47 2 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



known "aggressiveness." Brand was named coadministrator because of 

 his "familiarity with many agricultural trades, and his encyclopedic 

 knowledge of the processing and distributing as well as production of 

 farm products." He was expected to concern himself especially with mar- 

 keting agreements and codes. Chester Davis was considered the logical 

 man to have charge of the other principal function the adjustment of 

 production by agreement with farmers. Finally, M. L. Wilson, because of 

 his intimate knowledge of the wheat problem and the domestic allotment 

 plan, was an immediate choice for the head of the wheat section. 



Once the matter of personnel had been decided upon, the next thing 

 to do was to fit together the new machinery. In the process, "the corridors 

 of the Administration Building were crowded with farmers, farm leaders, 

 processors, and reporters, each with dozens of insistent questions, few of 

 which could be answered then and there. . . ." "Those were hectic days," 

 said Wallace. "Somehow we got through them though it was a rare day 

 when an irresistible desire didn't crash into an immovable fact, with 

 heavy damage to frayed nerves." Meanwhile, milk experts and lawyers 

 were drafting marketing agreements, and the wheat and cotton sections 

 prepared for action in their respective areas. 



One charge made against the A.A.A. was that it would lead to "goug- 

 ing" the consumers. Hence, to protect them, "the Adjustment Act had 

 specified that the farmer's share of the consumers' dollar might not exceed 

 the share he got in the base period, 1909-14." To carry this out, the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture was to make public his findings concerning the effect 

 of the processing tax on both producers and consumers. Fred C. Howe 

 was appointed as consumers' counsel to keep the public informed of the 

 relation of price increases to increased costs. 2 



The extension system, with the well-known activities of the county 

 agents, became an integral part of the A.A.A. program. The work per- 

 formed by these agents can no more be minimized than can the support 

 that the American Farm Bureau Federation gave to the national farm 

 program. In fact the functions of these different agencies became so inter- 

 locked that it was difficult to distinguish one from the other. Some farmers 

 spoke of the county agent, the A.A.A., and the Farm Bureau as though 

 they were one and the same thing. 



2. Henry A. Wallace, New Frontiers (New York, 1934), pp. 168-70, 173. 



