\; 



ecovery 



Must 



.■ '. •' »' ' !'*• 



r' •;> ■ 



WHEN the old ex-plutocrats 

 speak of recovery they 

 usually refer to a return of 

 the 1926-1929 hey-hey days with all 

 its unbalance in favor of a minority 

 and privileged few. Indeed, agriculture 

 is not mildly interested in a return or 

 continuance of the inequalities of 1921- 

 22 or up to and including 1929. Some 

 may have forgotten the hundred and 

 one solutions for getting rid of sur- 

 pluses which have been propounded 



; since the first McNary-Haugen bill 

 was proposed. Some gentlemen estate- 

 farmers may cry as they did and have 

 done since surpluses were first men- 

 tioned, "Let the farmer alone; if hell 

 just keep working everything will be 



'"alright." But, now as then, everyone 



V knows this gentleman farmer is the 

 go-between propagandist for packer, 

 commission man and general processor 

 who want to continue their "Keep 'em 

 working and keep 'em poor" policies 

 of the good old days of lots to gamble 

 with and losses to the producer. 



\5 There is a super-abundance of farm 

 products and an unbalance of income 

 unfavorable to the seller of farm 



V products. Therefore, any recovery that 

 does not restore balance in farm in- 



[ come and buying power would, of 

 course, be meaningless to agriculture. 



y^ Contemplates Restoration 



^ p' * «"^ " **p 



The recovery program in process 

 does not contemplate this restoration 

 of balance in buying power for farm- 

 ers. Its known plans and laws pro- 

 vide immediate remedial measures. 

 Why, then, do not all who know agri- 

 culture to be of basic importance in 

 national recovery rally to the support 

 of plans which for the most part, 

 while not perfect, yet are constructive 

 and aim at the reduction of surpluses 

 and the increase of income with 

 greater buying power? - . . 



Now, there is a poser! Farmers for 

 the most part would cooperate if the 

 processor's propaganda, and the mid- 

 dleman's tory press would not tear 

 down faster than plans and brains can 

 legislate and systematize recovery 

 plans. ■..■.•..■:.';•: 



Did you ever try to save a drowning 

 man, or keep an insane person from 

 injuring himself while in the throes 

 of his spell? No? Well, the gestures 

 and wild-eyed aims of rugged in- 

 dividualists, in the hysteria of their 

 depletion, is much the same. Some 

 that are organized have a calm in 

 disaster that permits of assistance and 



nclu 



By Lawrence A. Williams 



planned and rapid advances. Others 

 of the individualist stripe — the radical 

 stripe — the gentleman farmer poser 

 for middlemen — the propagandist, all 

 in the group called agriculture, are like 

 the hysterical drowning man. The only 

 hope seems to be a knock on the chin 

 to produce unconsciousness. Just one 

 stiff, harmless punch, so the drown- 

 ing man will stop clutching, stop 

 grabbing at his rescuer; close his 

 mouth so the sea that threatens to 

 destroy him will not complete his un- 

 doing from the inside, and once un- 

 conscious, his rescuer may have some 

 chance of towing him in to safety.- -, 



■ -,■■,■. ...,-■.. , - \ :'.',' "' 



Partly Political ' 



All the bleating by the press and 

 the processor about the processing tax 

 is partly political propaganda by bitter 

 partisans and partly from squirming 

 privileged groups who hate to come 

 under supervision and control for fear 

 of losing a beautiful cut from farm- 

 ers' toil, while farmers take losses. 



The public is aroused. The consumer 

 today is sympathetic toward agricul- 

 ture's needs. They know the game of 

 alligator crying about processing tax 

 that takes one cent while they pass 

 the buck of a 10 cent increase, in some 

 cases more than a thousand percent 

 increase, on to the consumer. The New 

 Deal is not alone a Roosevelt Deal. It 

 had its origin back in the grass roots 

 of 1921 inequalities, and whether with 

 Roosevelt or without him, whether 

 with Republican, Democrat, third party 

 or dictatorship, or whatever may 

 come, the New Deal and the new era 

 are going forward to balanced buy- 

 ing power for farmers and a fairer 

 distribution of the national income. 



The overproduction of butterfat and 

 the lowered income to farmers for it, 

 is a problem of as great importance 

 as corn hogs, cotton or wheat. Objec- 

 tion to a planned and profitable re- 

 duction by producers does not come 

 from the rank and file, but from the 

 propaganda centers of influence. Kick 

 as they will, controlled production 

 seems inevitable. It is, perhaps, only a 

 question of taking it with the attrac- 

 tion of "paid to reduce," or taking it 

 eventually just "straight," without 

 pay for reduction. 



Distribution of goods as well as pro- 

 duction, labor problems, a monetary 

 system with its related credit prob- 

 lems, controlled stock markets and 

 provision exchanges, care of unem- 

 ployed, and other problems are not to 



Eq 



ua 



lity 





. V, 



be solved by party politics or by hys- 

 terical prejudiced class action. ^^^^,:j^^^ 



.1. . : ' :':■•': ■■"■ •.■'\'.''',' ■■'•■ '. 



Requires Experts S?- 5 ( ? 



Here are problems requiring brains; 

 specialists, brain trusts, experts and 

 the best genius America with her 

 vaunted education can muster. The 

 best have been invited, and many en- 

 rolled in the program's behalf. 



Cries from the uninformed and the 

 hysterical need not disturb us. There 

 will be no communism unless American 

 citizens demand that form of govern- 

 ment, and this is hard to imagine. 

 There will not be facism or Nazi-ism, 

 or Marxian socialism. But what may 

 very likely happen is an overthrow- 

 ing of Wall Street dictatorship more 

 completely than is even thought of 

 today, and the establishing of true 

 democracy and the giving of an im- 

 petus to American citizens to keep it 

 an operating true democracy. 



What may happen is a recognition 

 of silver on a near fifty-fifty basis, 

 and the establishing of full govern- 

 ment ownership and control of the 

 basic money. What may happen is a 

 more complete supervision by govern- 

 ment in many important activities 

 which today, with uncontrolled compe- 

 tition as in the past, have become 

 clogged by abuses and inequalities. We 

 will not be apt to go to government 

 ownership but rather to use govern- 

 ment to establish justice, fairness and 

 equality. This is an important function 

 of government. , ::..-,. ; ; .. 



; \- • Against New Ideas 



; • The cry of "Communist," "Red," 

 "Socialist," at every aid given to the 

 masses under our present recovery 

 plan is simply the same hoot of deri- 

 sion that has been hurled at every new 

 idea— new discovery— new invention or 

 new move since the memory of man. 

 Prejudiced minds, whose realm of 

 thought is limited by their own small 

 boundaries of experience, can see no 

 new move possible of success that does 

 not follow old precedent, f • 



This country is experiencing the 

 touch of the leather of control and 

 system, and like the wild mustang it 

 rears high at the feel of it. Lesser 

 hours and greater pay for labor; lesser 

 production and more money for farm- 

 ers; lesser profits and greater turn- 

 over for merchants; greater circula- 

 tion of money and less desire for 



(Cont'd Page 16, Col. 1) 



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JUNE. 1934 





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