Agricultural relief: Agricultural relief

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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:: 1831935066

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-232142

Document type:: Volume

Title:: Agricultural relief

Volume count:: Pt. 7

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Scope:: III S., S. 521 - 590

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

024 { AGRICULTURAL RELIEF before they could run; that they would have to work themselves into this problem slowly and carefully, feeling their way as they went along. I shall elaborate a little upon that idea later in another con- nection. I have consulted a great many people engaged in both the milling and grain business and in other industries, and I have yet to find one who believes that there is in existence to-day any cooperative or any private agency capable of handling safely and sanely the surplus problem on the vast scale in which it is apparently contemplated in this bill; or one who believes that it is possible to hastily or quickly set up such an organization. And, again, it has to be remembered in that connection that the marketing of some 200,000,000 or 250,000,000 bushels of wheat, for example, requires a vast organiza- tion, not only for purposes of purchasing and storing the crop, but for purposes of selling it. It requires an organization in every importing country in the world—an organization consisting of ex- perienced and capable men who know not only what the export situation is, but what the import and consumption situation is. We think that it is possible we do not know that it can be done, but we think it is possible, that such a board might be able to develop organizations which could ultimately bring about an appreciable stabilization of the returns to the farmer and greatly assist in the formation of a sound general agricultural development. I use the words “stabilization of returns to the farmer” advisedly and inten- tionally, because we do not believe that it is possible to bring about a stabilization of the per-unit price which a farmer receives, irrespec- tive of the volume of his production. We would very promptly recognize that if a farmer produces a crop of 600,000,000 bushels of wheat it will be unjust to him if he could get no higher price per bushel for that 600,000,000 bushels than he could get per bushel for an 800,000,000 or 900,000,000 bushel crop. Still it should be possible to create a situation under which his per-acre return for one crop would be substantially as great as for the other, even though his per- unit price varied somewhat in relation to his total production. The cost of production per acre of a given crop is substantially the same whether the farmer gets a large per-acre yield or a small one. Therefore it seems to me that our concern is more directly with an attempt to secure for the farmer a fair average per-acre return for his crops rather than a uniform per-unit return for those crops. We think it may be possible to bring about a degree of stabilization which will prevent abnormal crops being sold at so low a price as to result in a per-acre return which practically represents a destruction of the farm values out of which that production grows. Now, reference has been made to the fact that we have recently passed some very complete and comprehensive legislation with reference to immigration and with reference to transportation. But I may remind you in this connection that we were a great many years in the development of our present method of regulating immigration. I think I was here when we first adopted the literacy test. I think I voted for one or two of the quota laws. We are still attempting to find other and more practical means of regulating immigration. The Transportation Act did not represent a suddenly-conceived and theoretical scheme for the regulation and control of the railroads and the issuance of their securities. The Interstate Commerce

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