Wednesday, December 4,1968'
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Wednesday, December 4, 1968 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PaneThre
"US
SMALL FARMS HURT
farm programs: Complex of
subsidies
By DONALD M. ROTHBERG
Associated Press Staff Writer
First of Two Parts
WASHINGTON VP-) - Amer-
* ica's farm programs are a mul-
tibillion dollar complex of sub-
sidies, some of which undermine
others, and all of which give
little help to the small family
farmer.
One official view, as express-
ed by Secretary of Agriculture
# Orville' L. Freeman, is to the
contrary.
"Today," he says, "we have a
wide range of programs aimed
at underpinning and strength-
ening America's family agricul-
ture,"
But the President's National
Advisory Commission on Rural
Poverty disagrees. In a report
entitled "The People Left Be-
hind,' the commission said:
"It is clear that the price
support and related programs
do very little for the rural farm
poor and nothing, directly, for
the rural non-farm poor."
Few, if any, farmers from
Mississippi to California agree
with Freeman that the pro-
grams' aim is to strengthen
family agriculture.
"No one in his right mind
could justify the payments the
farmer is getting along with the
market price," says Richard
Shaw, a Mississippi cotton grow-
er. "But I haven't heard of any-
one sending a check back."
THIS WEEK ONLY!
"FASCINATING
and GRIPPING!"
An examination of the Agri-
culture Department's various
farm program shows:
* Farmers received more
than $1 billion this year for
holding land out of production,
including one payment of
$4,091,818 to a single corporate
farm, J. G. Boswell Co., of Kings
County Calif.
O Farmers collected millions
of dollars from various pro-
grams to help them increase
production on the land they did.
plant.
O As a result, farm produc-
tion continued to increase faster
than the market could absorb
it. thus forcing the government
to lay out another $1 billion to
support crop prices.
* Wealthy Americans are
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going into farming in a big
way, but the suspicion persists,
especially among some congress
men, that the rich are more
interested in cultivating tax
breaks than crops.
WHERE MONEY GOES
But direct subsidies, rather
than the huge farm pay-
ments, breaks, bother congress-
men, beset as they are with de-
ands for more money for trou-
bled cities.
Cotton is king on Capitol Hill,
primarily because Southerners
dominate the agriculture com-
mittees of both the Senate and
the House. It was for taking
land out of cotton production
that the Boswell company col-
lected more than $4 million.
One more prominent recipent
was Sen. James O. Eastland of
Mississippi, a rankings Demo-
crat on the Senate Agriculture
Committee. The senator and
members of his family got
$211,364 for retiring land from
production.
In an attempt to stop such
large outlays, the House passed
bill to limit payments to $20,000
to any one farm. Senate con-
ferees refused to accept it.
Where do all the billions in
farm payments go?
The President's commission on
rural poverty, using cotton as an
example, but citing similar fig-
ures for rice, wheat, feed grains
and sugar, put it this way:
"The 10 per cent of cotton
producers with the smallest pay-
ments receive less than 1 per
cent of cotton program bene-
fits; the 10 per cent of pro-
ducers with the largest pay-
ments receive more than half
of these benefits; and the top
1 per cent of producers in size
of payments receive 21- per cent
of the benefits."
In all, $1,114,617,466 went to
91,887 farms that received pay-
ments of $5,000 or more in 1967.
But most of the nation's 3
million farmers received a lot
less than $5,000. The average
payment per farm in 1967 was
$987. And rent or national in-
terest aside, far in production
is rising despite the money
spent to discourage planting.
Participation in the federal
cotton program is mandatory.
If a farmer wants to grow cot-
ton he must accept an acreage
allotment based upon his total
HEAR
MICHIGAN
HOCKEY
and
BASKETBALL
on
WCBN
land and the history of cotton
production on it.
Southeastern growers, fearful
of competition from high quality
cotton grown in California, made
the program mandatory.
Eastland told the Senate that
if western planters were allowed
to grow as much as they wished
"that would mean that, in my
judgment, the cotton acreage
would leave the Southeast and
go westward to California." That
would have been economically
disastrous for the economy of
the Mississippi Delta where
Eastland, himself owns a large
plantation. .
Mechanization has revolution-
ized cotton growing. It has been
a beneficial revolution for those
with the land and money to
buy and efficiently utilize equip-
ment and chemicals.
It has also driven small farm-
ers off the land and sent thou-
sands of unskilled Negroes to
northern cities in search of jobs.
DISCRIMINATION
Some Negro farmers claim
there is discrimination in the
estimation of projected yields.
Clarence Hall Jr., of Issaqiuena
County, about 50 miles south-
west of Sunflower County, said
"the projected yield of all small
Negro farmers is put down way,
below that of white farmers."
Charles Cox, assistant deputy
administrator for state a n d
county operations in the De-
partment of Agriculture, says,
however, that all the complaints
have been investigated and
"very frankly, I've been ex-
tremely well pleased that we've
found very little evidence of dis-
crimination."
The Agriculture Department.
tries to help the small farmer-
the one with cotton allotment of
10 acres or less-by permitting
him to plant his entire allot-
ment and still collect the diver-
sion payment. But these pay-
ments average only $114.80 to
each small farm.,
"The smaller farmer just can't
make it," Richard Shaw says.
