NEW DEAL FARM PROGRAM 457 



Of the two bills the Fulmer- Walsh and the Hope-Norbeck to come 

 before Congress in the spring of 1932 embodying certain phases of the 

 Wilson voluntary domestic allotment plan, it was the Hope-Norbeck bill 

 which was the more important. On July 14, 1932, Congressman Clifford 

 R. Hope of Kansas told his colleagues in the House that he had been 

 interested in the theory behind the domestic allotment plan for years but 

 that he could give no serious consideration to it because "it had not been 

 worked out in practical legislative form until Professor Wilson and his 

 committee gave it their study and attention." He commented on the great 

 interest that it had aroused among the members of the House Committee 

 on Agriculture and then discussed what he considered to be the out- 

 standing advantages of the plan. Hope was convinced that the plan would 

 release a large volume of new credit and place it in the hands of the 

 farmers, which, together with the public works, productive credit, and 

 relief measures that had been suggested in other proposals, would increase 

 the use of credit in the country and "start the recovery from the long de- 

 pression." 



Two days later Senator Norbeck introduced two bills which he claimed 

 were largely the work of M. L. Wilson. One of the bills sought "to amend 

 the agricultural marketing act so as to make the tariff effective on farm 

 commodities domestically consumed, and to provide a means of prevent- 

 ing undesirable surpluses and balancing production and consumption." 

 The other sought "to amend the agricultural marketing act so as to make 

 the tariff effective on that part of the production of specified farm com- 

 modities which is consumed within the United States, and to provide a 

 means of balancing production and consumption." Norbeck added that 

 he was convinced "that a voluntary allotment plan that will make the 

 tariff effective is the key to the whole situation." Both measures were 

 referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, whose chairman, Sena- 

 tor McNary, assured Norbeck that the bills would be given early con- 

 sideration by the committee when Congress reconvened in December. 

 No action could be taken at the time because Congress was about ready 

 to adjourn. 



The Hope-Norbeck bills were introduced in Congress at this time "not 

 so much in the hope that they could be passed as in the desire to educate 

 members of Congress and the country as to the nature of the proposal." 



