NEW DEAL FARM PROGRAM 4^7 



be adopted by Congress. The American Farm Bureau Federation was 

 waging a relentless campaign in behalf of inflation; Wallace had long 

 been championing it through the columns of his paper; the national 

 Farmers' Union was for it. Even the Hoover administration had given en- 

 couragement to it; the Federal Farm Board, the Reconstruction Finance 

 Corporation, and the billion-dollar open-market credit-easing campaign 

 of the Federal Reserve Board were inflationary in their tendencies. 39 

 The farm states were solidly behind the inflationary proposals. "But," 

 Business Wee\ pointed out, "anyone who supposes the demand comes 

 solely from the rural sections is blind. There is strong Wall Street sup- 

 port for inflation, and advocates are not scarce in the ranks of Big Busi- 

 ness. Nor does it pass unnoted that intellectuals including the moderate- 

 liberal Walter Lippmann are saying the United States cannot avoid and 

 should not try to avoid cheapening the dollar." 



By mid-April there were forty or more inflationary bills pending in 

 Congress. Of the methods proposed, the old Populist formula, the free 

 coinage of silver, was the most popular. In April, 1933, there were re- 

 ported "16 pending bills asking for the purchase of silver, the issuance 

 of silver certificates, or bimetallism at the ratio of 16 to i. No other device 

 has inspired so many money bills as this one which was the center of 

 attention 37 years ago." But it was suggested that only two methods were 

 being given consideration by the administration devaluation of the 

 dollar and a large public-works program. 41 



One of the most encouraging as well as curious developments several 

 weeks before the A.A.A. became law was the advance in wheat prices. 

 May wheat prices had advanced ten cents a bushel over a three-week pe- 



39. The Farm Bureau and Farm Recovery (Chicago, n.d.) [booklet]; Honest 

 Money (Chicago, 1932) [booklet]; The American Farm Bureau Federation, 1933, 

 p. 10 [Annual Report of the Executive Secretary]; Wallaces' Farmer and Iowa 

 Homestead, LVIII (February 4, 1933), p. 4, contains a short sketch of Wallace's 

 inflationary views during the twenties. New Yor% Times, January 26, 1933. John 

 Simpson, the president of the national Farmers' Union, said that besides "a straight- 

 out price-fixing measure on the basis of cost of production," inflation was needed. 

 "What we need is the remonetization of silver, a good supply of paper money, and 

 a sprinkling of counterfeit to take care of the situation." United States Daily News, 

 April 8-15, 1933. 



40. "Inflation Begins," Business Wee\ (April 26, 1933), p. 3. 



41. United States Daily News, April 8-15, 1933. 



