The 



Dliiids A^jcultuml Assod^^ 





RECORD 



W'f 



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Number 6 



JUNE, 1934 





Volume 12 



Thoughts On The 



' •* •* .• • « 



S THE New Deal grows in age 

 and experience, the American 

 people, it becomes increasingly 

 clear, are tending to divide into schools 

 of thought for and against regimen- 

 tation and economic planning. To some 

 extent the controversy is developing 

 into a battle between the haves and 

 the have nots. Aside from the politics 

 in the situation, two philosophies of 

 government are involved. One is the 

 philosophy of individualism — ^without 

 government restraint. Every man for 

 himself and the devil take the hind- 

 most. Under this system the go-get- 

 ters represented by combinations of 

 capital and often brains have free rein 

 to build, speculate, exploit labor, in- 

 vestors' capital, and the resources of 

 the country, amass wealth in huge 

 private fortunes, and use the power 

 and influence so acquired in con- 

 trolling government as an adjunct to 

 their aims and ends. .- --. ■ . -., 



By the Editor 



•l***''*!***!^ 



' This first system is the one America 

 largely has been following. There is 

 something to be said for it. It stimu- 

 lated private initiative and inventive- 

 ness. It had the incentive of in- 

 dividual gain. It made men work hard, 

 drive themselves , : v^- ,■ 



to extra effort to 

 acquire riches or 

 power or both. 

 This system de- 

 veloped the coun- 

 try, created 

 wealth, made 

 America a leading 

 industrial nation 

 and a world 

 power. V V 



Sharp Inequal- 

 ities V 



But it also led 

 to sharp inequal- 

 ities in the dis- 

 tributionof 

 money and prop- 

 erty, to concentra- 

 tion of wealth in 

 the hands of the 



few, to abject poverty and want for 

 many. Natural resources represented 

 by forests, water power, mineral and 

 oil deposits, and agricultural lands 

 were seized by wide-awake enterprisers 

 and converted into private fortunes. 

 Our great forests were ruthlessly cut, 

 the timber logged off, and the land 

 left as unproductive barren wastes. 

 ' Similarly, coal and other minerals, 

 crude oil deposits, and water power 

 sites have been taken over, not so 

 much with the object of serving man- 

 kind over as long a period as possible, 

 as to convert these resources quickly 

 into dollars for their owners. 



It was to a lesser extent the profit 

 motive that led to the rapid expansion 

 of agriculture in America. Fertility 

 was just as surely mined from the 

 soil in our older agricultural areas as 

 oil is being mined through oil wells to- 

 day. In the south, also the east, con- 

 tinuous cropping and erosion have 

 taken their toll. Soils once rich in 

 minerals necessary for plant growth 



Earth dam built across gully to stop soil erosion, by Civilian Conservation Corpi in Carroll 

 county, Illinois. This valuable work initiated as an unemployment reUef measure last year is 

 being continued throughout Illinois and other states this year. 



are now poor. They are only produc- 

 tive when liberally fertilized. 



Through all this development little 

 attention was given to conservation, to 

 the effects of the unrestricted capital- 

 istic system on society. In the begin- 

 ning perhaps little concern was nec- 

 essary. While we were building and 

 developing what looked like an in- 

 exhaustible supply for what appeared 

 to be an inexhaustible market, there 

 were jobs and opportunities for every- 

 one. There never was an unemploy- 

 ment problem anything like the 

 present one. -••'^.\ .•:;-->.;^.>.:. ■••..: •-/••.■.■•■.•... ;..:;.. 



.■■:y:.::.> Natural Reaction . > - 



Therefore the reaction in favor of 

 economic planning and the New Deal 

 was a natural one. The depression has 

 made men think. Isn't there a better 

 system, a new way that spreads 

 wealth and the good thingis of life 

 more evenly among the people ? Isn't 

 it time to call a halt on the wa»te of 

 natural resources and the exploitation 

 of the weak by the strong? Can not 

 we devise a program that banishes 

 poverty, eliminates slum districts, 

 raises the general level of welfare and 

 v: - V V . ^ ; >f.:; restores the farm- 

 er's position as a 

 buyer of manu- 

 factured goods at 

 least to that of 

 the pre-war pe- 

 riod? 



These are some 

 of the questions 

 statesmen have 

 been thinking 

 about. That there 

 has be e u more 

 thinking of this 

 character among 

 professors in our 

 colleges and uni- 

 versities, among 

 farmers and their 

 leaders, than 

 among the 

 money - grubbers 

 in the business 



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Publishoi) monthly by the Illinois Agricultural Association at 165 So. Ma^n street, Spencer, Ind. Editorial Offices. 006 So. Dearborn St., CbfcafO, lU* 

 Entered as nerond cIeks matter at post office, Spencer, Ind. Acceptance for mailing at special rates of postage proTlded In Section 412. Act of Feb. 28, 

 1925. authorised Oct. 27, 1925. Address all communications for publication to Editorial Offices, Illinois Affrlcnltoval Assoeiatlon Record. tOS Sa^ 

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