Chapter XVII 

 THE NEW DEAL: FIRST PHASES 



ONCE the A.A.A. had become law, the United States embarked on a 

 program of unprecedented proportions. Production controls were 

 the most novel no doubt the most conspicuous part of it, but inflation, 

 marketing agreements, trade treaties, commodity loans, and cheaper credit 

 facilities were also part of the program. Before the year was over, "pictures, 

 literature by the ton, moving pictures, thousands of columns of news- 

 paper information, hundreds of speakers were used in appealing to mil- 

 lions of farmers" in the largest program ever presented to American 

 agriculture. 1 



The legislation having been passed, the next step was to erect the ma- 

 chinery needed to put the program into action. In this, time was of the 

 essence. Wallace wrote that the passage of the A.A.A. on May 12 left very 

 little time for effective action on 1933 crops. For personnel to man the 

 new machinery, "crude and untried" as it was expected to be, the admin- 

 istration went to those who for "many years had fought for the right to 

 build such machinery." Wallace said, "Soon after the bill was introduced 

 I had sounded out George Peek for the post of administrator, and for 

 other positions of importance, Charles J. Brand, who drafted the first 

 McNary-Haugen bill, Chester C. Davis, first lieutenant to Peek in the 

 farm fight, and M. L. Wilson, the successful evangelist of the domestic 

 allotment plan." 



Peek was selected as administrator of the A.A.A. largely because of 

 his experiences as a businessman, his sympathies for the farmers, and his 



i. Minneapolis Journal, December 31, 1933. 



