THE LAND 15 



available, it would have done the farmers no good. They needed 

 not more land, but a larger market for their crops, and a method 

 of borrowing money at a low interest rate. 



During the administrations of Presidents Wilson and 

 Hoover, laws were passed to make it easier for the farmer to 

 borrow money, but these laws were not enough to make the 

 farmers prosperous. Finally, in 1929, when industry suddenly 

 collapsed, the farmer's last market, the American consumer, 

 shrank to a record low. 



Mr. Hoover attempted to solve the problem by a law de' 

 signed to put up farm prices by buying surplus crops with 

 federal money. That failed. When Mr. Franklin Roosevelt 

 was elected President, he expanded Mr. Hoover's idea of keep' 

 ing farm prices up. He paid the farmer to limit his crops so 

 that there would be no surplus to force down the market price. 

 As he saw the problem, "We need to give to fifty million people 

 who live directly or indirectly upon agriculture a price for 

 their products in excess of the cost of production. That will 

 give them more buying power to start your mills and mines to 

 work to supply their needs. They cannot buy your goods be' 

 cause they cannot get a fair price for their products." 15 



When the Hoosac Mills decision of the Supreme Court de' 

 clared that the method of this crop limitation program was un' 

 constitutional, a new law was drafted to aid the farmers by ( 1) 

 paying them to conserve their soil, and (l) paving the way for 

 diversified farming which would escape the evils of one'crop 

 agriculture. 



Thus in less than half a century the government had shifted 

 from a policy of giving away land to a policy of paying people 

 to save it. This new policy was a sign that America had en' 

 tered a new era. The point of view that grew out of the belief 

 that there would always be enough land was meaningless when 



15 Black, Nourse, and Rogers, Three Tears of the Triple A, Brookings Insti' 

 tution, Washington, 1937, p. 424. 



