5 2 4 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



The political situation in Iowa, on the other hand, presented a study in 

 contrasts. While the Kansas Republicans were building up dissatisfaction 

 with the A.A.A. as a means of defeating McGill, the Iowa Democrats 

 were emphasizing its benefits with the hope of re-electing Senator Guy 

 Gillette. 54 



It took very little investigating to realize that the wheat farmers had 

 good reason to complain in the fall of 1938. Late in October the price 

 of a bushel of wheat for December delivery on the Chicago market was 

 reported stabilized at around 65.5 cents. This was the average at which 

 the futures had been selling over the past three-month period. According 

 to the brokers, stabilization had been brought about because of the gov- 

 ernment loans and the export subsidies. "Few professional operators 

 [were] disposed to take a decided stand on either side of the market.'* 



Granted that American prices were low, the fact is that they were 

 higher than those in other countries. Prices in Winnipeg, Liverpool, 

 Buenos Aires, and Rotterdam also were on the downgrade. Indeed the 

 declines abroad were so severe that export sales of domestic wheat even 

 with the subsidy program were far off the ioo,ooo,ooo-bushel mark that 

 had been set for the season by the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Over the past three months prices in Liverpool and Winnipeg had 

 declined by about seventeen cents and in Buenos Aires by more than 

 twenty cents. In brief the price of wheat in the United States at the time 

 was the highest in the world, but also the lowest, domestically, since 



I934- 55 



Because of low prices, the poor foreign market, and signs that bad ex- 

 port conditions would persist well into 1939, the Department of Agricul- 

 ture forecast a sharply curtailed acreage for 1939. The department ex- 

 pressed hope that seeding would be confined to 55,000,000 acres as com- 

 pared with the 81,000,000 acres harvested in 1939. But whether the farm- 

 ers would adopt the wheat-reduction plan that the department had in mind 

 was another matter. 56 



There is no denying that a campaign for price fixing was in full swing 



54. Ibid., October 30, 1938. 



55. Ibid., October 31, 1938; see also "The World Wheat Situation, 1938-39," 

 Food Research Institute, Stanford University, Wheat Studies, XVI (December, 1939), 

 pp. 113-203. 



56. New Yorf^ Times, November i, 1938. 



