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AGAINST CONTROLS 



In the March issue of the lAA Record 

 you asked for the opinions of those who op- 

 pose government control of production. Al- 

 though I am not now a Farm Bureau member, 

 I have been for many years. My son has 

 taken over my membership. Therefore, it is 

 not altogether inappropriate that I should ex- 

 press my ideas in the Record. 



It is easy to list some 22 reasons why we 

 should not tolerate government produaion 

 control, let alone ask for it. A few of these 

 reasons are of tremendous importance because 

 they have to do with the future freedom of 

 not only farmers but all the people of the 

 United States. 



That reasons 



against government 

 control of production 

 have been asked fsr 

 by the editor of the 

 RECORD is a hopeful 

 sign that lAA offi- 

 cials are beginning to 

 question their wis- 

 dom in preaching to Farm Bureau members 

 the doctrine of price regulation and production 

 contols since Henry Wallace first introduced 

 the doctrine in the depression period. 



Now that the membership has been so 

 thoroughly trained, it will be diflficult to in- 

 duce them to swing to the opposite. How- 

 ever, if Farm Bureau officials recognize their 

 responsibility, they can follow no other course 

 than to try. 



The following is a very concise outline: 



1. Controls generate more controls. When 

 controls develop loopholes, as they always do, 

 or cause disastrous results, the remedy is to 

 clamp down more controls. 



2. When controls are used, there are al- 

 ways evasions which largely render the con- 

 trols ineffective. ' 



3. Wholesale evasions induce contempt of 

 the law, undermining the moral stamina of the 

 people. 



4. Controls, subsidies, and government pay- 

 ments tend to lower efficiency, as the individ- 

 ual relies on the government rather than on 

 his own efforts. 



5. Controls destroy self-reliance. When an 

 individual is limited in his efforts, he gives 

 up trying to do for himself. 



6. Controls promote high cost farming. In 

 a free economy the successful farmer is con- 

 stantly seeking lower costs. Restraints make 

 this more difficult. 



7. Controls destroy the initiative and enter- 

 prise of the farmer. Any limitation lessens 

 the opportunity for exceptional rewards for 

 exceptional performance. 



8. Likewise controls for the same reason dis- 

 courage attempts to attain individual excel- 

 lence, and narrow the fields in which excel- 

 lence can be attained. 



9. Farming must be managed by the man on 

 the job. Economic controls are management 

 by men in Washington who do not know the 

 particular circumstances of each farm. 



10. As always has happened in the past 

 and likewise in present times in foreign coun- 

 tries, controls followed by more controls re- 

 sult in the farmer first becoming just a laborer, 

 and then a slave. 



11. Controls necessitate government by bu- 

 reaus. 



(a). Government by bureaus is government 

 by decree. (b). Bureaucrats are accusers, 

 judges, and juries all in one. (c). Inevitably 

 bureaucratic government becomes dishonest, 

 (d). It is practically impossible for individuals 

 to obtain redress for wrongs, (e). Bureau- 

 crats use their power to introduce "reforms". 

 We are now hearing rumors that farmers who 

 will not do this and that are not fit to farm 

 the land and must be removed. 



12. Controls will increase the number of 

 government employes with, for the most part. 



non-productive, economic parasites, who must 

 be supported by the producers. 



1}. Controls increase the cost of govern- 

 ment. Administration, supervision, and polic- 

 ing cost tremendous sums. That means high- 

 er taxes. 



14. In all bureaucracies the tendency is for 

 the establishment of a vested interest by the 

 bureaucrats. This then becomes the main ob- 

 ject of regulations. The result is poverty for 

 the people. 



1}. It is impossible for an individual or 

 bureau to regulate satisfactorily prices and 

 production for only one product, let alone 

 for many. Who can set a correct price or 

 quantity of production for corn which has 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



dozens of different uses in all parts of the 

 country, subject to various transportation rates, 

 labor conditions, etc' 



16. Bureaucrats are political appointees. 

 Controls will be established and administered 

 by them. These politicians will be appointed 

 and not elected by the people. The result is 

 that the politicians will control the people. 

 The people will not control the politicians. 

 This is not representative government. Good- 

 by democracy! 



17. Controls can be and have been changed 

 without notice for reasons other than the bene- 

 fit of farmers. Why should the Republicans 

 keep the Democrats' promises, and vice versa? 



18. When securely established, controls 

 often are used for purpKjses other than those 

 originally intended. Tliey often are used to 

 force acceptance of irrevelent regulations in 

 other fields, or to punish those who have not 

 conformed in other matters. 



