March, 1933 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Five 



The Farm Bureau at Washington 



Allotment Plan. Farm Mortgage Legislation, Demand For Lower Freight Rates, 



And Reflation Feature Relief Program 



A. O'KEAL 



AS this is written, barely a week 

 remains of the so-called "lame 

 duck" session of congress. This 

 session has been almost barren of 

 results in raising prices or alleviating 

 the farm debt situation, although 

 there is a possibility of passing the 

 "debt composition" measure spon- 

 sored by the Farm Bureau and 

 other farm organizations in the 

 few remaining days. Enactment 



of the allotment 

 plan or other 

 price improve- 

 ment legislation 

 and reflationary 

 measures, if any, 

 will be left for 

 the proposed 

 special session 

 which will prob- 

 ably be called 

 after March 4. 

 The measure 

 originally pro- 

 viding for raising prices on wheat, 

 cotton, tobacco, and hogs to pre-war 

 parity was passed in the House aft- 

 er being weakened by the inclusion 

 of peanuts, butter and other prod- 

 ucts which would have complicated 

 its administration. This bill in the 

 main, however, embodied the 

 principles, including acreage and 

 crop reduction, desired by the farm 

 organizations. 



Weaken Measure 



The deatJi knell of the measure 

 was virtually sounded in the senate 

 when the agricultural committee 

 removed all acreage reduction and 

 surplus control features from the 

 bill and took out everything except 

 wheat and cotton which at once 

 alienated support of the middle 

 west, and in fact all thinking peo- 

 ple. 



In the meantime, Senator Smith, 

 chairman of the agricultural com- 

 mittee, introduced a bill, applying 

 to cotton alone, which provides for 

 drastic acreage reduction and loans 

 to cotton growers to buy cotton fu- 

 tures to the extent of their re- 

 duced production. The theory of 

 this measure is that growers will 

 profit when the market rises as a 

 result of reduced production. 



This bill which did not have the 

 support of the Farm Bureau, was 

 hustled through the senate, sent 

 over to the house, reported out by 

 the house agricultural committee, 

 and given a rule for early con- 

 sideration. Then, according to re- 

 ports, word came from the demo- 

 cratic leadership to let the meas- 



ure die since it was purely a sec- 

 tional measure and would have 

 split the forces now united in sup- 

 port of effective price-raising legis- 

 lation. 



The Smith bill has hindered the 

 progress of the allotment meas- 

 ure, which may or may not come 

 to a vote in the senate before 

 March 4. 



The American Farm Bureau Fed- 

 eration has exerted all possible in- 

 fluence to get early enactment of 

 its" debt relief program embodied 

 in senate bill 5515 and amendments 

 to H. R. 14359 sponsored by Senator 

 Robinson of Arkansas. 



Debt Situation Grave 



"So grave is the situation with 

 respect to foreclosures of farm 

 debts that this committee and. this 

 congress have a terrible responsibil- 

 ity if in the face of such conditions. 

 Congress adjourns without having 

 done at least something substantial 

 to alleviate the situation," Presi- 

 dent Edward A. O'Neal wrote the 

 Senate banking and currency com- 

 mittee recently. 



"Each day of delay the situation 

 becomes progressively worse," he 

 continued. "If something is not done 

 soon, I am fearful of what may 

 happen. Already there are ominous 

 signs on the horizon. The very des- 

 perateness of conditions is driving 

 many to resort to desperate meas- 

 ures. I have used my influence to 

 restrain farmers from the use of 

 force and illegal measures, and 

 have urged them to exercise re- 

 straint, but the continued foreclo- 

 sures of farm mortgages are driving 

 many to resort to extreme meas- 

 ures in a great many localities." 



"The farm mortgage debt now is 

 nearly three times the pre-war 

 level, while the farm price level is 

 only about one-half the pre-war 

 level. The gross farm income has 

 shrunk from 16 billion dollars an- 

 nually in 1919 to 5 billions an- 

 nually in 1932. Farm land values 

 are now less than half their 1920 

 value. Farm interest rates have 

 been reduced but little since 1920. 

 All credit agencies have engaged 

 in a harsh contraction of credit to 

 agriculture. One-tenth of all the 

 farmers in the United States have 

 lost their farms during the past 5 

 years, involving foreclosures total- 

 ling approximately one billion dol- 

 lars. The estimated total farm debt 

 of 12 1/2 billion dollars, measured in 

 terms of prices of farm commod- 

 ities with which this debt must be 



paid, would amount to nearly 30 

 billion dollars. 



"Confronted with these deplor- 

 able conditions, farm leaders have 

 developed an emergency program 

 which they believe will bring effec- 

 tive and immediate relief and will 

 tide over the situation until perma- 

 nent remedial legislation can be 

 put into effect. After months of 

 study, the principal farm organiza- 

 tions have agreed upon an emer- 

 gency program. In the main, it 

 is embodied in two bills — S. 5515 

 by Senator Robinson of Arkansas, 

 now before this committee, and the 

 amendments of Senator Robinson 

 to H. R. 14359 now before the Sen- 

 ate Judiciary Committee. Some 

 modifications of S. 5515 will be re- 

 quired, but in the main it embodies 

 the emergency program of the 

 farm groups, when coupled with the 

 Robinson amendments to H. R. 

 14359. 



Cannot Wait 



"This relief cannot wait until the 

 special session. I do not agree with 

 the thought that I have heard ex- 

 pressed that our program is too 

 large to put through before this 

 session ends on March 4. Let me 

 call attention to the fact that in 

 the last session of Congress the 

 original Reconstruction Finance 

 Corporation Act was passed by both 

 Houses of Congress within thirteen 

 days and it authorized a total of 

 two billion dollars. Later Congrest 

 rushed through the Wagner-Rainey 

 bill appropriating over two billion 

 dollars more. About three-fourths 

 of the money loaned by the R. F. C. 

 has gone to the banks and the rail- 

 roads. 



Why should it take longer to do 

 something for the farmers than 

 it does to do something for the 

 banks and the railroads? 



Speaking for the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation, the emergency 

 program may be summarized as 

 follows: 



(1) Stop the wave of farm fore- 

 closures by providing a simple 

 means for the extension of delin- 

 quencies and the composition of 

 debts. 



(2) Set up an Emergency Agri- 

 cultural Refinance Corporation op- 

 erated by the Federal Farm Loan 

 Board, with a capital stock of one 

 billion dollars subscribed by the 

 United States Treasury, to refi- 

 nance the debts of any distressed 



