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. RECORD 



Support Danger 



AFBF President Says Leaning 

 Too Heavily on Government Price 

 Crutch Will Retard Farm Progress 



IF FARMERS lean too heavily on a 

 crutch of price supports, their strides 

 toward agriculture's economic ob- 

 jectives will be retarded and their 

 efficiency crippled, according to 

 Allan B. Kline, president of the Ameri- 

 can Farm Bureau Federation. 



"We believe that farmers are entitled 

 to full parity, in the form of earned in- 

 come, rather than in the form of a gov- 

 ernment-guaranteed return, " he said in a 

 statement to the farm press. 



"Necessary though support prices are, 

 if they are so high as to bring about rigid 

 controls, they will tend to make it more 

 difficult, rather than easier, for the effi- 

 cient farmer to use his own skills in ob- 

 taining real parity with the rest of the 

 economy. 



"'Nothing could be more harmful to 

 the long-time welfare of agriculture than 

 to make the farmer depend on govern- 

 ment as the major arbiter of farm prices. 

 In a relatively free economy, we can pro- 

 duce for the market, as it reflects con- 

 sumer demand. There is a distinct 

 danger that high supports, being them- 

 selves an incentive to production, would 

 eventually lead farmers to produce for 

 the government rather than for con- 

 sumers. 



"If we get into this kind of a situation, 

 agriculture's freedom will be gone, farm- 

 ers will be at the mercy of government, 

 and consumers will be deprived, at least 

 to some extent, of their means of ex- 

 pressing preference — the free market. 



"Consumer demand is the guide, and 

 the only reliable guide, to agriculture's 

 opportunities. To prosper on any perma- 

 nent basis, farmers must follow it. A 

 price support program must encourage 

 them to do so, if it is to be of any per- 

 manent benefit. 



"The price support provisions of the 

 Agricultural Act of 1S^8 meet this re- 

 quirement fairly well — better, we think, 

 than anything we have had in the past 

 and much better than the suggestions that 

 are now being advanced for larger gov- 

 ernment guarantees and commitments. 



"The flexible support schedules in the 

 act are a safeguard against the disastrous 

 price crashes which have been the farm- 

 ers nightmare for generations. On the 

 other hand, they do not destroy the farm- 

 er's vital guide to production. They per- 



APRIL 1949 ' 



mit prices to reflect demand, and leave 

 the farmer an incentive to adjust his out- 

 put to the wants of the consumer." 



Kline added that the attractions of 

 high price supports are largely an illu- 

 sion, since they must be accompanied by 

 limitations on production which tend to 

 take away from the farmer's income the 

 amount that seems to be added by arti- 

 ficially sustained prices. 



"The higher the support level, the 

 more drastic the controls are likely to be," 

 he pointed out. 



There are ttlll a few copies left of the 

 history of farm Bureau entlfletl "The farm 

 Bureau Through Three Decodes," by O. M. 

 Kile. The long struggle for recognition attd 

 better living conditions tor formers reads 

 like an adventure novel. You're missing 

 a good thing If you pass up this story of 

 your neighbors and yourself. To get a 

 copy send $3.50 to the American farm Bu- 

 reau federation, 109 North Wabash Ave., 

 Chicago, III. 



Lawyer Drinks Bottle of Hog Virus 



IOWA legislators were startled recently 

 when Carl J. Stephens, attorney for 

 the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, 

 gulped down a bottle of hog cholera 

 virus before them. 



Stephens drank the virus to prove it 

 was not harmful to humans. I. W. 

 Meyers, attorney for the Iowa Pharma- 

 ceutical Association, had just told the 

 legislators in Des Moines the virus was 

 dangerous for fanners to handle. 



"If broken (the virus bottle) on the 

 floor it could spread disease among a 

 great many people," Meyers said. 



The Iowa Farm Bureau is backing a 

 bill to permit its subsidiaries to sell virus 

 and other products without supervision 

 by pharmacists. The Iowa supreme court 

 ruled recently that pharmacists should be 

 employed for this purpose. Farmers ad- 

 minister their own hog cholera virus 

 and serum in Illinois. 



lAA Pr»*U»Ht Charles B. Shumon (left) discusses farm problems with Adial Stevenson, 

 yorornor of IMIneis, during the governor's recent visit to tlio lAA effico* In CMcafo. 



