No doubt the position of agriculture as a whole has very much improved
since the depression of three and four years ago. But there are many
localities and many groups of individuals, apparently through no fault of
their own, sometimes due to climatic conditions and sometimes to the
prevailing price of a certain crop, still in a distressing condition. This
is probably temporary, but it is none the less acute. National Government
agencies, the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, the Farm Loan Board,
the intermediate credit banks, and the Federal Reserve Board are all
cooperating to be of assistance and relief. On the other hand, there are
localities and individuals who have had one of their most prosperous years.
The general price level is fair, but here again there are exceptions both
ways, some items being poor while others are excellent. In spite of a
lessened production the farm income for this year will be about the same as
last year and much above the three preceding years.
Agriculture is a very complex industry. It does not consist of one problem,
but of several. They can not be solved at one stroke. They have to be met
in different ways, and small gains are not to be despised.
It has appeared from all the investigations that I have been able to make
that the farmers as a whole are determined to maintain the independence of
their business. They do not wish to have meddling on the part of the
Government or to be placed under the inevitable restrictions involved in
any system of direct or indirect price-fixing, which would result from
permitting the Government to operate in the agricultural markets. They are
showing a very commendable skill in organizing themselves to transact their
own business through cooperative marketing, which will this year turn over
about $2,500,000,000, or nearly one-fifth of the total agricultural
business. In this they are receiving help from the Government. The
Department of Agriculture should be strengthened in this facility, in order
to be able to respond when these marketing associations want help. While
it ought not to undertake undue regulation, it should be equipped to give
prompt information on crop prospects, supply, demand, current receipts,
imports, exports, and prices.
A bill embodying these principles, which has been drafted under the advice
and with the approval of substantially all the leaders and managers in the
cooperative movement, will be presented to the Congress for its enactment.
Legislation should also be considered to provide for leasing the
unappropriated public domain for grazing purposes and adopting a uniform
policy relative to grazing on the public lands and in the national
forests.
A more intimate relation should be established between agriculture and the
other business activities of the Nation. They are mutually dependent and
can each advance their own prosperity most by advancing the prosperity of
the other. Meantime the Government will continue those activities which
have resulted in an unprecedented amount of legislation and the pouring out
of great sums of money during the last five years. The work for good roads,
better land and water transportation, increased support for agricultural
education, extension of credit facilities through the Farm Loan Boards and
the intermediate credit banks, the encouragement of orderly marketing and a
repression of wasteful speculation, will all be continued.
Following every other depression, after a short period the price of farm
produce has taken and maintained the lead in the advance. This advance had
reached a climax before the war. Everyone will recall the discussion that
went on for four or five years prior to 1914 concerning the high cost of
living. This history is apparently beginning to repeat itself. While
wholesale prices of other commodities have been declining, farm prices have
been increasing. There is every reason to suppose that a new era in
agricultural prosperity lies just before us, which will probably be
unprecedented.