listening to a discussion during tlie farm Bureau Presidents and farm Advitert luntheon 

 are (left to right) Paul PIttman, White county farm adviser; Leslie Broom, Pulaski- 

 Alexander farm adviser; J. H. Kelker, retiring manager. Country Mutual fire Company; 

 I. I. Llngenfelter, president, Pulaski-Alexander farm Bureau; George D. Perisiio, Bond 

 county form adviser; and fori Purdue, president, iMarion County farm Bureau. 



Oalry farmer Charles 

 Smith, Madison tounty, 

 gets a good-natured 

 ribbing about the 

 whislcers lie said 

 would "sweep the 

 floor until Truman 

 went batk Into the 

 White House." He 

 kept them for the lAA 

 convention. Left to 

 right: Rudolph Hans, 

 Madison; George 

 Atotzger, lAA field 

 secretary; Smith, and 

 J. King latoH, lAA di- 

 rector from Madison 

 county. 



'High Costs, Falling 

 Farm Prices May 

 Bring on Disaster 



(Continued from page 42) 



or labor is ready to abandon the drastic 

 production control practices which they 

 have employed for years to maintain 

 prices and wages. 



Farmers, therefore, are now faced with 

 a situation very similar to the conditions 

 that prevailed just after the first World 

 War. Farm prices are falling rapidly 

 while all other costs and prices rise. Un- 

 less checked soon, this two way trend can 

 have but one result — a repetition of 

 the disaster which befell this nation in 

 1929. Agricultural income and agri- 

 cultural spending remain as one of the 

 most important factors determining the 

 trend of national income and general 

 price levels. The industrial economy 

 might coast along for a few months or 

 years without our support but sooner 

 or later the drag of a prostrate agricul- 

 ture would cause a crash. 



It would be in the entire national inter- 

 est if some means could be discovered 



42 



to add greater stability to the general 

 price level. Agriculture, in particular, 

 is interested because farm commodity 

 prices fluctuate more widely and violently 

 than do other prices. Last year I used 

 a simple example to illustrate one of the 

 causes of these wide fluctuations in price 

 levels. A dollar bill which purchased 

 280 pounds of shelled corn in 1932 

 would buy only 25 pounds of the same 

 shelled corn in 1947. Today, twelve 

 months later, the value of a dollar in 

 terms of shelled corn is up to 50 pounds 

 of corn. 



Other Inflationary Factors 



There are many other factors within 

 the control of government which con- 

 tribute to the inflationary price spiral. 

 Artificially low government bond rates 

 have been maintained with the objective 

 of saving millions of dollars in carrying 

 charges on the national debt. Low in- 

 terest rates have discouraged savings and 

 accelerated spending, thus forcing prices 

 higher. It is probable that the resulting 

 increased cost of operating the govern- 

 ment has more than offset the savings 

 in carrying charges. This program has 

 been continued so long now that any 

 upward adjustment in interest rates must 



be very gradual or our entire economy 

 might be disrupted. 



Continued increases in government 

 payrolls and government spending is 

 highly inflationary. Your organization 

 has repeatedly urged that this trend be 

 reversed and that all non-essential spend- 

 ing be eliminated immediately. 



During the last two weeks we have 

 heard many statements to the effect that 

 the public has given a mandate to our 

 representatives in government to do cer- 

 tain things. Farmers recognize that the 

 decision of the people reflected the think- 

 ing of American citizens on many dif- 

 ferent issues. We do not recognize any 

 clear mandate to turn backward. We 

 will continue to insist that legislative ac- 

 tion be constructive. We will continue 

 to aggressively support the essential and 

 constructive features of the Taft-Hartley 

 labor relations law. We will continue 

 to insist that our system of free enter- 

 prize in America is preferable to a gov- 

 ernmentally regulated socialistic economy. 

 We reiterate our opposition .to the re- 

 turn of unworkable federal Jtfice control 

 legislation whether under t^ name of 

 O.P.A. or any other form of govern- 

 ment control. We shall insist that we 

 move in the direction of less rather than 

 more government controls. 



Support Prices 



During recent months as food prices 

 have soared upward the government agri- 

 cultural price support program has been 

 under attack. City consumers have been 

 told that high food prices are caused by 

 the parity price supports and that farmers 

 are becoming wealthy as a result of gov- 

 ernment price guarantees. What are the 

 facts? 



Wartime price support legislation was 

 enacted by Congress to encourage needed 

 expansion in production. This encour- 

 agement was V necessary because farm 

 products were subject to rigid price ceil- 

 ing control under the O.P.A. The price 

 supports were continued after the war to 

 encourage production necessary to meet 

 the greatly enlarged domestic and for- 

 eign needs. However, as a result of this 

 great demand, farm prices have with few 

 exceptions remained much higher than 

 the 90 per cent of parity support levels. 

 Consumers themselves, not government 

 supports, have forced food prices higher 

 and higher. 



The Long-Range Farm Program 



Through a bitter congressional battlfr 

 the American Farm Bureau Federation 

 aggressively supported the Aiken Long- 

 Range Farm Program bill which was 

 enacted during the dosing hours of the 

 80th Congress. This bill consists of a 

 number of amendments to existing agri- 

 cultural legislation. Many of the pro- 

 visions in this bill were the result of 

 compromise and further amendment will 



L A. A. RECORD 



undoubtedly! 

 believe thatf 

 ernment pril 

 tect farm pri 

 for rigid pril 

 idea of inj^ 

 bility into til 

 considerable! 



Coordir 



The IllinI 

 is proud of 

 objectives on 

 years has beJ 

 aggressive el 

 to individual 

 increase theil 

 relationship F 

 lege of Agrij 

 the County f 

 has been bot 

 ers, in contr 

 for the fina 

 extension wc 

 interest in s< 

 fectively us 

 support, the 

 necessity be 

 During re 

 partment of 

 serve Agricu 

 a host of n 

 within the 

 correlation ( 

 tional level, 

 considerable 

 agency atterr 

 existence. ' 

 saved and a 

 veloped wb 

 dealing wil 

 from the i 

 county. In 

 Stations she 

 the Extensi 

 all educatic 

 tinue to be 

 Districts, < 

 Committees 

 to be respoi 



F< 



The last 

 tion of t! 

 farmer coc 

 under vari< 

 pose of th 

 destroy the 

 ers and th 

 healthy coi 

 cooperativ( 

 of defense 

 tices used 



The po 

 tural Asso 

 for, nor < 



lANUAR 