19. Frequently an individual farm to attain 

 efficiency, and sometimes even to survive as 

 a business enterprise, must produce more than 

 alloted. 



20. Controls are infringements of the rights 

 of private land ownership. 



21. The essence of all dictatorships, whether 

 Communist or Fascist, is control of the people 

 by the government. 



22. To enforce controls effectively national 

 police, a Gestapo, an N.K.V.D. as in Russia, 

 must be set up. We will become a police 

 state, and government will be by fear — not 

 by consent. 



Let us stay free and prosperous. 



"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." 



W. B. Taber Jr. 

 Edgar County 



CALENDAR SUGGESTION 



I notice in the Record many congratulations 

 on the Lincoln calendar the Farm Bureau has 

 put out this year. It is a nice calendar and 

 one that I believe every Farm Bureau member 

 enjoys and appreciates. 



I presume you will soon be designing a 

 calendar for 1948, and I would suggest that 

 you put out a similar one based on the life 

 of Washington or Jefferson. These men were 

 leaders in agriculture as well as in other ways. 

 I am sure such calendars will be appreciated 

 again next year. 



John M. Quindry 

 Wayne County 



We like Mr, Quindry s suggestion and will 

 keep it in mind for 1949. Our 1948 Calen- 

 dar featuring American scenes already has gone 

 to press. 



VOTELESS HIRED tMM 



Last week Kane County Farm Bureau came 

 through a very successful Farm Bureau mem- 

 bership drive. 



We are living in a world of thought and 

 principles based on evil and good thoughts. 

 We, the older members of Farm Bureau, have 

 seen the results of sound, cooperative, instruc- 

 tive and neighborly thoughts. Our 4-H prog- 

 ress also has been based on cultivated thought 

 on right and wrong ways of raising livestock, 

 improving crops, and bettering home condi- 

 tions for a better and a happier rural life. 

 Now our rural youth of today are our up 

 and coming Farm Bureau and Home Bureau 

 members of tomorrow and that means your 

 boy and mine. They 

 are our hired men. 

 learning by doing — 

 not forgetting our 

 young women on the 

 farm, our future home 



makers. 



By the time you 

 probably are wonder- 

 ing what is on my mind. The problem is this: 

 Our Farm Bureau made new amendments, one 

 being that a nired man may get Farm Bureau 

 auto insurance by joining Farm Bureau and 

 paying his $15 membership. Now that's fine! 

 But it also says that the hired man has NO 

 tote. Now you tell me, how can you he a 

 member of Farm Bureau and still not he 

 a member? Is Farm Bureau based on commer- 

 cialism? 



When a liwyer has a case he looks for a 

 weak link in thought and when he sees his 

 opening the case is his. 



You have a mighty weak link of thought in 

 the hired man amendment, that! The big in- 

 surance companies are trying to corrupt our 

 Farm Bureau set-up and poison the young 

 man's or young woman's thoughts towards 

 every good 'rait we have cultivated in them. 

 It also makes it harder for our future Farm 

 Bureau drives. 



Farm Bureau directors wake up! Stop and 

 take a look at your 1947 calendar. Look that 

 man Abraham Lincoln in the face. Stop to 

 think of his life based on good godly thoughts 

 and equal lights for all. 



Yours for a healthy and sound thinking 

 Farm Bureau, 



Kai S. Warner 

 Kane County 



lAA Organization Director O. D. Brissen- 

 den makes the following answer: 



"Your opinion on this matter is certainly 

 appreciated. It should he pointed out, how- 

 ever, that 'he recent changes in policy resolu- 

 tions approved at the 1945 annual meeting did 

 not change the policy to which you refer. The 

 by-laws and t>olicy resolutions have for many 

 years provided for two classes of membership 

 — associate and regular. These policies were 

 established wi:h the approval of the member- 

 ship and can be changed only with the ap- 

 proval of the membership. 



"Regular membership is reserved to those 

 who are actual broducers of agricultural prod- 

 ucts. The classification of the hired man as an 

 associate member is based on the thought thai 

 he does not fhare in the economic hazards of 

 production and is the employe of a producer 

 of agricultural products rather than the pro- 

 ducer of tgricultural products. As an associ- 

 ate member he does have all the advantages of 

 services offered by the Farm Bureau with the 

 exception that he cannot vote or hold office. 

 These privileges will come with regular mem- 

 bership when he becomes a producer of agri- 

 cultural products in his own right." 



MAY. 1947 



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