Shaw farms 3,000 acres of
cropland, 700 of them in cotton.
Since he, personally supervises
his operation, Shaw's plantation
could be called a family farm,
even though he himself insists
the term is an economic anach-
ronism.
Bigsplanters like Shaw use
large and expensive machinery
like a cotton picker that works
two, rows at once and costs $20,-
BOLD
and DARING!"
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Directed by
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the.
news today
b) The Associated Press and College Press Service
ISRAELI ARMED FORCES bombed and shelled areas
of northwest Jordan before dawn yesterday, in an attack
described as a retaliatory raid.
Israeli authorities charged that Jordanian gunners set
off an artillery exchange by firing on eight Israeli farm set-
tlements in the Beisan Valley, south of the Sea of Galilee.
In response, three formations of jet fighters, combined
with Israeli artillery, wrecked 63 houses and damaged 83 oth-
ers in the Jordanian village of Kafr Assad.
A Jordanian spokesman said the attack killed 14 civilians
and wounded 18. He listed seven children among .the dead.
" 0 0
EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT GAMEL ABDEL NASSER'S
16 year old regime is being shaken by student-led riots,
the worst since he seized power.
Reports reaching Beirut, Lebanon suggested an explosion
of discontent which even the Israeli issue may not muffle-
Nasser maintains the riots were instigated by Israeli subver-
sion.
Egypt's five universities and all high schools in Alexan-
dria have been closed by the government after a student clash
with the police killed 16. In the Nile Delta city of Mansoura
police fired at demonstrators killing 20 and injuring hun-
dreds.
SOUTH VIETNAMESE DELEGATES to the Paris
peace talks began arriving for the expanded negotiations
yesterday.
U.S. sources are hopeful that the enlarged talks will be-
gin by next week.
Government sources in Saigon said the plan to be sub-
mitted to the first four-party talks would provide for a scale-
down of the fighting, and supervised withdrawal of North
Vietnamese troops from the South along with a cutback of
U.S. forces.
The plan also seeks a "rallying" of the Viet Cong 'to the
Saigon government although NFL spokesmen have already re-
jected the plan as "ridiculous."
The NLF has said it will refuse to negotiate with the
South Vietnamese delegation when the expanded talks get
under way. South Vietnam has said it will talk only to North
Vietnam, not the NLF. A further complication is that the
North Vietnamese do not recognize the Saigon government.
" 0 "
SEN. PHILLIP HART, (D-MICH.) told an audience of
auto dealers and executives yesterday that'the consumer
is often "not getting his money's worth" in auto repairs.
Hart called for government action in three areas to cor-
rect the situation:
They are:
- Legislation for state licensing of auto mechanics and
repair shops.
-Federal Trade Commission inv.estigation to determine
whether manuals which list labor time charges for repairs
are price fixing devices.
- An investigation by the FTC or the Justice Depart-
ment to determine if special repair rates such as those to,
fleet owners constitute a violation of anti-trust laws.
Hart is chairman of the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly
subcommittee, which earlier yesterday opened hearings in
Washington into the cost of auto repairs.
Prof. William Leonard of Hofstra University told the com-
mittee yesterday that- auto repair business "has become a
jungle for the consumer.".
PRESIDENT-ELECT RICHARD NIXON named edu-
cator Lee A. Dubridge his science advisor yesterday in a
move to narrow the gap between government and scien-
tists.
Dubridge, a physicist, is retiring from his present post as
president of the California Institute of Technology. In the
past he has served as an advisor and consultant to eight fed-
eral agencies.
According to Nixon, Dubridge will have major responsi-
bility in bringing about a scientific research effort in the
United States, particularly in the field of peacetime technol-'
ogy.
Dubridge believes it is important for the nation to reach
its announced goals in space, including sending a man to the
moon. But, after that mission, he favors a reassessment of the
civilian space program.
"" 0"
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, still struggling to
make last year's devaluation work, faced new danger
signs yesterday from the biggest monthly drain this year
on the reserves backing the pound sterling.
The drop in reserves resulted from the European money
crisis last week when speculators exchanged huge amounts
of British pounds and French francs for German marks.
The treasury said these reserves, which protect the value
of the pound, fell by $196.8 million. It was the largest monthly
drop since December 1967, the month after devaluation.
0 * *
POLICE CLASHED WITH DEMONSTRATORS in Ita-
ly's main port city of Genoa yesterday night as Premier-
designate Mariane Rumor struggled to find a government
in the midst of a rising wave of disorders.
The outbreak of violence in Genoa climaxed one of the
gravest days of nationwide turmoil Italy' has experienced in
years.
In Rome more than 30,000 students cut classes and pour-
ed into the downtown area, adding their demands for school
reform to protests against police brutality.
The large Italian Communist party demanded that gov-
ernment police be pulled out of the areas of conflict and that
all police throughout the nation be disarmed.
College Relations Director
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} Please send me
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"You can't own;
pickerwith 75 acres
Shaw said.
a two-row
in cotton,"
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