

December, 19)1 



THE 1. A. A. RECORD 



Page Thirti 



■'}' 



Hyde Would Shut Doom^ 

 Against Farm Expansion 



Need Sound Policy on Agricultural 

 Land Utilization 



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.1. 



Secretary Hyde 



HOPING for the day when there 

 will be "proper supervision of 

 colonization schemes," when settlers 

 can be "truthfully apprised of the eco- 

 nomic facts," and 

 when "Uncle Sam 

 will refuse to deed 

 640 acres of sand 

 and cactus to a man, 

 no matter how cour- 

 ageous and industri- 

 ous he may be," Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture 

 Arthur M. Hyde 

 asked that the nation 

 formulate a sound 

 national policy of 

 agricultural land 

 utilization. He spoke at the opening 

 session of a conference on land utiliza- 

 tion at Chicago, November 19-21. 

 The need for this land-utilization 

 Vast Waste 

 conference, the secretary said, "lies in 

 the vast waste of human and material 

 resources now taking place in our rural 

 areas. Erosion has already gashed and 

 (idiied our country sides and ruined 

 21,000,000 acres beyond repair. The 

 wastage of natural resources in the 

 East and South has already sapped the 

 economic strength of communities and 

 farmers and small towns. Every one of 

 diese presents problems of economic 

 readjustment and political reorganiza- 

 don which might conceivably change a 

 loss into a modest profit. Thousands of 

 pioneer souls have listened to the siren 

 song of the expansionists and have fol- 

 lowed their land hunger into arid re- 

 gions or onto cutover lands which Na- 

 ture intended for other purposes than 

 farms," 



Stop Expansion 

 QoestLoning the advisability of any 

 sweeping purchase of submarginal lands 

 by governmental bodies, and allaying 

 die fears of those who expect a modern 

 begira from the submarginal areas. Sec- 

 retary Hyde declared: 



"There is probably more hope of suc- 

 cess in slamming shut a few doors 

 through which expansion is flowing 

 than there is in the recapture of acre- 

 age. Most of the expansion takes place 

 in four directions: drainage, irrigation, 

 clearing of forests, and dry land farm- 

 ing. The extent of that expansion is 

 not generally recognized. There are 

 both dynamite and enlightenment in the 

 statistics, taken from the census, that 

 there were 84,000 fewer farms in 1930 

 rUaii in I92f, but there were IS.OOO,- 



000 more acres in crops. This in five 

 years, and the last five years at that! 

 There are both pathos and problems in 

 the fact that the 366,000,000 acres 

 planted to crops in 1930 was 55,000,- 

 000 acres more than our cultivated area 

 in 1909, and larger than the war-time 

 peak of 1919. :^ ; V v 



"We must start some time. No pro- 

 gram which we can conceive will im- 

 mediately cure the present emergency. 

 A long-time land-use program cannot 

 write an immediate answer to the pres- 

 ent emergency, but the present emer- 

 gency emphasizes the immediate need 

 for a long-time program. If we had 

 begun even so short a time as 20 years 

 ago — before the expansion of our culti- 

 vated area by 5 5,000,000 acres — how 

 much of tragedy and distress might 

 have been prevented!" 



See Plot to Wreck 



Milk Producers' Co-Ops. 



Recent reductions in milk prices from 

 twelve to seven cents per quart in Buf- 

 falo were termed the initial move "in 

 a plot to wreck farmers' co-operative 

 marketing organizations," by George F. 

 Snaith of Medina, a director of the 

 Dairymen's League Co-Operative Asso- 

 ciation, Inc. 



"There is no economic reason for 

 lower milk prices in Buffalo," said Mr. 

 Snaith. "The only purpose being 

 served is to give consumers cheaper 

 milk at the expense of dairy farmers 

 so that dealers can break the farmers' 

 organizations and bring producers back 

 to that state of 20 years ago when they 

 were slaves to dealer interests. 



"For two weeks we have been hear- 

 ing persistent rumors alleging that a 

 group of dealers from cities as far apart 

 as New York and Buffalo discussed 

 plans at a milk dealers' convention to 

 attack farmers' organizations by break- 

 ing down milk prices. 



"Lowering of prices five cents a quart 

 in Buffalo within a week has furnished 

 dealers of other cities a basis for de- 

 manding reductions. Compliance with 

 such demands would be ruinous to the 

 dairy industry, and would bankrupt 

 thousands of farmers. 



"Present activities in various milk 

 markets indicate that a treacherous plot 

 is being worked out to crush farmers* 

 organizations, and force milk prices 

 down until farmers are faced with 

 starvation." 



Limestone applied in addition to farm manure 

 or crop residues increased the value of crop* 

 grown as much as %l7.7i an acre annually on 

 some s<m1(, according to F. C. Bauer of the 

 University of Illinois. This was a return of 

 more than $.V a ton for the limestone used. 



The Btere prodttctive, dark-colored soils did 

 n«c give so great a raspMise as the light-colored 

 one*. 



National Fruit Exchange 



Plan Told by Wiison 



Farm Board Member Discusses St«cii ,; 

 Set-Up and Method of Operatioa 



IN an address before the annual meet- . 

 ing of the Vegetable Growers Asso- 

 ciation of America at Cincinnati, 

 Charles S. Wilson, member of the 

 Federal Farm Board, outlined the ainu 

 and objects together with recent do- » 

 velopments in organizing the National 

 Fruit and Vegetable Exchange, Inc., of 

 which A. B. Leeper, director of fruit 

 and vegetable marketing for the I. A. A. 

 is president. . '-/,, 



"While the organization has not be- 

 gun to operate as yet, present indica- 

 tions are that sufBcient tonnage will be 

 secured so that the Exchange will be 

 ready to start operations about January 

 1," said Mr. Wilson. Temporary head- 

 quarters of the Exchange have been 

 established in the I. A. A. offices at <M 

 So. Dearborn St., Chicago. 



Provides for Representatioa . 



"The general set-up of the Exchange 

 provides for representation on the Board 

 of Directors by dividing the country 

 into districts and allowing the co- 

 operatives which are members within 

 their respective districts to select tke 

 director to represent them on the board 

 of the National. The Exchange will be 

 financed by the sale of capital stock C» 

 the member organizations. No one as- 

 sociation may own more than 5 per oem 

 of the capital stock of the Exchange. 

 The amount of stock which any associa- 

 tion will be required to purchase is de- 

 termined by the average volume of ship- 

 ments for the last three years. Roughly 

 speaking, stock subscriptions are ex- 

 pected to be in proportion to the v^- 

 ume of shipments. 



Producer Control 



"In the case of new associauom 

 which have not operated, the directon 

 of the National have the power to rec- 

 ommend the capital stock subscription 

 which will be required. Member asso- 

 ciations are required to pay one-fifth of 

 the purchase price of stock in cash and 

 the balance in four equal annual in- 

 stallments. The provisions governing ~ 

 the voting control and ownership ai 

 capital stock are such as to protect the 

 interests of various member association* 

 and through them that of growers ai 

 all times. 



"Three types of organizations nu) 

 become members of the National Ex- 

 change; namely, centralized associations, 

 federations of locals, and local associa- 

 tions contracting directly with the Na- 

 tional for marketing but having repre- 

 sentation on the Board of Directors of 

 (ContmmeJ en page 14 CoL 2) 



