 20 per cent of the farmers" in order to carry out its wheat-reduction 

 program, and questioned the wisdom of not having a surplus available. 55 

 The St. Paul Pioneer Press felt that "To attempt to make the spring wheat 

 growers stand the full burden of reduction for the whole industry, to 

 penalize it for the action of the winter wheat branch, would be both unjust 

 and futile, and would arouse a well-grounded resentment among the 

 producers of the Northwest." Why should spring wheat be sacrificed for 

 the benefit of winter wheat ? Estimates had it that 7 per cent of the spring 



51. St. Paul Dispatch, March 5, 1930. 



52. "Farm Board Battles with Wheat as Carry-over Gluts Market," Business Wee\ 

 (April 16, 1930), pp. 11-12. 



53. St. Paul Dispatch, January 7, 1930. 



54. "Six Million Farmers are Pondering," Literary Digest, CIV (February 22, 

 1930), p. 17. 



55. St. Paul Dispatch, January 7, 13, 1930. 



