Agricultural relief: Agricultural relief

Bibliographic data

Multivolume work

Identifikator:: 1831932415

Document type:: Multivolume work

Title:: Agricultural relief

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Collection:: Economics Books

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Volume

Identifikator:: 183193440X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-232093

Document type:: Volume

Title:: Agricultural relief

Volume count:: Pt. 3

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Scope:: III S., S. 181 - 253

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Statement of Edward H. Booth, Washington, D.C.

Collection:: Economics Books

259 AGRICULTURAL RELIEF He must be a chemist, botanist, biologist, horticulturist, and understand the peculiar nature of everything he grows; a financier, veterinary surgeon, a poultry- man, doctor, lawyer, preacher, carpenter, blacksmith, and almost everything else, or he will not succeed. Many of the successful farmers of to-day are prac tically all of these. To-day he finds that supply and demand are the king and queen to whom every farmer must inevitably bow, as no other craftsmen at this day have to do. Supply and demand are two sovereigns that know no right or wrong, and know no God beyond their merciless, selfish ends. The laboring man has his union that guarantees to him a fixed price for his labor; the profes- sional man has his associations that establish the rates for his fees; the business man has his combinations in trade that fix his prices; and the contractors have their fixed contract prices under which they operate; but the farmer has none of these things to look to. He goes by chance alone. He plants his seed—the seed may be bad—the season may be bad—the laborers may refuse to work— the pests may devour his crops. He grows his crop—it may be destroyed by fire—stolen from him—spoiled or rotted before he can get it to market. When he arrives at market with it he many times finds the market glutted so that he has to sell it for almost nothing, or, as many do, haul it back home or dump it on the highway. No other craftsmen have so many and such extremely difficult and insurmountable obstacles to contend with. We are told that in the vear 1922, 2,000,000 farmers forsook their farms in the United States. No legislation since the time of President Buchanan for the relief of the farmer has amounted to anything. The vast sums now appropriated for the support of the Agricultural Department, beyond a very small per cent used in some lines of research, are all practically thrown away, and accomplish no other purpose than simply to give employment to its many officials and employees. The mass of the farmers get nothing whatever out of any of it. It is not seen how the $300,000,000 proposed by the McNary-Haugen bill can possibly meet the situa- tion if passed as amended. It is thought that the time has come in the interest of the farmer as well as the consumers that a radical course should be adopted. To this end I offer the proposed plan, which if adopted, will undoubtedly accomplish three things. First, it will be a great boon to the farmer to feel that there is at least some thing behind him that will at least save him from bankruptey, if he chooses to avail himself of its provisions. Second, that the consumer may have the op- portunity of procuring his products at a reasonable price, without having to pay his corfier grocer A per cent profit for handing the goods out to him. A ie Lf pu og ie Fovernment nothing, after the first expense of install- Pn at le Syst mm, or the reason that all the expenses will be covered by the n the prices paid the producer and the prices received from the consumer, the middleman having been knocked out of the game. Under the Dr asen. Supply-and-demand system it is not possible to do anything by legisla- rat will help the farmer. Free seeds, fertilizers, labor, and transportation would not help him in the least: nor would cooperation Verv respectfully, ’ Epwarp H. BooTH, 717 Twenty-first Street NW., Washington, D- C. JANUARY 18, 1928. STATEMENT OF N. J. HOLMBERG, COMMISSIONER OF AGRICUL. TURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. ST. PAUL. MINNESOTA Mr. HoumBERG. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee I'am here as a representative of the Minnesota Equality Corncaissin, which is a commission provided for by a resolution of the 1927 Seo of our legislature. I think the resolution is on file with the commit ce. This commission stands just where it has stood in the past. ot believes in the principles set out in the bill that is now being cot sidered by the committee. We believe that the object sought in this legislation will create a permanent policy for American agr culture that will be far superior to the hit-and-miss process tha we have had in years past.

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